My Dear Kuttichathan

Plot

The character 'Kuttichathan' is formed on the basis of the specialties of a deity popularly known as 'Chathan' who is being worshiped mainly in the south Indian state, Kerala. There are cruel magicians everywhere in the world. One of them is the Karimbhootham (black magician), who enslaved an invisible spirit with his magic spells, whom he calls Kuttichathan ("Little Ghost" in English and "Chhota Chetan" in Hindi). Two boys and a girl befriend Kuttichathan by accident and release him from the grip of the magician.

On the way Kuttichathan meets Ashish, a member of the police, who is after Karimbhootham.

They understand that this Chathan is friendly to kids and is a very good friend. Therefore, the girl promises to keep Kuttichathan in a house for two reasons: one, her father drinks too much, so she wants Chathan, who is a very good magician, to make him himself, as her mother has died, there is no one to control him; second, Chathan, being a small boy, also drinks a lot. He could drink all that her father drinks, thereby changing her father's attitude.

At the same time, the cruel magician wants the Kuttichathan to lay hands on a treasure. Even though the magician is the owner of the Kuttichathan, he is burnt and killed by the Chathan in the climax. Chathan turns into a bat and flies away.

Cast

Production

My Dear Kuttichathan was the first Indian film to be filmed in 3D. Jijo Punnoose, son of Navodaya Appachan made his directorial debut with this film. Jijo decided to direct a 3D film after getting inspired by an article in "American Cinematographer" shown to him by Ramchandra Babu. Ashok Kumar handled cinematography for the film thus making him the first cinematographer in India for having shot a 3D film. T. K. Rajeev Kumar who went on to become a famous director started his career as an assistant director with this film.

Release and Legacy

The film was released in 1984 along with dubbed versions in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. Telugu and Hindi versions were titled Chinnari Chethana and Chhota Chetan respectively. All the versions proved to be successful.

The film was re released in 1997 which was also highly successful at box office, had earned 60 times its initial investments. Hindi version was re-released by Nitin Manmohan in 1997 with additional scenes which involved Urmila Matondkar and other Hindi actors. In 2010, Sri Thenandal Films re-released Tamil version titled Chutti Chathan in 2010 with added scenes starring Santhanam and Prakash Raj.

The film became a trendsetter and remains a cult classic in Malayalam cinema. The optical illusion in house set used in the song "Aalipazham Perukkaan" was built in Kishkinta Theme Park.