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Muthu
Directed by	K.S. Ravikumar
Written by	K.S. Ravikumar Priyadarshan
Starring	Rajnikanth Meena Raghuvaran Senthil Vadivelu
Music by	A. R. Rahman
Release date(s)	1995
Running time	140 mins
Language	Tamil
IMDb profile

Muthu (Tamil : முத்து) (1995) is a Tamil film directed by K.S. Ravikumar. The film's score and soundtrack is composed by A. R. Rahman. The film stars Rajinikanth, Meena, Raghuvaran, Sharath Babu, Radharavi, Senthil and Vadivelu. It is based on the plot of a previous Malayalam movie Thenmavin Kombathu. The film enjoyed commercial success upon release. A five-minute fight sequence in the film was featured in the 2006 French film Prête-Moi Ta Main (Lend Me Your Hand) directed by Eric Lartigau.

The film was later released in Telugu and in Japanese in Japan as Muthu Odoru Maharaja (ムトゥ 踊るマハラジャ, lit. Muthu - The Dancing Maharaja, Muthu Odoru Maharaja^?). The film was acclaimed and became a huge hit with the Japanese when released in the country in 1998 and grossed $3 million USD in Japan - the most by any Indian film in Japan. The Japanese language Wikipedia has more information about this (on the left side language box).

A lavish Maharaja lived with his sister-in-law and step-brother Rajasekhar, helping people incessantly. His sister-in-law had a son, to whom a major portion of his property were given. At this juncture, a new baby born to the Maharaja, before his wife died. Brother Rajasekhar cheated the Maharaja fearing that property might be taken back and forwarded to his own son. When the cheating came to light, the Maharaja handed over all his property and his baby to his sister-in-law and brother and went to the Himalayas, making his sister-in-law promise him that the baby should be brought up as a servant, not as a Maharaja. The baby is named Muthu.

According to the promise tendered to the Mahararaja, the son of the Maharaja's sister-in-law became Prince (Sharath Babu) and Muthu worked as his servant. A huge fan of Drama, the prince regularly took Muthu along with him wherever he went. One day the Prince falls in love with an actress Ranganayaki (Meena). But Ranganayaki's heart lies with Muthu. Amidst all this, the Prince's Uncle (Radharavi), tried to capture all the property by killing everyone. But Muthu saved all and it was finally revealed that Muthu was the real Maharaja.

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The Chettinad Palace in which the movie was shot

• Indian Prime Minister made a special note about the reach of this film among the Japanese in his speech at 'Diet' on 14-12-2006.[1][2]
• Rajini's charisma earned many fans in Japan and the actress Meena also became popular in the country.
• The music for the film was composed by A. R. Rahman, the first Rajnikanth film A. R. Rahman wrote music for.
• The movie is characterised by beautiful location shots in Kerala and was shot in numerous palaces.
• The Zamindar's palace in which the movie was shot, is the Chettinad Palace in Chennai.

The soundtrack features 6 songs composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics by Vairamuthu.

• Kuluvalilae - Udit Narayan, K. S. Chithra
• Thilana Thilana - Mano, Sujatha
• Oruvan Oruvan - S. P. Balasubrahmanyam
• Kokku Saiva Kokku - S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Theni Kunjaramma
• Vidu Kathaiya - Hariharan
• Theme Music - Instrumental