its Kannada remake in 2004, Sahukara, though Rajesh Ramanath was credited for its music. Themes Some critics have felt that the dialogue "Naan eppo varuven, epdi varuvennu yarukkum theriyathu. Aana vara vendiya nerathula correcta vandhuduven" () hinted at Rajinikanth's political aspirations. Writing for PopMatters, Ranjani Krishnakumar felt that Muthu singing "Katchiyellam ippo namakkedhukku, kaalathin kaiyyil adhu irukku" () also underlined Rajinikanth's political manoeuvres, while critic Naman Ramachandran feels Rajinikanth was actually dispelling rumours of him joining politics through those lyrics. Writing for Mint, Shoba Narayan said that Rajinikanth's heroines play to every traditional stereotype and cited Ranganayaki's name as an example, adding, "the names set the tone for the character." Release Muthu was released on 23 October 1995, during the Diwali holiday frame, and began screening during the openings of Kuruthipunal and Chandralekha. In Madras, the film was distributed by Sivasakthi Pandian through Sivasakthi Movie Makers, and in Coimbatore by Tirupur Subramaniam. Though Ravikumar initially feared the film would fail since screenings were declining during the third week of its run at Udhayam Theatre, Rajinikanth was confident it would succeed; it ultimately ran there for over 88 days at full capacity and became a silver jubilee hit. The film was dubbed into Telugu under the same title and Rajinikanth's voice was dubbed by Mano. It was also dubbed in Hindi as Muthu Maharaja. Reception Writing for INDOlink, Anand Kannan rated the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, saying, "What makes the movie charming is the clean, [simple-hearted] humour, and of course the unfailing Rajnikanth formula – dances, punch lines, fights, comedy, and restrained doses of preaching. And add some political undercurrent in the dialogue/lyrics, you have a jubilee film". He praised the performances of the main cast, especially Rajinikanth, but felt he was not convincing when playing Muthu's father. He also did not like how Senthil and Vadivelu were underutilised. Ananda Vikatan gave the film a rating of 42 out of 100, wrote that the film was consistent and described it as an engaging masala entertainer. They also praised the song sequences for their vibrancy. R. P. R. of Kalki felt the film was not as fast-paced as most Rajinikanth films, unsure whether this was the editor's fault or the writer's. He said the film put more emphasis on the songs than the dialogues. Reviewing the Telugu dub of the film, Bhargav Shastry of Fullhyd.com wrote, "The lingual divide should