Mookuthi Amman

''Mookuthi Amman'' () is a 2020 Indian Tamil-language fantasy comedy film written and directed by RJ Balaji in his directorial debut. Co-directed by N. J. Saravanan, the film stars Nayanthara and Balaji, with Urvashi, Smruthi Venkat, Madhu Mailankody, Abinaya, Moulee and Ajay Ghosh in supporting roles. It revolves around a news anchor joining forces with the title character to expose a godman as fake. The film was released on Disney+ Hotstar on 14 November 2020, during Diwali.

Plot

Engels Ramasamy, a Nagercoil-based news anchor, lives with his single mother, paternal grandfather and three sisters. Many girls rejected Engels’ marriage proposal because his family is poor and his father abandoned him. The family plans to leave for the Venkateswara Temple, Tirupati for the fourth time, only to cancel it as the youngest sister gets her first period. They soon realise that they should go to their family deity Mookuthi Amman's temple to seek good luck. The temple is located in a hilly area called Vellimalai, 13.9 kilometres from Nagercoil. So they head there but find the temple dilapidated. The family cleans the temple, and as per the custom, they stay for the night. While they sleep, Mookuthi Amman appears in human form at the temple, which Engels witnesses. He soon realises that only he can see her as he is a god-chosen child. She decides to improve his family's prospects, but in return, Engels must popularise her temple. After he complies, he decides to make his family members' dreams come true with the help of Amman, and both Engels and Amman head back to Nagercoil by bus.

Bhagavathi Baba, a godman, enters the Mookuthi Amman temple and announces that he will build a town named Panchavanam, which will destroy 148 villages around the temple in Vellimalai. This angers Engels, who has tried to reveal his scams for the past six years. Amman decides to help Engels expose Baba. The next day, she makes herself visible to Engels' family members. They soon decide to take down Baba together. Once, Engels goes to a meeting with Baba but sees his father as a follower of Baba who lied to his family that he left him. He narrates the story to his mother. Amman makes a plan, and according to the plan, Engels' mother and sisters infiltrate Baba's group posing as Baba followers and start taking videos of him behaving badly in front of the other members without him noticing. Engels gets employed at Star Vijay and does a daily show with Baba, in which people call in for solutions to their issues.

Engels slowly reveals many dark truths about Baba. Baba then challenges Engels to answer three questions at the groundbreaking ceremony of Panchavanam, and if he answers those questions, he will not launch Panchavanam. After the episode's filming, Baba learns of Engels' family's plans to stop him. Engels immediately tells the others to escape Baba's class. But during the escape, their car runs out of fuel, and Baba's henchmen catch them. Engels calls for Amman, and she kills the henchmen using her powers, allowing the family to reach Panchavanam's groundbreaking ceremony in time. There, Baba reveals that the extraordinary events that made the Mookuthi Amman temple famous were all staged by Engels, but in reality, the events happened miraculously without human intervention. When asked why he staged the events, Mookuthi Amman appears to them in the form of a woman. She exposes him by telling everyone that there is no need for men like Baba to protect God, and everyone should pray to God out of faith and not fear, after which she dissipates into dust. After her speech, Baba becomes a public enemy. The next day, Amman spots Engels and asks him for his final wish before returning to her abode. He replies that he is grateful for what he has, and Amman vanishes. Engels then tells the viewers that God will surely come, because you too are God's chosen child.

Cast

Production

Development

After completing work on '' LKG'' (2019), RJ Balaji wanted his next film to be something like the Hindi films '' OMG – Oh My God!'' (2012) and '' PK'' (2014), "a film with a message in it but very relevant to the time we live in". He initially wanted to remake ''PK'' in Tamil, but later decided against doing so since the remake rights equalled his entire budget. Keeping the theme of ''PK'' in mind, which was about "the god that created us versus the god we have created", he wrote an original story which became ''Mookuthi Amman''. The film is Balaji's directorial debut, while N. J. Saravanan serves as co-director; it was produced by Ishari K. Ganesh under Vels Films International, photographed by Dinesh Krishnan, and edited by R. K. Selva. Stunt Silva served as the action choreographer.

Casting

Balaji initially wanted an established actress like Anushka Shetty or Nayanthara to portray the title character, but did not approach them. He then narrated the story to Shruti Haasan, who liked it and said she would do the role. However, when Nayanthara called Balaji and liked the story he narrated to her, she agreed and was signed on. Balaji wanted Hariharan to portray the antagonist Bhagavathi Baba, but later decided on Ajay Ghosh after watching his performance in a Telugu film and realising "he is too good as a comedian as well". Urvashi was Balaji's first choice to play his mother Paalthangam, and despite scheduling conflicts with another film, agreed to work on this film and allocated dates. Multilingual sports presenter Madhu Mailankody, known for hosting sports events including the Cricket World Cup and the Indian Premier League, made her acting debut in ''Mookuthi Amman''.

Filming

Principal photography began in November 2019, although Nayanthara joined the sets only in December. Filming wrapped in February 2020. Separate scenes involving actors Gautham Karthik and Manobala were shot but not included in the final cut.

Themes

Balaji described ''Mookuthi Amman'' as having "all the elements that were there in the devotional films that we grew up watching." He said it would be "a nostalgic trip, but there will also be a takeaway that is relevant, especially in this present times" without satirising the genre. The name of Balaji's character Engels Ramaswamy is derived from two rationalists: Friedrich Engels

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