Chandramukhi


Chandramukhi is a 2005 Indian Tamil-language comedy horror film written and directed by P. Vasu, and was produced and distributed by Ramkumar Ganesan of Sivaji Productions. The film features Rajinikanth, Prabhu, Jyothika, Vadivelu and Nayanthara leading an ensemble cast that includes, Nassar, Sheela, Vijayakumar, Vinaya Prasad, Sonu Sood, Suvarna Mathew, Vineeth, Malavika and K. R. Vijaya. It is a remake of Vasu's Kannada film Apthamitra, which itself is a remake of the Malayalam film Manichitrathazhu. The soundtrack album and background score were composed by Vidyasagar. Cinematography was handled by Sekhar V. Joseph and editing was done by Suresh Urs. Chandramukhis plot revolves around a woman who suffers from dissociative identity disorder that affects a family, and a psychiatrist who intends to solve the case while risking his life.
The film was made on a budget of 190 million. Principal photography began on 24 October 2004 and was completed in March 2005. It was released on 14 April 2005 on the eve of the Tamil New Year. The film became a major box office success; it was the longest running South Indian film, with a theatrical run of 890 days, until its record was overtaken by the Telugu film Magadheera which completed a theatrical run of 1000 days. The film won five Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, four Film Fans' Association Awards and two Filmfare Awards. Jyothika and Vadivelu were each awarded a Kalaimamani Award for their work on the film.
Chandramukhi was dubbed in Telugu and was simultaneously released with the same title as the Tamil version. It was also dubbed and released in Bhojpuri under the title Chandramukhi Ke Hunkaar. It became the first Tamil film to be dubbed into German. It was released in Germany under the title Der Geisterjäger. The film was also dubbed into Turkish. Chandramukhi was dubbed in Hindi and released on 29 February 2008 by Dilip Dhanwani, owner of the production house Royal Film Company. The Hindi version was released in collaboration with producer A. M. Rathnam.

Plot

Saravanan, a psychiatrist, meets up with his friend Senthilnathan alias Senthil, and his wife Ganga while on vacation. Senthil's mother Kasthuri wanted Senthil to marry Priya, the daughter of his father's cousin Kandaswamy, to reunite the two branches of the family after 30 years of separation because Senthil's father chose to marry Kasthuri instead of Kandaswamy's sister, Akhilandeshwari. Saravanan learns that Senthil had bought the Vettaiyapuram mansion, despite attempts by the local village elders to dissuade them, and moves in with them. Akhilandeshwari is jealous of Saravanan and plots to kill him with the help of her assistant Oomaiyan.
When the family visits their ancestral temple, the chief priest reveals the reason everyone fears the mansion. 150 years ago, a king named Vettaiyan travelled to Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh, where he met and fell in love with a dancer named Chandramukhi. However, she did not reciprocate his feelings as she was already in love with a dancer named Gunasekaran. As a result, Vettaiyan took her back to his palace by force. Unknown to him, Chandramukhi made Gunasekaran stay in a house nearby and met him secretly. When Vettaiyan discovered this, he beheaded Gunasekaran on Durgashtami and burnt Chandramukhi alive. As a result, Chandramukhi's ghost tried to take revenge on Vettaiyan, who with the help of various priests and sorcerers from all over the country, tamed the ghost by locking it up in a room located in the palace's south-west corner. Priya is in love with Vishwanathan, a dance professor who reciprocates her feelings. Their love is supported by Saravanan, who requests Kandaswamy to arrange their marriage.
After hearing Chandramukhi's story, Ganga, who thinks that the story was fabricated to scare thieves from stealing treasures in the room, wishes to go there. She gets the room key from the gardener's granddaughter Durga and opens the door to the room. Later, Saravanan receives an email to attend a patient. Saravanan assures Senthil to call him if anything happens. Subsequently, strange things begin to happen in the household: a ghost frightens the people in the house, things inexplicably break, and Ganga's sari catches fire. Suspicion turns towards Durga. Senthil immediately calls Saravanan to solve the case. As soon as Saravanan returns, a mysterious being tries to kill Priya. Saravanan also investigates other incidents such as the attempts to kill Senthil are made with poisoning his coffee and by pushing a fish tank on top of him, as well as a mysterious voice singing during the night.
Ganga mysteriously disappears during Priya and Viswanathan's engagement. Saravanan notices her absence and searches for her, but is attacked by Oomaiyanwho has been sent by Akhilandeshwari. Saravanan subdues Oomaiyan and with Senthil's help finds Ganga, who is supposedly being sexually harassed by Viswanathan. Saravanan reveals to Senthil and Viswanathan that Ganga suffers from split personality disorder. Saravanan tells them that Chandramukhi inside Ganga tried to kill Priya and Senthil, and framed Viswanathan for sexual harassment because from Chandramukhi's view, Viswanathan is her lover Gunasekaran since he stays at the same place Gunasekaran did. By framing Vishwanathan and also framed Durga is possessed by Chandramukhi, Chandramukhi planned to stop the engagement. The only way to stop Chandramukhi is to make her believe she killed Vettaiyan on Durgashtami since Saravanan impersonated Vettaiyan and disrupted one of the pujas conducted by the exorcist Ramachandra Acharya by conversing with Chandramukhi to know its wish. Before carrying out his plan, Saravanan asks Senthil to trigger Ganga to see for himself whether she turns into Chandramukhi or not. When Senthil does so, she turns into Chandramukhi, which shocks him. A worried Senthil shouts at Ganga, turning her back to normal.
Akhilandeshwari overhears Saravanan's idea of self-sacrifice and apologises to him. On Durgashtami, in the dance hall, the family and Ramachandra Acharya allow Chandramukhi to burn Saravanan alive. Ramachandra Acharya then blows smoke and ash on Ganga's face when she is given a torch to burn Saravanan. Senthil then opens a trapdoor to let Saravanan escape, and an effigy of Vettaiyan gets burnt instead. Convinced that Vettaiyan is dead, Chandramukhi leaves Ganga's body, curing her. The two families are reunited after 30 years, Saravanan and Durga fall in love, and the couple Swarna and Murugesan become parents after eight years of marriage.

Cast

Director P. Vasu, producer Ramkumar Ganesan and Raj Bahaddur make guest appearances in the song "Devuda Devuda".

Production

Development

During the success meet of Mannan, Rajinikanth announced that he would act in Sivaji Productions' 50th film, which would eventually become Chandramukhi. In September 2004, Rajinikanth congratulated P. Vasu on the success of his Kannada film Apthamitra and was impressed with the film's screenplay. Vasu then requested to remake the film in Tamil with Rajinikanth, who in turn, called Ramkumar Ganesan and asked him to produce it under Ramkumar's banner, Sivaji Productions.
Ramkumar telephoned Vasu, who was offering worship in a temple in Guruvayoor at that time, informing him of Rajinikanth's wish to do Apthamitra in Tamil under his direction. Vasu reworked the script he wrote for Apthamitra to suit Rajinikanth's style of acting. The film dealt mainly with the concept of dissociative identity disorder, commonly known as "multiple personality disorder" or "split personality disorder". Another film titled Anniyan, which featured Vikram in the lead role, and was released two months after Chandramukhi, was also based on the same disorder.
Thota Tharani was the film's art director, and also designed the costumes used in the film. Regarding the designing of the Vettaiyapuram palace, he watched both Apthamitra and its source Malayalam film Manichitrathazhu to get the basic idea of the film's plot. Vasu wanted Tharani to make the sets more colourful and grand and did not want the realistic look of the original film. Tharani designed Chandramukhi's room and placed a corridor in it, which was quite different from the original and its Kannada remake. The corridor resembled those commonly seen in palaces in Kerala. Sidney Sladen did additional costume designing in the film.

Casting

Rajinikanth played the roles of Dr. Saravanan and King Vettaiyan. He sported a wig for his role. Both Rajinikanth and P. Vasu discussed every scene featuring the former and added necessary inputs before they were shot. Rajinikanth appears in the beginning of the film unlike Manichitrathazhu, where the same character, played by Mohanlal, appears in the middle of the film. Rajinikanth requested Vasu to change the dancer's name from Nagavalli, which was the name of the danseuse in Apthamithra, to Chandramukhi since the latter sounded more royal. While Vishnuvardhan uttered "Haula Haula" in the original, Rajinikanth used "Lakka Lakka", which was based on the mannerisms of a villain in a Marathi play Rajinikanth watched in his childhood days. Ramkumar's brother Prabhu played Senthilnathan, a civil engineer and owner of Ganesh Constructions. Prabhu co-produced the film with Ramkumar.
For the roles of Ganga and Chandramukhi, Soundarya was initially selected to reprise her role from Apthamithra, but her death led the director to choose Simran and he shaped the character to suit her. In November 2004, Simran refused to do the project, as her role required a lot of dancing and cited her pregnancy at that time as another main reason for her refusal. Aishwarya Rai was offered the role but she declined the offer due to schedule conflicts. Sadha and Reemma Sen were also considered as replacements. The role finally went to Jyothika, who gave 50 days of her schedule for the film. Vasu wanted Jyothika to perform her scenes in a manner different from that of Shobana's role in Manichitrathazhu, enacting the scenes himself before they were shot featuring Jyothika. Nayanthara was selected to portray Rajinikanth's love interest, Durga, after Vasu was impressed with her performance in her debut film Manassinakkare.
Vadivelu portrayed the comic role of Murugesan, Akhilandeswari's and Kandaswamy's younger brother. Rajinikanth, at the film's 200th day theatrical run celebration function, said that it was he who recommended Vadivelu to Vasu for the role and had asked Ramkumar Ganesan to get Vadivelu's dates before planning the filming schedules. Nassar played Kandaswamy, Murugesan's older brother. Sheela, who was known for her role in the Malayalam film, Chemmeen, played Akhilandeswari, the intimidating older sister of Kandaswamy and Murugesan. When Sheela was signed on for the role, she was requested by the producers not to divulge details about her role to the media.

Filming

commenced on 24 October 2004 with a puja ceremony for the muhurat shot at Annai Illam, the residence of Sivaji Ganesan. Ramkumar Ganesan said the filming would be finished by 15 February 2005, giving the crew two months to complete the post-production work, including visual effects. The first shooting schedule began two days later with a fight scene choreographed by Thalapathy Dinesh and filmed at Ramavaram in Chennai. More than 25 Toyota Qualis and 30 stunt artists were involved in the fight sequence that featured Rajinikanth. The Vettaiyapuram mansion was erected in Hyderabad. The song sequences, one picturised on Rajini alone, two songs in which he appears with the other principal cast members, and the climax song, which was picturised on Jyothika, were filmed in Ramoji Film City. Vasu said the film had taken only 78 days to be completed instead of the planned 120 days.
The picturisation of the song "Devuda Devuda" focused on a variety of professions, especially janitors, sewage cleaners, farmers and washer folk. According to Ramji, who helped the production unit look for locations for the song "Konjam Neram", Australia and Russia were the initial choices for filming locations for the song sequence, but Ramkumar Ganesan and Vasu chose Turkey, making Chandramukhi the first Tamil film to be shot there. The production unit flew to Istanbul from Chennai via Dubai on 25 February 2005. The filming of the song was completed after the audio launch. "Konjam Neram" was shot in segments in Ephesus and Pamukkale. Shooting in Ephesus took six hours. The segment in Pamukkale was filmed in an amphitheatre in the ancient city of Hierapolis, which is located close to Pamukkale. The last segment was shot in the Cappadoccia region, a 10-hour drive by bus from Istanbul. "Raa Raa" was choreographed by Kala and took four days to be completed instead of the planned seven days.

Music

composed the soundtrack album and the background score of Chandramukhi. The soundtrack album consists of six tracks. Vaali, Yugabharathi, Pa. Vijay, Na. Muthukumar and Bhuvana Chandra wrote the lyrics for the Tamil version. Bhuvanachandra, Suddala Ashok Teja, Vennelakanti and Vaali wrote the lyrics for the dubbed Telugu version. The track "Raa Raa" was based on the Surya raaga, which is also known as the Sallabham raaga. Asha Bhosle was engaged to sing a song for the film and to attend the film's audio launch. The audio rights for the film were sold to Sanjay Wadhwa of AnAK audio, later known as AP International for 11 million. Tata Indicom and Sunfeast Biscuits were the sponsors for the audio launch and marketing.
The album was released on 5 March 2005 at the Taj Connemara hotel in Chennai. An overseas audio launch took place the next day in Malaysia. At the Music World shop in Chennai, 437 cassettes and 227 compact discs were sold on the first day of its stock release. The cassettes were priced at 45 each and CD's at 99 each. The original soundtrack of the film and a video CD titled "The making of Chandramukhi", were released on 27 September 2005 in Chennai. The film's background score was released as a separate album.
The album received positive reviews from critics. Siddhu Warrier of Rediff said that "Devuda Devuda" "finds S. P. Balasubramanian in top form". He called "Konjam Neram" "melodious in a forgettable kind of way", "Athinthom" a "soft, melodious song", "Kokku Para Para" as "insipid", "Raa Raa" "a rather listenable track", and said "Annonda Pattu" is "vintage Rajni, and gets your feet tapping. One can almost picture Rajni brandishing his trademark cigarette and sunglasses as he gyrates to the beat. If one is a die-hard Rajni fan, then one is likely to go beserk dancing to this." Singer Charulatha Mani, writing for The Hindu called the song "Konjam Neram", which was based on the Sriranjani raga, an "attractive take on the raga" and said the song "is contemporary in feel and traditional at the roots".

Release

The film was released on 14 April 2005, a Tamil New Year's Day release, alongside Kamal Haasan-starrer Mumbai Xpress and Vijay-starrer Sachein. Chandramukhi was released in 37 theatres in Malaysia, 15 in Europe, nine in Sri Lanka, seven in the United States, four each in Canada and the Persian Gulf countries and two each in Australia and Singapore. The film was released with 23 prints in Coimbatore, 12 more than Rajinikanth's Padayappa.
Chandramukhi was screened at the 18th Tokyo International Film Festival in Japan on 23 October 2005 and 28 October 2005 as part of the 'Winds of Asia' section. It was the first public screening of the film in Japan. It was met with positive response from audiences there. The film opened the 7th IIFA Awards Film Festival held at the Dubai International Convention Centre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, becoming the first South Indian film to open the Film Festival. In November 2011, it was screened at the International Tamil Film Festival held in Uglich, Russia alongside Thillana Mohanambal, Sivaji, Angadi Theru, Boss Engira Bhaskaran, Thenmerku Paruvakaatru and Ko.
Though the film was a remake, Madhu Muttam, who wrote the story for Manichithrathazhu, was not mentioned in either the opening or closing credits. Instead, the story was credited to the director P. Vasu. Vasu defended himself by stating the script was not a scene-by-scene remake of the original and that only the basic plot was used.

Marketing

The producers entered into a business dealing with Tata Indicom to promote the film; ringtones of the songs from the film's soundtrack and special screensavers were issued. Sunfeast Biscuits also helped in the film's promotion; They launched special merchandise which consists of cards, featuring Rajinikanth and some stills of Chandramukhi. Giant cutouts of Rajinikanth and movie release posters were posted all over the state as a run-up for the release. The promotional campaign started in early March 2005 and continued mid-May that year. The film was screened in eight city theatres in Chennai. The theatrical rights of the film in the Coimbatore and Nilgiris districts combined were sold to local theatre owners Tirupur Balu and Seenu for.

Home media

The film's original negative was damaged because of poor care and ill treatment. AP International started a restoration project, which scanned the film frame-by-frame in a 2K workflow. They were able to remove all wear and tear and retain the natural film grain. This restored version was released on 2 August 2012 on Blu-ray format.

Reception

Critical response

Writing for The Hindu, Malathi Rangarajan said, "As you watch the film you cannot but admire the ingenuity of writer-director P. Vasu in choosing a story that is bound to sell and at the same time helping Rajini maintain his image of an invincible hero", before concluding that, "The 'Mannan' team proves a winner again". Another critic from The Hindu, Sudhish Kamath, said Rajinikanth is "at his vintage best". A reviewer from The Times of India called the film "Entertaining, stylish, respectful of ritual, and always massively larger than life". Arun Ram of India Today said, "With Chandramukhi, Rajnikant revives his fading career and fortunes of Tamil cinema". G. Ulaganathan, writing for the Deccan Herald praised the chemistry between Rajinikanth and Vadivelu, saying "Rajinikanth is back in full form, comedy comes naturally to him and he finds an able ally in Vadivelu. Some of the best scenes in the movie are when both are together."
Tamil magazine Ananda Vikatan said in its review, "Rajni's films normally revolve around him but in this case, Rajni is in a script which goes around several people ... Rajni as Vettaiyan is the highlight of the film ... After many years, Rajni has shown that he does not confine to his personality cage through this film." and gave the film 40 marks out of 100. The Sify reviewer wrote that Chandramukhi was simply "a remake of P. Vasu’s Apthamitra from Kannada with some additional songs, fights and comedy scenes thrown in to further boost the superstar’s image" but like Ulaganathan, commended the comedy scenes of Rajinikanth and Vadivelu, terming them the film's highlight. A. Ganesh Nadar of Rediff said the film would become "a certain hit" and,"he star will be happy, his fans will be happy and producer Prabhu will giggle all the way to the bank".
V. Gangadhar of The Tribune wrote, "As in all Rajni films, Chandramukhi is a one-star attraction and Rajni plays to the gallery, There are no political messages in the film and that should come as some relief. With Nayan Tara and Jyotika in the female leads, there is plenty of glamour in the film. But the message is clear, King Rajni is back. His legion of fans can not ask for more." Karthiga Rukmanykanthan writing for Daily News Sri Lanka said, " ... the long anticipated delight Chandramukhi has made itself the box-office hit of the year". Grady Hendrix of Slate appreciated Rajinikanth's characterisation in the film, calling the character, Saravanan's ability to read minds "well-trained" before concluding, "Rajinikanth's movies are crammed with comedy, action, and musical numbers and they take great delight in kicking narrative logic in the face."

Box office

Chandramukhi was a box office success, selling 20 million tickets worldwide and earning 150 million in salary and profit share for Rajinikanth. The film's distributors made a 20 per cent profit over the 25 million for which they bought the rights to the film. Its 365th day was celebrated at Shanthi theatre in Chennai; the celebrations were organised by Life Insurance Corporation of India.
The film's 804th day celebration function was held at Kamaraj Arangam in Chennai on 25 June 2007. The then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. Karunanidhi, director K. Balachander, film producer and owner of AVM Productions M. Saravanan, Kamal Haasan and Sridevi attended the function. Karunanidhi presented the "Shivaji" sword to the film's cast and crew, and awards were given to everyone involved in the film.

India

Chandramukhi grossed 8.4 million in 11 days in eight screens in Chennai. In the Santham screen of Sathyam Cinemas, around 22,000 tickets were sold for the first 10 days of its release. The Telugu-dubbed version topped the box office charts in its first week of release. Chandramukhi grossed 30 million in Coimbatore, beating the 24.5 million record set there by Padayappa. Chandramukhi received 60 million as Minimum Guarantee from theatres in North Arcot, South Arcot and Chengalpattu districts collectively. It was also a hit in Kerala where it grossed 711,545 in four days, doing better than the Mohanlal starrer Chandrolsavam, which also released on 14 April 2005, but grossed 523,340 during the same period of time.
The film's theatrical run lasted 890 days at Sivaji Ganesan's family-owned Shanthi theatre in Chennai, beating the 62-year record set by the 1944 film Haridas, which ran for 784 days at the Broadway theatre, also in Chennai. According to Krishna Gopalan of Business Today, the film grossed 750 million in its lifetime run. The New Indian Express estimates that it grossed 650 million. This was the first Tamil film to exceed the box office record set by Ghilli, which grossed 330 million. It was the longest running South Indian film, until surpassed by the Telugu film Magadheera, which completed a theatrical run of 1000 days in April 2012.

Overseas

Chandramukhi was screened in Tokyo in October 2005 to packed houses. Chandramukhi completed a 100-day theatrical run in South Africa. It collectively earned 43 million in Malaysia, UAE and the US during the first month of its theatrical run. The film collected 62.78 million in Malaysia; it was the only Indian film to feature in that country's top ten grossing films of the year.

Accolades

The awards for the film mainly went to Vadivelu and Jyothika for their performances. Rajinikanth won a Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for their roles. In an interview with The Hindu, Binny Krishnakumar said:
AwardCeremonyCategoryNomineeOutcome
Filmfare Awards South53rd Filmfare Awards SouthBest Female Playback SingerBinny Krishnakumar
Filmfare Awards South53rd Filmfare Awards SouthBest ComedianVadivelu
Tamil Nadu State Film AwardsTamil Nadu State Film Award – 2005Best FilmChandramukhi
Tamil Nadu State Film AwardsTamil Nadu State Film Award – 2005Best ActorRajinikanth
Tamil Nadu State Film AwardsTamil Nadu State Film Award – 2005Best ActressJyothika
Tamil Nadu State Film AwardsTamil Nadu State Film Award – 2005Best Art DirectorThota Tharani
Tamil Nadu State Film AwardsTamil Nadu State Film Award – 2005Best ChoreographerKala
Kalaimamani AwardsKalaimamani – 2005HonoraryJyothika
Kalaimamani AwardsKalaimamani – 2005HonoraryVadivelu
Film Fans' Association Award55th Annual Film Fans' Association Award
Cine bests of 2005		Best Entertainment MovieChandramukhi
Film Fans' Association Award55th Annual Film Fans' Association Award
Cine bests of 2005		Best ActressJyothika
Film Fans' Association Award55th Annual Film Fans' Association Award
Cine bests of 2005		Best LyricistVaali
Film Fans' Association Award55th Annual Film Fans' Association Award
Cine bests of 2005		Best ComedianVadivelu

Legacy

In an interview with film journalist Sreedhar Pillai, Rajinikanth attributed the success of the film mainly to Vasu's script and the performance of his co-artistes. He said his comedy track with Vadivelu went a long way in making the film a successful venture and that it helped bring audiences to the theatres to watch the film more than once. He also said female viewers loved the portrayal of the female cast.
Split personality disorder became well known after the film's release. MIOT hospital, in a blog description of the syndrome, called it The Chandramukhi syndrome. Film artist, trainer and film-maker L. Satyanand said Chandramukhi is a classic example of the subgenre "horror of the demonic" and of "brilliance", ranking it alongside The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Psycho. The film became a trendsetter for later horror films such as the Muni series, Yavarum Nalam, Eeram, Pizza, Yaamirukka Bayamey, Aranmanai, Darling and Demonte Colony.
In a seminar on revisiting psychiatric disorders which centred around Chandramukhi and Anniyan, psychiatrist Asokan noted that there were many logical faults in both films. Responding to this, Vasu said that he did not know anything about psychiatric disorders: "I never had a brush with a ghost. Anyone watching films could come to a conclusion that ghosts have uniform—white saree and a pale face. My family saw the Malayalam film Manichitrathazu. Next day I saw a shadow moving in front of my bedroom and when I asked who was it, pat came the reply from my 4-year-old daughter that it was 'Nagavalli', the ghostly character in the film."
Sivaji Productions joined Galatta Media and eBay for an online auction of the film's memorabilia, becoming the first South Indian film to auction film merchandise. Ramkumar Ganesan said the proceeds of the auction would be given to the Sivaji Prabhu Charity Trust and that 300,000 would be given to Papanchatram Middle School. Sophie Atphthavel from France bought Rajinikanth's sunglasses, which he sported in the film, for 25,000. According to Girish Ramdas, chief operating officer of Galatta Media, all the items had certificates of authenticity signed by the film's producers. Bidding for the items ranged between 10,000 and 20,000.
In a statement by eBay, the articles made available for bidding were Rajinikanth's blue shirt worn in the song "Devuda Devuda", Jyothika's saree worn for the climax scenes, the peach-coloured saree worn by Nayanthara in the song "Konja Neram", and the Vettaiyan Raja costume and ornaments worn on set by Rajinikanth. Rajinikanth's dress, which he wore in "Devuda Devuda", was sold for 25,000. His Vettaiyan costume and ornament set were sold for 32,000. The saree worn by Nayanthara in the song "Kokku Para Para" was also auctioned.

In popular culture

Some scenes, dialogues and expressions from the film, such as the "Lakka Lakka..." sound that Rajnikanth's character makes, became very popular, especially with children. Vadivelu's expressions and scenesespecially those with Rajinikanthand dialogues including "Maapu...Vachittandaa Aapu!!!", which means "Son-in-law...he has trapped me!!!", also became popular. A dialogue spoken by Rajinikanth to Prabhu, Naan gunda irundha nalla irukkadhu...nee elachcha nalla irukkadhu, which translates
into "I won't look good if I put on weight...but you won't look good if you have reduced weight" evoked a lot of laughter among audiences.
Prabhu's catchphrase, "Enna kodumai Saravanan idhu?", which means "What atrocity is this, Saravanan?" became popular. It is usually used to express irony or surprise. The line was often parodied by actor Premgi Amaren, who altered it slightly to "Enna Kodumai, Sir Idhu?". This altered line was frequently used in Chennai 600028, Goa and Mankatha. Prabhu said in an interview with Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu, "I hope I get to play light roles. Incidentally, I quite like the way in which these young actors have made a joke of my serious line in ChandramukhiEnna Kodumai Saravana Idhu".

Parodies

Chandramukhi was parodied in various films. In a comedy scene from Englishkaran, Theeppori Thirumugam invents an idea to frighten Thamizharasu but the ruse backfires on him as he witnesses Thamizharasu in a garb similar to that of Chandramukhi's. Chandramukhi was parodied along with Anniyan in the Telugu film Rajababu. In a scene from Thalaimagan, Erimalai, after entering an old abandoned bungalow, gets frightened when he hears the "Lakka Lakka" sound, and says Yaaro Telugula Koopuddrangga!. In Vallavan, Vallavan is seen singing "Konja Neram" to Swapna. In Sivaji, Thamizhselvi would be seen dancing for the song "Raa Raa", Sivaji and Arivu are seen uttering the last lines of the song. Livingston who appears as a police inspector, utters the sound "Lakka Lakka" which Rajinikanth makes in Chandramukhi. Rajinikanth and Nayanthara's characters act in a film titled Chandramukhi 2 in a scene from Kuselan, which P. Vasu also directed. In Thamizh Padam, Shiva would be seen imitating the film's introduction scene by stretching his leg when it is revealed that Siva has a split seam in his pants. Sundar C.'s role in the film Aranmanai was inspired by Rajinikanth's role in Chandramukhi. Chandramukhi was parodied in the Star Vijay comedy series Lollu Sabha, in an episode named Sappamookki.

Other versions

Chandramukhi was dubbed in Telugu and was simultaneously released with the same title as the Tamil version. It was also dubbed and released in Bhojpuri under the title Chandramukhi Ke Hunkaar. It is the first Tamil film to be dubbed into German. It was released in Germany under the title, Der Geisterjäger. The film was also dubbed and released in Turkish. Despite the release of Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Chandramukhi was dubbed in Hindi and released on 29 February 2008 by Dilip Dhanwani, owner of the production house Royal Film Company. The Hindi version was released in collaboration with producer A. M. Rathnam.

Sequels

A standalone sequel to Chandramukhi titled Nagavalli was made in Telugu. The sequel was also directed by P. Vasu and starred Venkatesh Daggubati as the male lead, and Anushka Shetty, Richa Gangopadhyay, Shraddha Das, Poonam Kaur, and Kamalinee Mukherjee as the female leads. It was released on 16 December 2010. In April 2020, a sequel to be produced by Sun Pictures was announced; Vasu will return as director, while Raghava Lawrence will star.