My Dear Kuttichathan/Chhota? Chetan

1984 96’ col Malayalam/Hindi/Tamil? d Jijo pc Navodaya sc Raghunath Paleri st Navodaya’s script team lyr Bichu Thirumala c Ashok Kumar m Ilaiyaraja lp Kottarakkara Sridharan Nair, Alumoodan, Dalip Tahil, Arvind, Mukesh, Suresh, Sonia

Made by the veteran director Appachan’s son, this box-office hit is a fantasy film designed to show off its special effects in India’s first 3-D movie. Kuttichathan is a mischievous genie living in an abandoned house. He is accidentally summoned by a group of children and appears in the guise of a boy who carries out all their wishes. This allows the director to stage scenes of children walking on the ceiling, speeded-up rickshaw rides and various other spectacular episodes. Sentiment is catered for by having the genie cure one child’s father of alcoholism. The genie eventually changes into a fox-bat and flies off. A dubbed Hindi version, Chhota Chetan, was also successful.

Film