Musthaffaa

Musthaffaa is a 1996 Tamil action drama film directed by R. Aravindraj. The film features Napoleon and Ranjitha in the lead roles, with Goundamani, Mansoor Ali Khan, K. Prasanna, Lakshmi, Kazan Khan, Alex, Sooriya, Rajeshkumar, Babloo Prithiveeraj, Ganeshkar and Charmila playing supporting roles. The film, produced by P. G. Shrikanth, had musical score by Vidyasagar and was released on 16 February 1996. The film was later remade into Hindi as Ghulam-E-Mustafa (1997) starring Nana Patekar and Raveena Tandon and into Bangladeshi Bengali as Abbajan (2001) starring Manna and in Bengali as Rehmat Ali (2010) starring Mithun Chakraborty and Rituparna Sengupta.[1][2][3][4]

Musthaffaa
Directed byR. Aravindraj
Produced byP. G. Shrikanth
Written byK. Prasanna
Starring
Music byVidyasagar
CinematographyK. Rajpreeth
Edited byR. T. Annadurai
Production
company
S. G. S. Cinearts International
Release date
  • 16 February 1996 (1996-02-16)
Running time
140 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Plot

Musthaffaa (Napoleon) is the trusted henchman of the godfather Periyavar (Sooriya). When politicians need help, they notify Periyavar, and Musthaffaa, in turn, solves the problem with his sidekick Chellappa (Goundamani). Musthaffaa considers Periyavar as his own father and he calls him Vappa (father in Tamil Muslim) whilst he considers Chellappa as his own elder brother.

In the meantime, Sundaresan (K. Prasanna) is appointed as an office worker in a government office, and he has persistently refused bribes. Being from a middle-class orthodox Brahmin family, Sundaresan lives with his sick wife Bhagyalakshmi (Lakshmi), his daughter Lalitha (Charmila), and his son Ramkumar (Ganeshkar). Lalitha falls in love with Lakshmanan (Babloo Prithiveeraj), while Ramkumar wants to become an engineer. Lakshmanan's family ask for a huge dowry for the wedding, and the principal of the engineering college asks them for a huge amount to enrol their son. Without enough revenue, they refuse both proposals. When Musthaffaa comes to know about their problem, he pressures Sundaresan to sign some contracts without examining them in exchange for bribes, but they still refuse.

Musthaffaa shares enmity with Kaalaiya (Mansoor Ali Khan) who wants to kill Periyavar. Meanwhile, a dancer named Kavita (Ranjitha), who works in Kaalaiya's dance club, is saved by Musthaffaa from Kaalaiya's henchmen. With the help of Musthaffaa, Kavita becomes a Bharata Natyam teacher. Kavita develops a soft corner for Musthaffaa, and they finally decide to marry. In the meantime, Bhagyalakshmi's asthma has worsened and she is admitted to the hospital. To treat her, Sundaresan must disburse a huge amount. The next day, the vigilance officer Rajaram (Kazan Khan) clothes as a civilian, tries to corrupt the officers, but only Sundaresan accepts. Sundaresan is subsequently arrested for corruption.

Kaalaiya plans to kill Periyavar, so his son (Rajeshkumar) puts a bomb in his car. Unfortunately, Kavita gets killed in the car blast before their wedding. Thereafter, Musthaffaa turns berserk and kills Kaalaiya's son. Musthaffaa decides to become a good man, so he helps Sundaresan's family and decides to live with them. Thereby, Periyavar becomes upset over Musthaffaa's decision. First, the relationship between Musthaffaa and Sundaresan's family was very tense, but later they lived together in total harmony respecting their customs.

During the Legislative Assembly election, the violence is in full swing between the ruling party and the opposition party. Periyavar, on the side of the ruling party, cannot control it without Musthaffaa while Kaalaiya, on the side of the opposition party, is gaining in power with Rajaram's aid. So Musthaffaa decides to take this last job to finance Lalitha's wedding and Ramkumar's education, to give again Sundaresan's job, and to treat Bhagyalakshmi's asthma. Finally, Musthaffaa kills Kaalaiya, and the ruling party wins the election. Minister Sathyanathan (Prathapachandran) congrats him for his work; as for Musthaffaa, he requests the minister to deal with the problems peacefully, but it does not please Sathyanathan. During Lalitha's wedding, Musthaffaa is arrested by the police, but as a transformed person, he accepts the sentence. There, in a twist of fate, Periyavar's henchman shoots Musthaffaa in the back, and he died in Periyavar's arms. Periyavar orders to kill him because of fear of reprisal and self-interest. In turn, Chellappa shoots Periyavar dead and is immediately arrested.

Cast

Soundtrack
Musthaffaa
Soundtrack album by
Vidyasagar
Released1996
Recorded1996
GenreFeature film soundtrack
Length21:06
ProducerVidyasagar

The film score and the soundtrack were composed by film composer Vidyasagar. The soundtrack, released in 1996, features 5 tracks with lyrics written by Vairamuthu.

TrackSongSinger(s)Duration
1'Kadhalar Mattum'Mano, Swarnalatha4:33
2'Kalapu Mayile'Mano, Malgudi Subha, Vidyasagar4:22
3'Kannukkum Kannukkum'Hariharan, Sadhana Sargam, Santhan, Gopal Sharma4:51
4'Vallavanda Vallavanda'Mano, Chorus2:49
5'Vaya Mappillai'Swarnalatha4:31

Production

K. Prasanna had written Musthaffaa as a serial in the weekly magazine Ananda Vikatan and had also staged it as a drama. Impressed by the story, the producer P. G. Shrikanth decides to make into a film. The experienced director R. Aravindraj, who directed cult films such as Oomai Vizhigal and Uzhavan Magan, was selected to direct the film while Vidyasagar composed the musical score. Napoleon accepted to play the title role. Napoleon has acted in P. G. Shrikanth's previous venture Seevalaperi Pandi which was a blockbuster and was a turning point in his career.[5][6]

Reception

K. Vijayan of New Straits Times praised the actor Napoleon and said, "whatever inadequacies Musthaffaa had in the first half is redeemed in the second half".[6]

References
  1. "Musthapa (1996) Tamil Movie". spicyonion.com. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  2. "Filmography of musthafa". cinesouth.com. Archived from the original on 10 February 2005. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  3. "Find Tamil Movie Musthafa". jointscene.com. Archived from the original on 28 April 2012. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  4. "Cinema Profile". actornapoleon.com. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  5. "Napoleon in 'Pallikondapuram'". indiaglitz.com. 12 June 2008. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  6. K. Vijayan (9 March 1996). "The perfect role for 'anti-hero' Napoleon". The Indian Express: 25. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
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