Pushpaka Vimana (1987 film)

Pushpaka Vimana (transl. The Flower Chariot) is a 1987 Indian comedy film written and directed by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao, who co-produced it with Shringar Nagaraj. The film, which has no dialogue, stars Kamal Haasan, Amala and Tinnu Anand. It revolves around an unemployed graduate who encounters a drunk millionaire unconscious by the roadside and takes over his lifestyle after keeping him prisoner. However, he does not realise the dangers he has brought upon himself because a hired hitman believes him to be his target.

Pushpaka Vimana
Theatrical release poster in Kannada
Directed bySingeetam Srinivasa Rao
Produced by
Written bySingeetam Srinivasa Rao
Starring
Music byL. Vaidyanathan
CinematographyB. C. Gowrishankar
Edited byD. Vasu
Production
company
Mandakini Chitra
Release date
  • 27 November 1987 (1987-11-27)
Running time
131 minutes[1]
CountryIndia
LanguageSilent
Budget₹ 3.5 million

Rao's desire to make a dialogue-less film came when he was working as an assistant director in a film where a character had to emote fear without dialogue in a scene. Once the idea for Pushpaka Vimana materialised, Rao wrote the screenplay within two weeks. The film was the only one produced by Nagaraj. Due to the lack of dialogue, Rao was able to cast actors from different parts of India. Cinematography was handled by B. C. Gowrishankar, and the background score by L. Vaidyanathan. The film was shot in Bangalore.

Pushpaka Vimana was released on 27 November 1987 with different titles for different regions such as Pushpak (transl. Flower) in Hindi, Pesum Padam (transl. Talking Picture) in Tamil and Pushpaka Vimanamu (transl. The Flower Chariot) in Telugu. The film received critical acclaim and became a commercial success; it film had a 35-week theatrical run in Bangalore. It later won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment and in three categories at the 35th Filmfare Awards South: Best Film, Best Director – Kannada (Rao) and Best Actor – Kannada (Haasan).

Plot

An unemployed graduate living in a ramshackle lodge called Anand Bhavan dreams of riches. While in a shop, he meets a girl trying on earrings, and sees her again when he appears for a vacancy. One day, the graduate finds a drunk millionaire unconscious by the roadside. On finding the key to a suite in a plush five-star hotel named "Pushpak" in his pocket, the graduate carries the millionaire to his room at Anand Bhavan and keeps him prisoner there with the help of forced doses of alcohol. He then moves to the millionaire's suite at Pushpak to take over his lifestyle.

The millionaire's wife has a secret lover, who hires a hitman to kill the millionaire without her knowledge. The hitman, who has never seen the millionaire, believes the graduate is his target, based on the suite where he stays. The graduate learns that the girl is at the same hotel, and is the daughter of a magician. The graduate follows around the girl before she slaps him because of a misunderstanding where he appeared to her as being unmannered. But after the hotel owner suddenly dies, the two meet while paying tribute at his funeral and mend ways. They gradually get into a romantic relationship.

All the while, the hitman tries to kill the graduate with ice daggers, but fails on every attempt. The graduate remains unaware about the threat to his life. Eventually he realises that the hitman is in the hotel to kill someone, but cannot find the identity of his target. Later the hitman intrudes into his suite and gets electrocuted while trying to stab the graduate from behind, but survives. Followed by the graduate, the hitman returns to the lover's bungalow and informs him about his failure. The graduate learns the complete truth. The hitman realises he was targeting the wrong man all along. At this time, the millionaire's wife learns of her lover's treachery and breaks up with him.

In a montage shown about the hotel owner, the graduate realises that he was a poor man, just like him. Seeing what the hotel owner achieved by fair means, the graduate begins to question his actions. Some time later, a roadside beggar dies and municipality people come to take his cadaver. However, seeing the beggar's stash, they abandon his body and start taking the money. The graduate decides to make things right. He sets the millionaire free and explains the situation to him in a letter. The millionaire and his wife reunite and he stops drinking. After that, the graduate decides to come clean to the magician's daughter as well. He learns that the magician and his family are about to leave Pushpak.

The graduate confesses the truth to the magician's daughter, but to his surprise she forgives him. While leaving Pushpak, she writes something on a paper and drops a rose wrapped in the same paper from her car for the graduate to pick up. The graduate obtains the rose, but before he can obtain the paper, a gust of wind rolls it into a gutter. Some time later, the graduate is shown standing in a long queue of job seekers.

Cast

Production

Development

Singeetam Srinivasa Rao was an assistant director to K. V. Reddy, in a film where there was a scene requiring a character to emote fear without dialogues.[2] Rao wondered, "Why not do a whole film this way?!" and this thought haunted him for a long time, but he had no "idea about the story and other aspects of such a film". The idea for the film that would become Pushpaka Vimana came to Rao when he was in a shower, after which he wrote the screenplay within two weeks. Kamal Haasan agreed to work on the film after being impressed by the script.[3] Pushpaka Vimana thus became the first full-length dialogue-less film in India after the "silent era" of cinema.[4] The film however struggled to find a producer, prompting Rao to take over production himself.[5]

When Kannada actor Shringar Nagaraj, a friend of Rao, heard that Rao was producing a film on his own, he asked about the subject; Rao narrated the same, Nagaraj showed excitement and joined as co-producer,[5] with the film being produced under Mandakani Chitra,[6] a Bangalore based company.[7] Pushpaka Vimana was the only film he had produced in his entire career.[8] Cinematography was handled by B. C. Gowrishankar, editing by D. Vasu,[9] and art direction by Thota Tharani, who had worked with Rao on Raja Paarvai (1981).[3]

Casting

Since the film had no dialogue, Rao chose to cast actors from different parts of India.[5] Haasan, a native of Tamil Nadu, was cast as the protagonist, an unemployed graduate.[10] He had to shave his signature moustache for the role.[6] Rao initially wanted Neelam Kothari to be the female lead, but she wanted to wear "glittering costumes" like in typical Bollywood films; hence, Rao did not cast her. After seeing Amala compere an awards function at Chennai, enquiring about her and getting to know about her Kalakshetra background, he approached her and she accepted.[5] Initially, Rao approached Amrish Puri to portray the hitman, but he could not accept the offer due to unavailability of dates.[11][12] Haasan's then-wife Sarika showed a photograph of Tinnu Anand and successfully recommended him for the role.[13]

Ramya played the drunk millionaire's wife. Telugu actor P. L. Narayana was cast as the beggar and Sameer Khakhar as the drunk millionaire.[3] Pratap K. Pothen, then known mainly for portraying dark characters, portrayed a comical character,[8] the extramarital lover of Ramya's character.[3] Rao initially wanted Bengali magician P. C. Sorcar to portray the female lead's magician father,[10] but ultimately chose K. S. Ramesh after seeing his performance in a magic show on television in Bangalore, where the story is set.[5] Farida Jalal, who was then visiting Bangalore, was cast as the female lead's mother.[10] Loknath appeared as the owner of the hotel where the story is set.[3]

Filming

Thota Tharani constructed a street set for the film beside the Hyland Hotel in Bangalore. The ramshackle room where the graduate lives, and the building itself, was constructed above the hotel. Most of the shooting was done in the Windsor Manor hotel in Bangalore.[5] The management of Windsor Manor were not initially willing to let the film be shot there, but after Nagaraj told them that "the entire world will know about this hotel after the film", they agreed. The scenes where the graduate meets the beggar were shot at a bridge near Windsor Manor.[10]

The hitman's signature weapon is an ice dagger. For this reason, every night, an ice mould in the shape of a dagger was kept in the freezer; however, the ice dagger would often melt soon by morning because of the strong density lights being used in the shooting. Rao ultimately decided to use an acrylic dagger, which looked like an actual ice dagger.[14][15] The entire budget of the film was ₹35 lakhs ($49,000), in today's money around ₹3.8 crores ($500,000).[16]

Music

The film had no songs, only background score. Rao wanted a composer who could work as per his demands and requirements for the scenes, for this L. Vaidyanathan was chosen to compose the score.[8] Sitar exponent Janardhan Mitta contributed to the re-recording using two other instruments apart from minimal orchestration.[17]

Themes

Rao called Pushpaka Vimana a personal film because "that's the life I lead. I don't want to amass wealth. At the same time, I am not a person who romanticises poverty. Money is important, but that is not everything."[8] Anjana Shekar of The News Minute said the film satirises unemployment, an issue that was prevalent in India in the 1980s. She compared it to Mark Twain's novel The Prince and the Pauper because of the concept of identity switching, with the difference being that in Pushpaka Vimana the switching is not mutually agreed upon and the two men do not look alike. Anjana said that the climax in which the graduate is shown standing in a long queue of job seekers indicates that nothing has changed for him "except that now, he's willing to take the metaphorical stairs to succeed in life."[18] Historian Bhagwan Das Garga noted similarities between the graduate and Walter Mitty, because of how the former "fantasises about riches".[19]

Writing for India Today, Madhu Jain described Pushpaka Vimana as "the story of the modern Indian male Cinderella. But with a different end – and moral: Money is not everything though pursuing it is entertaining." She noted the contrast in the name of the graduate's lodge, Anand Bhavan (Abode of Bliss).[20] Film critic Naman Ramachandran said the film gives the message that "money is the root of much evil and honesty is the best policy".[21] Ravi Balakrishnan of The Economic Times said that though it eschews formulaic Indian cinema conventions like songs and dialogue, it has "all the elements that make a great mainstream entertainer – a love story, a crime caper, a thriller and a comedy – with plotlines blending together seamlessly", while comparing its primary narrative to Charlie Chaplin's City Lights (1931), the graduate to Chaplin's character The Tramp, and the millionaire to Khakar's drunkard character Khopdi from the Hindi television series Nukkad.[22]

Release

Pushpaka Vimana was released on 27 November 1987.[23] The film was released under different titles for different regions: its original title in Karnataka, Pushpaka Vimanamu in Andhra Pradesh, Pesum Padam in Tamil Nadu, Pushpak for Hindi-speaking regions and Pushpakvimanam in Kerala.[5][24] In Andhra Pradesh, it was distributed by Sravanthi Ravi Kishore, in Mumbai by actor Rajendra Kumar,[5] and in Chennai by editor A. Mohan.[25]

Reception

The film received critical acclaim for its creativity, making and the cast performances.[26][27] Reviewing Pesum Padam, the magazine Ananda Vikatan said that to make a silent film needs a lot of courage and the filmmaker needs to be congratulated for that, rating it 50 out of 100.[28] N. Krishnaswamy of The Indian Express said, "For [Kamal Haasan], the film is yet another achievement. For Singeetam, always the bold experimenter [...] Pesum Padam should provide both critical and commercial mileage. It is music director L. Vaidyanathan's task to provide the 'silent' film a worthy musical foil to match its varied moods and needs: this he does with panache."[29]

Filmmaker Satyajit Ray applauded the film and told Rao, "You have created a love scene around a dead body", referring to the scene where the graduate and the magician's daughter walk around the hotel owner's body during his funeral several times just to spend some time together.[10] Bombay: The City Magazine's critic wrote, "Pushpak is a bold and timely reminder that verbal diarrhoea drowns out meaning. Silence is not only golden but eloquent."[30] Though no-one expected the film to succeed, it was a sleeper hit,[2] completing a 35-week theatrical run in Bangalore,[15] and grossing around ₹10 million (equivalent to ₹100 million or US$1.4 million in 2019) according to estimates by Madhu Jain and Garga.[19][20]

Accolades

At the 35th National Film Awards, Pushpaka Vimana won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.[9] It also won in three categories at the 35th Filmfare Awards South: Best Film, Filmfare Award for Best Director – Kannada (Rao) and Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Kannada (Haasan), despite not being a Kannada film.[31][32] At the 1987–88 Karnataka State Film Awards, the film won in the categories of Best Editor (Vasu), Best Music Director (Vaidyanathan) and Karnataka State Jury's Special Award (Rao).[33]

The film premiered at the International Film Festival of India, 1988 Cannes Film Festival in the International Critics' Week,[15][34][35] and retrospective at the Shanghai International Film Festival, and Whistling Woods International.[36]

Legacy

Pushpaka Vimanam became a landmark of Indian cinema.[2] According to film theorists Ashish Rajadhyaksha and Paul Willemen, it "helped change [Kamal Haasan's] screen image."[1] Rao has stated that after the film's success, many people wanted him to make more dialogue-less films but he was uninterested, saying, "My fascination was for the first one that I made."[2] Amala listed it along with Vedham Pudhithu (1987), Agni Natchathiram (1988), Siva (1989) and Karpoora Mullai (1991) as her most memorable films.[37] The film is listed among CNN-News18's "hundred greatest Indian films of all time".[38] It was also listed by Rediff.com in its list "Singeetham's gems before Christ".[39] On Haasan's birthday, 7 November 2015, Latha Srinivasan of Daily News and Analysis considered Pushpaka Vimanam to be one of the "films you must watch to grasp the breadth of Kamal Haasan's repertoire".[40]

References
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  2. Warrier, Shobha (19 April 2001). "'Little John, lot of fun!'". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 20 August 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
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