The Maddock supernatural universe created by the producer Dinesh Vijan, and his production company is jumping at the bit to expand. Munjya is the third film in The Maddock supernatural universe, and it explores the folklore from the Konkan region of Maharashtra, which could be an ode to Kantara. However, Kantara is a serious drama, and Munjya is a horror comedy that explores the story of a demon whose only obsession is to get married to the woman he loves. Directed by Aditya Sarpotdar, the movie is quite the ride when it comes to covering how demonic possessions tend to get unrelenting and scary.
Spoilers Ahead
Why was Gotya angry?
Munjya began in 1952, when a young boy named Gotya was punished and admonished for falling in love with Munni, a woman older than him, and he was adamant about marrying her. As a result, his mother carried out the “mundan” ceremony, which essentially meant the boy would be turned into a pandit by the end of the ritual. This was forcefully done to make sure the pre-teen boy learned his lesson, but the lovesick Gotya wanted to marry Munni at any cost. Gotya tried to sacrifice his sister in the Chintuk Wadi, a creepy forested area known for black magic and supernatural creatures. His sister saved herself, but her brother died of head injuries. His ashes were buried near the tree where he died which was followed by more ceremonies. His sister was terrified during the ceremony after learning that the boy died within ten days of his mundan ceremony, which would turn him into a demon-like creature known as Munjya in Marathi.
Who was Bittu?
Bittu was a young, college-going kid who was working with his mother in her salon and was planning to move abroad to study. Bittu was also in love with Bela, his childhood friend, who was a few years older than him and was dating another man with whom she was about to start a Zumba studio. Bittu had two cousins: Spielberg, his Punjabi cousin from his mother’s side, and Rukku, his cousin from his father’s side. Bittu, who was half Punjabi and Maharashtrian, had a good relationship with his grandmother.
Why was his family in Chiplun?
Bittu’s grandmother, along with Bittu and his mother Pammi, was headed to his father’s hometown for Rukku’s engagement. He soon came to know Rukku’s father, who was not on good terms with Bittu’s mother and deceased father, had plans to sell the cursed Chintuk Wadi. Bittu’s grandmother was against it since it was not right to sell a cursed land to someone. Bittu learns his father had also planned to sell, and in that pursuit, he met a tragic death.
How did Bittu venture into Chintuk Wadi?
Up until now, Bittu had had several dreams of a shrill voice, and visions of a creature in the forested area. Disturbed by the turn of events at his ancestral home and his insensitive uncle’s remarks, the boy drives away to Chintuk Wadi in anger. His grandmother learned that Bittu ventured into the forest and rescued him by using a magical stick to get rid of the demonic creature that had kept Bittu captive in the tree. It was finally revealed that the sister Gotya tried to kill at the beginning of the movie was Bittu’s grandmother, who had over the years learned how to deal with the menace of her dead brother, who was now a Munjya.
Why did Munjya follow Bittu?
The grandmother initially figured she had rescued Bittu, but unfortunately, the demon had touched the young boy. Bittu had a large mark on his right shoulder, as if the devil had imprinted on him. This imprint not only allowed Munjya to get out of the Chintuk Wadi but also gave him the strength to kill Bittu’s grandmother. As Bittu was horrified to know what Munjya was capable of, he soon learned only he could see the demonic creature who had followed him to Pune and began to harass him about finding Munni, whom he desperately wanted to marry. Initially, Munjya’s antics were unbearable, and so was the shrill voice that had begun to bother Bittu. Munjya initially tried to find out who Munni was from his cousin in his ancestral town. On digging deeper, they find out Munni was the grandmother of Bela. Munjya was not interested in the older Munni, but he began to fixate on Bela, as she looked exactly like how her grandmother seemed when she was young. Munjya wanted to marry Bela instead.
Who planned to help Bittu and his cousin?
At first, they get help from Father Elvis Karim Prabhakar, who was known to be running a group that helped exorcize ghosts and undo possession states. On learning Bittu’s story, he was quick to admit he was interested in finding out more about such supernatural creatures. Father Elvis admits to having done a lot of research on Munjya and explains that they are only seen by people who are related to the creatures by blood. He also shares the method to get rid of Munjya, but the ritual requires a goat that could be used to move the spirit, get it married to Bela, and then killed subsequently to get rid of the demon.
As Bittu and his cousins Spielberg and Rukku had joined in to help him out of this situation, they planned to bring Bela to his hometown under the pretext of some promotional video for her Zumba classes. They planned to get her drunk for the marriage with the goat, but not everything went as planned. A drunk Bela was brought to Chintuk Wadi, and Father Elvis instructed them on how to make a symbol on the goat that would bring Munjya onto the body of the animal. The only precaution needed was to make sure no one else had the same symbol on any visible part of their body, which would make Munjya jump onto the next body to possess.
Was the ritual a success?
A drunk Bela made the same symbol on her head, which led to Munjya now possessing her body. The chaos that ensued had them confused and not understanding how they could bring the situation under control. Bittu, Spielberg, and Rukku, to save Bela, drew the symbol on Rukku’s father, only to find him possessed by Munjya again. Since Rukku’s father was of huge physical stature, it was hard to stop Munjya, who was creating a rampage, and they had to follow him to Chintuk Wadi, the controversial place.
Munjya possessing Rukku’s father was symbolic, as the man had a long-standing feud with Bittu and his mother, and this possession state was almost like the good versus the bad. Bittu, however, may have been livid at his uncle, but he could never kill him. Bittu was a good-hearted young man who always believed in resolving conflict through talk and not violence. Munjya, as Rukku’s father, tried to kill Bela in the hope of finding her in his world and marrying her eventually. Munjya’s obsession had no end when was alive and a boy. Ever since his death, his goal to marry the woman of his dreams has never died. The irony lay in the fact that Bittu was in love with Bela as well, but his feelings were directed more towards making her happy than having her at any cost, which was what Munjya wanted.
Did Bittu get rid of Munjya?
The only way to save his uncle was to draw a symbol on the tree and use the magical stick that his grandmother used to keep Munjya at bay. The symbol on the tree did the trick, as stated by Father Elvis, and Rukku’s father was rescued. Father Elvis thankfully turned out to be a lot more sensible than many assumed him to be, even though there were hints of fraud written everywhere around him. Bittu, on the other hand, was in savior mode, a side he never knew existed in him. He probably got his strength from his grandmother, who was strong enough to stand up to Munjya till the end.
Bittu was known to be a meek fellow, but when the time came, he stood up for the people he loved, including Bela. Munjya tried to further hurt him and Bela using the tree trunks he possessed using his powers. Munjya tried everything in his power to make sure Bela would become his, but that never worked. When the demonic creature was on the cusp of killing Bittu, she threw lamp oil on the creature and asked Bittu to set the tree on fire. Here the plot holes lie. It was stated in the beginning and by Father Elvis that Munjya, in its real state, could only be spotted by relatives by blood. Since Bela was not one of them, there was no reason for her to be able to spot him. Unless the writer meant she threw the oil at the tree trunk based on what she witnessed in the fight between Munjya and Bittu. Despite this loophole sticking out like a sore thumb, Munjya was burned along with the tree, and we can hope that his powers would disappear as well.
What Happens In The End Credits Scene?
Munjya has several end credits, and we will expand on how the ending could be the beginning of a universe that does not just include Bittu. Bittu shared his feelings for Bela, and she was kind enough to reject them politely as she planned to move to Brazil. Bittu, unlike Munjya, did not fixate on the love he had and chose to let her go, remaining hopeful that he would be able to move on. A while after Munjya was burned to death, Bittu again hears the shrill noise of the creature, and this time he has the stick to defend himself. This was the stick that Munjya was afraid of, and Bittu was not scared to use it. There was a lot to take away from this scene, as it also includes Bittu having a vision of a tree where Munjyas’ soul was trapped being chopped.
An interesting theory could be that the old tree from Chintuk Wadi was already burned down; the vision Bittu had could be of another tree that had the soul of another boy who turned into Munjya. By defeating one Munjya, Bittu may have secured the power to defeat others. As Father Elvis stated, Munjya creatures existed because there were different reasons behind their deaths. Bittu may have suddenly been given the power to know where other Munjyas were, and he could follow them. Bittu would somehow become like a ghostbuster or ghost hunter that would help people get rid of this demonic creature. Bittu also had a vision that the chunks of trees that were possessed by Munjya were being transported around, and this would mean the powers were going to be spread out and Bittu might have to travel around.
The last portion of Munjya‘s end credits had Jaana, aka Janardhan, reprised by Abhishek Bannerjee from Stree and Bhediya. He finally runs into Bhaskar Sharma, who was naked. It was understood that he’d turned into a werewolf the previous night and had just returned to human form. He also happens to have the jersey of a woman named Munni and wondered who it belonged to. This scene connects the Bhediya and the Stree movies to this one, which makes it a ghostly paranormal universe. We believe at some point there will be one movie that has these characters united, going after one common goal, which could be creatures like Munjya.
