Kasthuri Maan

Kasthuri Maan is a 2005 Tamil film directed by Malayalam director A. K. Lohithadas. The film, a remake of the director's own Malayalam film of same name, and his only Tamil project till date, stars Prasanna and Meera Jasmine, who reprised her role from the original.^[1][2] It also features Shammi Thilakan, Sarath Babu, V. M. C. Haneefa, Bharathi Kannan, Pawan, Vinodini and Suja. Kasthuri Maan's story revolves around a young college girl who helps her lover realize his dream of becoming an IAS officer amidst her own problems.^[3] The film released during Diwali 2005^[4] and was positively received.

Plot

The movie starts with a mature Arun Kumar (Prasanna), now a collector of the district. The story is narrated in a flashback, where his father, Pazhaniappan wants Arun to get married. His father used to be a rich film producer and had borrowed money from a rich person but is unable to repay his debt. The rich man wants his daughter to get married to Arun Kumar. Arun does not want to get married.

Umashankari (Meera Jasmine) and Arun study in the same college. Uma is a lively, mischievous girl on campus, but at home, faces acute poverty and takes up various odd jobs to take care of her house as well as to keep away from her sister’s husband, who makes advances towards her. In the meantime, Arun Kumar’s father attempts suicide because he is deeply in debt. Umashankari steps in and helps Arun who is preparing for I.A.S. exams. She does everything to ensure that he becomes an I.A.S. officer. He in turn, promises to marry her and rescue her from her situation. However Uma, after an unfortunate encounter with her brother-in–law, lands in prison, and how the couple finally manages to re-unite is brought out in the climax.

Cast

• Prasanna as Arunachalam Palaniappan
• Meera Jasmine as Umashankari Vetrivel
• Shammi Thilakan as C. K. Nagarajan
• Sarath Babu as Palaniappan
• V. M. C. Haneefa
• Bharathi Kannan
• Pawan
• Vinodini as Prema
• Suja as Sunitha
• T. K. Kala
• Geetha Ravishankar as Arun's mother
• Anjali Devi as Vadivammal
• Kulappulli Leela as Muniyamma

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja while the lyrics for all the songs were written by Vaali, Muthulingam, Na. Muthukumar, PazhaniBharathi & Mu. Metha.^[5]

• Oru Porkaalam - Karthik, Manjari
• Ketkalyo - Tippu, Manjari
• Nethu Varaikkum - Sujatha
• Ennai Ketkum - Tippu
• Vaanin Kadhal - Manjari

Critical reception

The Hindu wrote, "Sumangala Arts and maker Lohitdas...deserve to be lauded for not succumbing to the lure of the commercial format and dwelling on a moving storyline that has comedy, sentiment, romance and passion in right proportions. And all these blend with the story to form a cohesive whole".^[6] Indiaglitz.com wrote, "A dominant performance by Meera Jasmine coupled with a touchy screenplay by director Lohitha Dass makes Kasthoori Maan an engrossing movie. With unpredictable sequence of events and crisp dialogues by Jaya Mohan, the movie is certainly an offbeat entertainer worth a watch".^[7]

References