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Director Fazil recalls that Manichithrathazhu began with an old supernatural belief and became a story about the mind. In his 2018 interview with Archana Nathan for Scroll, he describes how writer Madhu Muttom’s idea, Shobana’s transformation into Ganga and Nagavalli, carefully chosen locations, music and a mechanically staged climax came together in the 1993 Malayalam thriller.
How a ghost story became a psychological thriller
Manichithrathazhu, released on December 23, 1993, follows Ganga (Shobana), who moves with her husband Nakulan (Suresh Gopi) into the family home at Maadampalli. There she hears about Nagavalli, a dancer from Tanjore said to be confined to a room in the mansion. As Ganga becomes absorbed in that story, Nakulan’s psychiatrist friend Sunny (Mohanlal) tries to understand what is happening.
Fazil said the idea came from Muttom, who brought him a story based on Chaathaneru, an old belief that an evil spirit called Chaathan caused stones to fall on house roofs. Fazil initially hesitated because he saw the premise as rooted in superstition. Muttom, in Fazil’s recollection, connected such incidents to psychiatry and to people acting without awareness of their actions. That possibility gave Fazil a way to turn a seemingly supernatural premise toward a psychological story.
Fazil said he and Muttom developed the story over three and a half years, sometimes resuming discussions after breaks of several months. They wanted a film that brought together visual art, music, dance, drama, suspense and comedy. “We wanted to talk about mental illness,” Fazil told Nathan. That was his description of the filmmakers’ intention, not clinical guidance or a diagnosis of anyone outside the fiction.
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How Ganga comes to identify with Nagavalli
Fazil described Nagavalli as a woman who loved one man, was forced to marry another and was eventually murdered. He said the filmmakers created her as someone with whom Ganga could identify. In his account, Ganga’s experience of being left with her grandmother while her parents were away contributed to feelings of abandonment and loss. Hearing Nagavalli’s story shifts Ganga’s response from sympathy toward identification, until, as Fazil put it, Ganga becomes Nagavalli.
Fazil said Shobana came to mind immediately for Nagavalli and that the filmmakers did not want another actor for the role. He also recalled Suresh Gopi as their immediate choice for Nakulan. Mohanlal was cast as Sunny because the filmmakers wanted the psychiatrist to be eccentric, bring comedy into the story and explain the illness to Ganga’s family.
The actors received different amounts of information about the script, according to Fazil. Shobana and Suresh Gopi were given a broad description of the subject; Mohanlal heard the entire script because Sunny needed to know everything. That distinction reflects the different functions Fazil assigned the characters: Ganga’s experience drives the mystery, while Sunny is positioned to interpret it for the family.
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Where the film was shot—and where Nagavalli’s rooms were found
Fazil recalled filming exteriors at Hill Palace in Kochi and Padmanabhapuram Palace near Thiruvananthapuram. Neither palace, he said, had the rooms needed for the story’s central setting: adjoining rooms associated with Thampi and Nagavalli, connected by a door.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesHe said he found the required rooms at producer S. S. Vasan’s house in Chennai, which Vasan rented out for film shoots. The art department made Nagavalli’s portrait for the set. The contrast between palace exteriors and a separately located interior gave the production the particular layout the story needed without relying on a single mansion location.
Fazil credited a thorough script with helping the shoot run smoothly and recalled that filming took around 60 days. That figure is his estimate in the 2018 interview, not an independently audited production record.
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How music helped shape the atmosphere—and the title
Fazil said he wanted a Carnatic touch in the score and believed composer M. G. Radhakrishnan was right for the film. In his recollection, Radhakrishnan initially objected to the project, then agreed to compose “Pazhamthamizh,” the song associated with the attic and Nagavalli’s room.
Fazil said he decided that “Pazhamthamizh” should be sung by Mohanlal’s character rather than function as the “Thekkini” song. He then asked for another song in the same Kunthalavarali raga, which he identified with “Oru Murai Vandu Parthaaya.” He recalled that the latter song was expanded to include a male-sung section for Nagavalli’s lover, Ramanathan. Fazil credited Johnson with re-recording the songs and said the arrangements used mridangam, veena and sitar rather than electronic instruments.
The title also came through the music, in Fazil’s account. He said lyricist Bicchu Thirumala wrote the title phrase into the lines of “Pazhamtamizh.” The word suggested a lock to Fazil; he also connected “mani” with “mana,” or mind, and found the idea of a “mind’s lock” compelling. “The idea of a mind’s lock, I found interesting,” he said.
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How the climax was staged
Fazil called the climax the hardest sequence to shoot. The scene had to show Shobana’s character poised to cut Suresh Gopi’s throat, while, from her point of view, the person before her was Thampi. Fazil said Suresh Gopi proposed a wooden bench that could hold the actor on one side and a Thampi dummy on the other. A pulley-like mechanism would turn the bench at the required moment.
Fazil recalled that the sequence took 16 continuous nights to shoot. He contrasted that demanding stretch with what he described as a smooth production elsewhere. The staging solved a practical problem as well as a dramatic one: the audience needed to see the threatened man and the identity Ganga perceived in the same moment.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.The crew’s role in keeping the production moving
Fazil’s account of the shoot emphasizes coordination as much as individual decisions. He named assistant directors Priyadarshan, Siddique, Lal and Sibi Malayil, and said he assigned assistants to shoot smaller scenes while he worked with the principal actors. The arrangement helped keep the crew occupied rather than waiting for the main shoot to proceed.
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He credited the cast, locations, costumes and music with coming together through teamwork. “Everything came together to make the film happen,” he said. His description of the result as “100% perfect” is his own assessment of the production, not an objective measure.
The film’s awards and later remakes
Scroll’s 2018 account says Manichithrathazhu received two National Film Awards, for Best Actress and Best Popular Film. It also identifies the Kannada remake Apthamitra (2004), the Tamil Chandramukhi (2005), which Scroll says was also dubbed into Telugu, and the Hindi Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007).
Fazil said the remakes were successful and recalled that P. Vasu changed the first half of the Kannada version, introducing its hero earlier. That specific observation concerns Apthamitra; the interview does not establish the same change for the other adaptations. Scroll’s opening frames the remakes as falling short of the original’s vision and impact, an evaluative judgment rather than a measurable comparison. Fazil also said he received royalties as the maker of the original; the interview does not provide independent documentation of that claim.
These details come from Fazil’s retrospective interview with Archana Nathan, published by Scroll on December 20, 2018. His production timeline, recollections and interpretations are valuable first-person accounts, but they are not independent production records.
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