My Dear Kuttichaathan

One Malayalam film that can be placed in the front row of Indian Cinema History, India's first ever 3D feature film. It's still a mystery and most discussed that why Jijo has not directed many films. He was very successful in taking the Malayali audience to a new level of fantasy, never seen before at that time. It was really a visual magic with prominent practical effects. The risk and effort behind this movie is infinite. Even today's generation can enjoy it very well, though the doors of infinite world of entertainment is wide open infront of them. The film was revised and rereleased many times, still it's fresh and enjoyable. The god father of all Indian fantasy films.

When i first saw this movie when i was around 8 or so, i found it quite depressing and scary, and not just because of the supposedly 3d horror elements.

I felt the true horror was the exploitation of Chatan at the hands of the magician. Magic wands pointed at the screen didn't scare me as a child.

As an adult now, i can easily see the entrapment of Chatan by the magician as an allegory for child labour and/or pedophilia. You can easily replace the magician with a firecracker factory owner and Chatan with some worker child in Sivakasi.

In the movie, if the magician dies, Chatan dies too. So in real life, the factory stops and owner gets arrested, the child workers will starve too!

Iam surprised that one of the most beloved malayalam movies of all time has so few reviews in imdb..The movie as a tremendous achievement by its creator jijo who went ahead with the project after reading an article about 3d technology in american cinematographer magazine.

It was really a bold decision because he had no experience with this technology . He went to america to study the film making process and bought equipments from there.When released it was the first 3d movie in India.

The movie was and is still is one of the biggest box office hits in the history of indian cinema. It also won the national award for best children's film. Many film makers since then tried to make 3d movies in its wake but none succeeded likewise..

What was the reason? Maybe it captured the imagination of the kids of that time..It was a time before cable television , computer games and mobile phones invaded our homes and children use to spent their leisure times playing and exploring their sorroundings..

Every such exploration were an adventure for them. I being myself a kid of the 80s could relate well to the kids in the movie..A film in the same vein was manu uncle .Which also won the national award for best children's movie

The movie is about 3 kids who release and then befriend a demon/chaathan..A deity who is worshipped throughout kerala..There is a kanadi madom in thrissur who have been worshipping kutti chathan for centuries and they have a temple where devotees visit regularly..Chathan is somewhat similar to the genie of arabian nights who can be enslaved by the black magician and can be made to satisfy his every wish.

The kids are frightened by the initial shapes in which the chathan manifest himself..Finally they ask him come in the image of a drawing done by the artist father of one of the kid ..The scene where he appears is one of the most memorable scenes in the movie..

The black magician from whom the chathan escapes is played brilliantly by kottarakkara sreedharan nair (father of saikumar) who is really scary in his portrayal.

Despite being a children's movie it does not hesitate from showing the reality of life..The drunkard father who neglects his child, the repressed sexuality of the malayali male who secretly vists a striptease club where the children go in at the insistence of chathan.. the hilarious scene where the spectators become the one who are stripped is great.

It is also whom that despite his friendly child apperance the chathan is still the deMon who enjoys liquor ..The scenes where the child artist drink liquor at the bar would not have passed muster with the censor board of today...

The song alippazham perukkan is a commendable effort even today in the way it was picturised.one wonders how they achieved the sequences where the children walk on the roof upside down without any special effects or computer wizardry..

The movie was re released number of times since the 90s with some newly added scenes bit i feel they have not worked well..They said have either done a remake or a sequel instead of tinkering with the original .

I watched the 1st rerelease in the 90s where the movie had the soundtrack in DTS. It was good but they changed the original songs to new ones which put off many of is who were kids and had watched the original...

The movie may not appear even remotely fascinating to the kids of today who are saturated by 3d hollywood movies but for the men and women who in their late 30s and early 40s, it's a bit of nostalgia of those wonderful time bygone..

This film has been released again in 1997 with some new sequences. That version is the first DTS film in Malayalam and also the first DTS 3D film in India. It has another record already that it is the first 3D film in India when released in 1984. The second version is excellent in its sound effects and computer graphics. A best entertainer and an excellent movie experience for all type of spectators. The film is mainly intended for children. In technical aspects,the film is high standard comparing to other Malayalam movies of the same period. Jijo who already proved as an excellent technician by his earlier hits like Padyottam ,has done a great effort to make this film. Overall the film has a flavor of Hollywood fantasy film.