''Panchamirtham'' is 2008 Tamil-language

fantasy comedy film Fantasy comedy or comic fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that is primarily humorous in intent and tone. Typically set in imaginary worlds, fantasy comedy often involves puns on, and parodies of, other works of fantasy. Literature The subgenre ro ...

scripted and directed by Raju Eswaran, it stars

Jayaram Jayaram Subramaniam, (born 10 December 1965), is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema, in addition to Tamil cinema, Tamil, Telugu cinema, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, Sanskrit, and Bhojpuri language films. He is also a chenda ...

Prakash Raj Prakash Raj (born Prakash Rai; 26 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician. Known for his works in Telugu language, Telugu, Tamil language, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, English language, Engl ...

and the director himself alongside an ensemble supporting cast including

Nassar Nassar (), is a given name and surname, commonly found in the Arabic language. Alternative spellings of this name, possibly due to transliteration include Naser, Nasser, Nasir, Naseer, or Nacer. People with the surname include: People with th ...

Aravind Akash Aravind Akash is an Indian actor and dancer who works predominantly in Malayalam and Tamil films. He rose to fame through 2002 Malayalam film '' Nandanam'' portraying the role of Unnikrishnan. He has also been a judge for a few TV shows in M ...

Regina Cassandra Regina Cassandra (born 13 December 1990) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films. Cassandra is a recipient of several accolades including a SIIMA Award and a CineMAA Award, along with a Filmfare OTT Award n ...

Saranya Mohan Saranya Mohan is an Indian former actress, who predominantly appeared in Malayalam and Tamil films. She has also acted in a few Telugu, Kannada and Hindi films. She is best known for her performances in '' Yaaradi Nee Mohini'' (2008), ''Vennil ...

, Samiksha,

Karunas Karunas (born as Karunanidhi Sethu; February 21, 1970) is an Indian actor, comedian, composer, playback singer and politician in the Tamil film industry. Appearing mostly in supporting roles, he has also played main lead roles in films includ ...

, and

Ganja Karuppu Karuppu Raja, known for his stage name Ganja Karuppu (born 5 January 1976), is an Indian actor who has predominantly appeared in comedy roles in Tamil cinema. After making his debut in Bala's ''Pithamagan'' (2003), Ganja Karuppu experienced suc ...

. Produced by Abhirami Ramanatha and with music by

Sundar C Babu Sundar C. Babu is an Indian musician who composes music for Tamil cinema, Tamil, Malayalam cinema, Malayalam and Telugu cinema, Telugu films. He is the son of veena vidhwan Dr. Chitti Babu and Sudakshina Devi, and his brothers are Rangasai and ...

, the film released on Christmas (25 December) 2008.

Plot

The story begins at

Ravana According to the Mahakavya, Hindu epic, ''Ramayana'', Ravana was a kingJustin W. Henry, ''Ravana's Kingdom: The Ramayana and Sri Lankan History from Below'', Oxford University Press, p.3 of the island of Lanka, in which he is the chief antag ...

n's (

) abode and the time of Ramayana when he orders his uncle Mareesan (

) to transform into a

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

to abduct

Seetha Sita (; ), also known as Siya, Jānaki and Maithili, is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. Sita is the consort of Rama, the avatar of god Vishnu, and is regarded as an avatar of goddess Lakshmi. She is t ...

(

). Mareesan argues with Ravana but finally complies since Idumba (Raju Eswaran) and Ravana threaten the life of Mareesan's lover Mandahini ( Samiksha). Finally, the said thing happens, and Mareesan gets struck by the arrow by lord

Rama Rama (; , , ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the seventh and one of the most popular avatars of Vishnu. In Rama-centric Hindu traditions, he is considered the Supreme Being. Also considered as the ideal man (''maryāda' ...

. He becomes a rock, but not before he transforms Idumba into an anklet and wears it on his leg. Times change, and the modern day comes. Rajaram (

) is a very rich man who owns tea estates. He has Seetha (

) as his dietitian and Sri Rama (

) as his cook. Both Rama and Seetha are in love. On the other hand, Rajaram's relatives (Thirupathi (

M. S. Bhaskar Muthupettai Somu Bhaskar (born 13 September 1957) is an Indian actor and dubbing artiste who appears in Tamil films. His career begun as a theatre artist, and he made his debut in 1987 in a minor role in the film '' Thirumathi Oru Vegumathi'' ...

) and

Mayilsamy Mayilsamy (2 October 1965 – 19 February 2023) was an Indian actor and comedian who primarily played supporting roles. Appearing in many Tamil films, he was also a regular guest judge for ''Asathapovathu Yaaru'' on Sun TV in Chennai. He was ...

) plan a plot to take the property. In this process, they end up planning to kill Seetha by pushing her from a mountaintop. Seetha falls directly on the rock idol of Mareesan and gets his human form. At the same time, his anklet falls off and gets eaten by a fish. That fish is caught by fisherman Manickam (

), and Idumba gets his human form. The age old enmity crops up, and while Mareesan vows to protect Seetha, Idumba plans to help Manickam get Rajaram's property as half brother. What happens from there forms the rest of the story..

Cast

Production

Abirami Ramanathan, well-known theatre owner and Managing Director of Abirami Mega Mall, forayed into film production with Panchamirtham. The film's inaugural function was held on 13 July 2008. Director, K. Balachander, KRG, Kalaipuli S Dhanu, Kalaipuli Sekaran, Sarath Kumar, Radha Ravi and Rama Narayanan inaugurated the function, A song sequence with Nasser was filmed during the pooja. Earlier

Vivek Vivek (or Bibek/Bivek in some regions) is a masculine given name that is popular in South Asia, particularly in India and Nepal. It is of Sanskrit origin and means "wisdom" and/or "conscience". Vivek may refer to: People * Vivek (actor) (1961–2 ...

and

Vadivelu Kumaravadivel Natarajan (born 12 September 1960) known professionally as Vadivelu, is an Indian actor, comedian and occasional playback singer, having acted mainly in Tamil cinema. He has at least 290 credits to his name. He was a recipient of ...

was said to be the part of this film but proved untrue. A song featuring Saranya Mohan was shot in Ooty and actress-cum-dance master Gayathri Raghuram choreographed it.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by

Sundar C. Babu Sundar C. Babu is an Indian musician who composes music for Tamil, Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ...

, and lyrics for all songs were written by Vaali. *"Panchamirtham"—

M. S. Viswanathan Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan (24 June 1928 – 14 July 2015), also known as M.S.V., was an Indian music director, singer and actor who predominantly worked in Tamil film industry. Popularly known by the sobriquet "Mellisai Mannar" (), he ...

*"Thandana Thandana" —

Shreya Ghoshal Shreya Ghoshal (; born 12 March 1984) is an Indian singer. Noted for her wide vocal range and versatility, she is one of the most prolific and influential singers of India. Often referred to as the "Queen of Dynamics'' for her remarkable voc ...

*"Nadhikkarai Oram" —

Madhu Balakrishnan Madhu Balakrishnan (born 24 June 1974) is an Indian playback singer who primarily sings in Malayalam. He has also sung songs in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada languages. He has sung over 10 thousand songs in films and several devotional albums. Pers ...

K. S. Chithra Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra (born 27 July 1963) is an Indian playback singer and Carnatic musician. In a career spanning around five decades, she has recorded over 25,000 Songs in various Indian languages languages such as Tamil, Kann ...

*"Kadhal Vandhal" — Karthik, Rita *"Uchathula Aandavan" — Naveen Madhav

Critical reception

Nowrunning wrote: "With so many comedians, this film is a slapstick comedy. With children as its target audience, the film entertains". Indiaglitz wrote: "Panchamirtham is a laugh-riot". Rediff wrote: "Even if it isn't as funny or classy as they had promised, the team does deliver some laughs". Kollywood today wrote: "Panchamirtham is a fantastic treat. But unfortunately, there are whole lot of traces of TV serial and Raju Eeswaran with his knack tactics could’ve dealt with this". Behindwoods wrote: "worth a watch".

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2020 2008 films 2000s Tamil-language films Indian fantasy comedy films 2000s fantasy comedy films Films scored by Sundar C. Babu 2008 directorial debut films 2008 comedy films