Kanchana (film series)

Template:Use Indian English

Kanchana also known as Muni, is an Indian Tamil-language horror masala film series created and directed by Raghava Lawrence, consisting of Muni (2007), Kanchana (2011), Kanchana 2 (2015) and Kanchana 3 (2019). Kanchana 4 is in production. All films were successful at the box office and is currently the third highest grossing Tamil film franchise.

Kanchana was remade in Kannada as Kalpana (2012). In 2016 the Sri Lankan remake Maya was released. It was unofficially remade in Burmese as Tar Tay Gyi (2017). In 2017, the Bengali language remake was released, titled Mayabini. Lawrence himself directed the Hindi remake titled Laxmii (2020). Kanchana 2 was remade in Kannada as Kalpana 2 (2016).

Films

Key

Template:Dagger

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Film	Release date	Director	Cast	Producer(s)	Installment(s)	Note(s)
Muni	9 March 2007	Raghava Lawrence	Raghava Lawrence, Rajkiran, Vedika	Saran	First Installment	Kanchana (film series)
Muni 2: Kanchana	22 July 2011		Raghava Lawrence, R. Sarathkumar, Lakshmi Rai	Raghava Lawrence	Second Installment
Muni 3: Kanchana 2	17 April 2015		Raghava Lawrence, Taapsee Pannu, Nithya Menen		Third Installment
Muni 4: Kanchana 3	19 April 2019		Raghava Lawrence, Oviya, Vedika, Nikki Tamboli	Kalanithi Maran, Raghava Lawrence	Fourth Installment
Template:Pending film	TBA		Raghava Lawrence, Pooja Hegde, Nora Fatehi	Manish Shah	Fifth and Final Installment

Muni (2007)

Main article: Muni (film)

The first installment of the series, based on fictional incidents. A young man, along with his wife and his parents, migrates to Chennai where he gets possessed by the spirit of a kind-hearted person who was murdered by an ambitious and corrupt political leader. Muni was released on 9 March 2007 and gained positive response. It earned Template:INR15 crore against a budget of Template:INR4 crore.

Kanchana

Main article: Kanchana (2011 film)

After the success of Muni Raghava and Sarala Re-unite once again for sequel. The film was titled as Kanchana and also second installment in this series. The film was released on 22 July 2011 worldwide. The film's soundtrack was composed by S. Thaman. Kanchana opened to mostly positive reviews. The film grossed Template:INR108 crore worldwide becoming the second highest grossing Tamil film of 2011.

Kanchana 2

Main article: Kanchana 2

A stand-alone sequel, Kanchana 2, was commissioned after the success of the previous films and was also directed by Raghava. It stars Raghava Lawrence, Taapsee Pannu and Kovai Sarala in lead roles. And also the third installment in this series. It was released on 17 April 2015 in around 750 screens worldwide alongside Mani Ratnam's O Kadhal Kanmani. The Telugu version titled Ganga was released later on 1 May 2015 in around 550 screens. Film received positive response from audience. Proving to be similarly successful to the first entry in the series, the film emerged as a huge box office success, becoming the third highest grossing Tamil film of 2015.

Kanchana 3

Main article: Kanchana 3

The fourth installment in this series, written and directed by Raghava. The film was titled as Naga, then changed to Kanchana 3, produced by Sun Pictures. The film stars Raghava in a dual role with Oviya, Vedhika, Nikki Tamboli, Ri Djavi Alexandra. While Kovai Sarala, Soori, Tarun Arora, and Kabir Duhan Singh play supporting roles. Kanchana 3 was released on Good Friday in 2019. The film received mixed reviews from audiences, comparisons of Kanchana 1 and 2. It earned Template:INR130 crore worldwide against a budget of Template:INR20 crore, becoming one of the fourth highest grossing Tamil film of 2019.

Kanchana 4

Main article: Kanchana 4

The fifth and final installment in this series, written and directed by Raghava, and stars Pooja Hegde and Nora Fatehi in the lead roles is in production. The film was officially announced in April 2019, coinciding with the theatrical success of Kanchana 3. Production was reportedly set to begin in 2020, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Lawrence's acting commitments. Principal photography commenced on 23 January 2025 in Chennai and is produced by Goldmines Telefilms.

Recurring cast and characters

List indicator

• This table lists the main characters who appear in the film series.
• An empty dark grey cell indicates that the character was not in the film, or that the character's presence in the film has yet to be announced.

Actors	Films
	Muni	Kanchana	Kanchana 2	Kanchana 3	Kanchana 4
Year	Template:Small	Template:Small	Template:Small	Template:Small
Introduced in Muni
Raghava Lawrence	Ganesh	Raghava	Raghava & Shiva (Dual role)	Raghava & Kaali (Dual role)	Raghava
Kovai Sarala	Sarala
Vedhika	Priya	Template:CEmpty	Template:CEmpty	Priya	Template:CEmpty
Introduced in Kanchana
Raai Laxmi	Template:CEmpty	Priya	Template:CEmpty	Template:CEmpty	Template:CEmpty
Sriman	Template:CEmpty	Prasad
Devadarshini	Template:CEmpty	Kamakshi	Template:CEmpty	Kamakshi
Introduced in Kanchana 2
Taapsee Pannu	Template:CEmpty	Template:CEmpty	Nandini	Template:CEmpty	Template:CEmpty
Nithya Menen	Template:CEmpty	Template:CEmpty	Ganga	Template:CEmpty	Template:CEmpty
Introduced in Kanchana 3
Oviya	Template:CEmpty	Template:CEmpty	Template:CEmpty	Kavya	Template:CEmpty
Nikki Tamboli	Template:CEmpty	Template:CEmpty	Template:CEmpty	Divya	Template:CEmpty
Introduced in Kanchana 4
Pooja Hegde	Template:CEmpty	Template:CEmpty	Template:CEmpty	Template:CEmpty	Template:TBA
Nora Fatehi	Template:CEmpty	Template:CEmpty	Template:CEmpty	Template:CEmpty	Template:TBA

Crew

Occupation	Film
	Muni	Muni 2: Kanchana	Kanchana 2	Kanchana 3	Kanchana 4
	Template:Small	Template:Small	Template:Small	Template:Small	Template:Small
Producer(s)	Saran	Raghava Lawrence		Kalanithi Maran Raghava Lawrence	Raghava Lawrence
Director	Raghava Lawrence
Story writer
Screenplay writer
Dialogue writer	Ramesh Khanna	Raghava Lawrence
Song composer(s)	Bharadwaj	S. Thaman	S. Thaman C. Sathya Aswamithra Leon James	Doo Paa Doo	Template:TBA
Background Score	Sangeetharajan	S. Thaman			Template:TBA
Director of photography	K. V. Guhan	Vetri E. Krishnasamy	Rajavel Oliveeran R. B. Gurudev	Vetri Sarvesh Murari	Template:TBA
Editor(s)	Suresh Urs	Kishore Te.		Ruben	Template:TBA
Art Director(s)	Mohana Mahendran	Jana			Template:TBA
Stunt co-ordinator	Super Subbarayan				Template:TBA
Production companies	Gemini Productions	Raghavendra Productions Sri Thenandal Films	Raghavendra Productions	Raghavendra Productions Sun Pictures	Goldmines Telefilms
Distributing company	Gemini Productions Sri Thenandal Films	Sun Pictures	Sun Pictures Wellborn International (Kerala)	Sun Pictures	Template:TBA
Running time	153 minutes	170 minutes	164 minutes	166 minutes	Template:TBA

Release and revenue

Box office

Film	Release date	Budget	Box office revenue	Ref.
Muni	9 March 2007	Template:INRConvert	Template:INRConvert
Kanchana	22 July 2011	Template:INRConvert	Template:INRConvert
Kanchana 2	17 April 2015	Template:INRConvert	Template:INRConvert
Kanchana 3	19 April 2019	Template:INRConvert	Template:INRConvert
Total		Template:INRConvert	Template:INRConvert

Remakes

Year	Film	Language	Cast	Notes	Ref.
2012	Kalpana	Kannada	Upendra, Raai Laxmi, Saikumar, Babu Antony	Remake of Kanchana
2016	Maya	Sinhalese	Ranjan Ramanayake, Pubudu Chathuranga, Giriraj Kaushalya, Nilmini Kottegoda and Upeksha Swarnamali
2017	Tar Tay Gyi	Burmese	Nay Toe and Shwe Thamee
	Mayabini	Bengali Bangladesh	Symon Sadik, Airin Sultana, Amit Hasan
2020	Laxmii	Hindi	Akshay Kumar, Kiara Advani, Ayesha Raza Mishra, Rajesh Sharma, Ashwini Kalsekar and Sharad Kelkar
2016	Kalpana 2	Kannada	Upendra, Priyamani and Avantika Shetty	Remake of Kanchana 2

Legacy

Along with Chandramukhi (2005), Muni became a trendsetter for horror comedy films. The success of the film inspired several other horror comedy films including the Aranmanai film series (2014) and Darling (2015).