Published 20:33 IST, May 8th 2020
Rajinikanth shaved his moustache for first time on screen in 'Thillu Mullu' & other facts
Rajinikanth played a full-fledged comedy role for the first time in his career in Thillu Mullu. Read to know some other interesting facts about the comedy film
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Thillu Mullu stars Rajinikanth as Chandran /Indran along with Thengai Srinivasan, Nagesh, Poornam Vishwanathan, Sowcar Janaki, Madhavi and Viji Chandrasekhar. Released in 1981 it is a Tamil-language comedy film directed by K. Balachander. Thillu Mullu tells the story of Chandran, who lies to his boss that his mother is ill to get a leave but gets caught. To save his job, he is forced to pretend to his boss that he has a twin brother. Read to know a few interesting facts about the film.
10 interesting facts about Thillu Mullu
1. Thillu Mullu is a remake of the 1979 Hindi movie Gol Maal. The original stars Amol Palekar, Utpal Dutt, Bindiya Goswami and others. It received rave reviews and was a super hit at the box office, being the highest-grossing film of 1979.
2. Rajinikanth did a full-fledged comedy role for the first time in Thillu Mullu. Prior, he was mainly known for his action films. Rajini’s performance in the film was praised by the critics.
3. Rajinikanth shaved his moustache for the first time on screen for this film. He was hesitant to do so and also for doing comedy. It was filmmaker Balachander who convinced him.
4. Rajinikanth wanted Nagesh to play Indran and Chandran. He suggested the same to director K. Balachander. But he refused and took Rajinikanth for the role. Nagesh appears in the film playing himself.
5. Thillu Mullu was Rajinikanth and Balachander’s last film together. It was also the last film when both Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan acted together. Kamal makes a cameo appearance in the film as an actor who is helping Rajini.
6. Kamal Haasan’s character name in the film is Charuhasan. It is a reference to his real-life elder brother. Charuhasan is an actor, director, writer and retired lawyer.
7. Rajinikanth met his wife Latha during the shoot of Thillu Mullu. At that time, she was a student at Ethiraj college. Latha met Rajinikanth to interview him for a college magazine and love happened.
8. On the 100th year of Indian Cinema, Forbes India included both Rajinikanth and Thengai Shrinivasan on the list of 25 Great Acting performances in Indian Cinema. Shrinivasan plays the role Sriramachandramurthy in the film. The two were praised for their on-screen presence.
9. Popular Director/ Actor Visu wrote the screenplay for this film. He initially worked as an assistant to K. Balachander. His last work as a writer and actor was in 2016 released Manal Kayiru 2.
10. A remake of Thillu Mullu was released in 2013 with the same name. It stars Shiva reprising Rajinikanth’s role and Prakash Raj playing Thengai Sreenivasan’s role. The film was a moderate success but could not recreate the magic of the original.
20:33 IST, May 8th 2020