''Mutham'' ( Kiss) is a 2002 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

-language

slasher film A slasher film is a subgenre of horror films involving a killer or a group of killers stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as a generic ...

directed by

S. A. Chandrasekhar S. A Chandrasekar (born 2 July 1945) is an Indian film director, film producer, screenwriter, and actor who primarily works within Kollywood. He made his directorial debut with ''Aval Oru Pachai Kuzhanthai'' (1978), He got his breakthrough wi ...

. The film stars

Arun Vijay Arun Vijay (born 19 November 1977), formerly known as Arun Kumar, is an Indian actor who works primarily in Tamil cinema. He also starred in a few films in Telugu, Kannada and Hindi. Born as Arun Kumar and being the only son of veteran actor ...

(known at the time as Arunkumar), Sathyan,

Nagendra Prasad Nagendra Prasad (born 19 December 1975) is an Indian people, Indian dance choreographer, actor and director who works in Tamil language, Tamil and Kannada films. He is the youngest son of dance master Mugur Sundar, and younger brother to popula ...

, Ajayan,

Charulatha Charulatha is an Indian actress. She has acted mainly in Kannada films along with Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. Biography She was born in Punjab, and brought up in Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, ...

Nanditha Jennifer Nanditha Jennifer is an Indian actress and choreographer who has appeared in the Tamil film industry. The actress won critical acclaim for her performance in '' Eera Nilam'' (2003) and later appeared in other Tamil and Telugu language films. Ca ...

and Anjali. The film, produced by M. Arul Moorthy, was released on 6 December 2002.

Plot

Joseph ( Ajayan) and Sudha (Anjali) get married against their parents' wishes and they elope with their friends' help. Sudha's father (Vincent Roy), a politician, wants to kill Sudha and her friends. They arrive at a beach resort where they meet an old man (

Thalaivasal Vijay Thalaivaasal Vijay (born A. R. Vijayakumar) is an Indian actor and dubbing artiste. He has acted predominantly in Tamil and Malayalam films. Career Vijay's debut film was '' Thalaivaasal'' (1992), which became part of his stage name in Tamil ...

) who warns them about the dangers at the resort. He tells them that the place is haunted and murders can take place. The friends arrange for the couple's honeymoon, ignoring his pleadings to vacate the place. However, in the forest, all the friends get murdered one by one. It turns out that the old man was the one who committed these killings as he explains his flashback of his granddaughter getting killed in the name of sacrifice by unscrupulous businessmen for the sake of buying the forest where the resort has been built and as for that, he kills each and every person who visits this resort. In the end, the old man gets stabbed and Arun and his lover escape from the place being worried about the situation.

Cast

Production

The film was developed under the title ''Muthamidalaama'' () and was touted as India's first digital film made for theatres. The film was shot for fifty days in forests across

Tirupati Tirupati () is a city in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Andhra Pradesh and serves as the administrative headquarters of Tirupati district. It is known for its significant religious and cultural heritage, being home to th ...

Hogenakkal Falls Hogenakkal Falls is a waterfall in South India on the Kaveri river on the border between Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu and Chamarajanagar district, Chamrajnagar district of Karnataka. It is located from Dharmapuri and from Chamrajnagar. Car ...

Yelagiri Yelagiri (), also spelled Elagiri, is a hill station located in Tirupathur district of Tamil Nadu, India. Located at an altitude of , it forms a part of the Eastern Ghats mountain range. The hills consist of 14 hamlets spread across an area of ...

hills and

Alappuzha Alappuzha (, आलप्पुळ) or Alleppey is a municipality and town on the Laccadive Sea in the southern Indian state of Kerala. It is the district headquarters of the district, and is located about north of the state capital Thiruvana ...

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by

Bharani Bharani (Devanagari: भरणी) is the second nakshatra in Hindu astronomy, corresponding to 35, 39, and 41 Arietis all together. In Jyotiṣa, Bharani is ruled by Shukra (the planet Venus). Also, it is classified as a Cruel or Active n ...

Critical reception

A critic from ''

Sify Sify Technologies Limited (formerly Satyam Infoway) is an Indian information and communications technology (ICT) company providing telecom services, data center services, cloud & managed services, transformation integration services, and ...

'' wrote that "S.A.Chandrasekhar’s blend of tacky horror mixed with Alphonsa’s dance number in the jungle is all intolerable". Tulika from ''

Rediff.com Rediff.com, stylized as rediff.com, is an Indian news, information, entertainment, and shopping website. Founded by Ajit Balakrishnan in 1996, it was the first Indian website to become a mainstream news media organization. It is headquartered i ...

'' wrote that "As a film, ''Mutham'' is eminently forgettable. But at the technological level, it could turn out to be the trailblazer that changes the way films are shot in India". Malini Mannath of ''Chennai Online'' wrote that "But while they've indi filmmakersborrowed the main plot, they've worked on the script and added their own interesting touches. But Chandrasekhar has not been able to do that, with both his inspirations turning out to be just bad copies". ''Cinesouth'' wrote, "Tamil's first digital experimentation didn't have to turn out to be so pathetic".

References

External links

* * {{S. A. Chandrasekhar 2000s Indian films 2000s serial killer films 2000s slasher films 2000s Tamil-language films 2002 films 2002 thriller films Films directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar Films scored by Bharani (composer) Films shot in Alappuzha Films shot in Andhra Pradesh Films shot in Tamil Nadu Films with screenplays by S. A. Chandrasekhar Indian serial killer films Indian slasher films Indian thriller films Tamil-language Indian films Tamil-language thriller films