Pallandu Vazhga

Pallandu Vazhga
Directed by	K. Shankar
Produced by	S. Maniyan Vidwan V.Lakshmanan
Written by	R. K. Shanmugam
Screenplay by	S. Maniyan Vidwan V.Lakshmanan Thamarai Manalan Na. Pandurangan
Story by	V. Shantaram
Starring	M. G. Ramachandran Latha Thengai Srinivasan M. N. Nambiar V. K. Ramaswamy P. S. Veerappa R.S. Manohar
Music by	K. V. Mahadevan
Cinematography	T. V.Rajaram
Edited by	K. Shankar
Production company	Udhayam Productions
Distributed by	Udhayam Productions
Release dates	31 october 1975[1]
Running time	154 mins
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Pallandu Vazhga (English: Live Long!) is a 1975 Indian Tamil drama film directed by K. Shankar, starring M. G. Ramachandran and Latha in the lead roles. The film ran for over 100 days in theatres.^[2] It is a remake of V. Shantaram's 1957 Hindi film Do Aankhen Barah Haath.^[3]

Plot

Rajan (MGR) is a jail warden who rehabilitates six deadly prisoners released on parole into persons of virtue. He takes these notorious, often surly, murderers and makes them work hard with him on a dilapidated country farm, rehabilitating them through hard work and kindly guidance as they eventually produce a great harvest. The warden is however given an ultimatum: He will be arrested if even one of the prisoners attempts escape.

They all come across Saroja (Latha) an itinerant seller who they get attracted to, but she only gets close to Rajan, after he saves her from a bunch of goons. As Saroja is homeless, the six prisoners plead with Rajan to let the girl stay with them and he subsequently agrees. When Sanguili (R.S. Manohar), one of the prisoners, coincidentally runs into his long-lost family, he tearfully re-unites with them. But they appear homeless, and so Rajan allows them also to stay with him and the other prisoners. This angers the other prisoners who feel that Rajan did not give them freedom, compelling them to try killing him in order to escape.

Another prisoner Mayandi (V.K. Ramaswamy) who was a barber before his arrest, agrees to give Rajan a shave (it is his trick to kill the warden by cutting his neck). The warden has unaware that he is going to be killed and blissfully sits for the shave, but the prisoner sees Rajan's magical eyes and gets hypnotised, thus compelling him to abort the idea of murder. The prisoners who were attempting escape while Rajan was having a shave, however see a statue of C. N. Annadurai and because they see Rajan's spirit in it, they get hypnotised and eventually return. The prisoners' escape was well seen by the other policemen around, which leads to Rajan's stay in jail for one day. However, when they hear that the prisoners have returned, Rajan is released and returns to his duty. The prisoners gradually turn into good people and become attached to Rajan, who dreams of marrying Saroja, in his mother's presence.

One night, the prisoners are invited to a bar by a corrupt businessman and Rajan is unaware of this. They return drunk and almost attack Rajan and Saroja. Rajan is not pleased with their status and commands them to kill him if that is what they want. Hypnotism and conscience again strike the prisoners, causing them to drop their weapons. The next morning, the prisoners fall at Rajan's feet and explain that the corrupt businessman forced them to drink; they earn the forgiveness of both Rajan and Saroja.

Later, the same corrupt businessman orders that Rajan and his prisoners surrender, or else their plantation and home will be destroyed. Rajan refuses, so the businessman sends his thugs and elephants to destroy everything in sight. However, Rajan and his men vigorously battle all the thugs and emerge victorious, while the local police capture the corrupt businessman and arrest him. Rajan, having been praised for transforming the six prisoners into reformed people, frees the prisoners and tearfully sees them off.

Cast

• M. G. Ramachandran as Rajan (Chinnaiya), the assistant director of prison
• Latha as Saroja, an itinerant seller
• M. N. Nambiar as Bhaiyaravan, n°999 (he stabbed a businessman)
• V. K. Ramaswamy as Mayandi, n°111 (ex-barber, he knifed a customer)
• Thengai Srinivasan as Mounkannu, n°144 (he stabbed a man and his daughter)
• R. S. Manohar as Sanguili, n°302, father of 2 children (he flooded his wife)
• P. S. Veerappa as David, n°250 (he killed a policeman)
• Gundumani as Kalayr, n°1320 (he killed all his family)
• V. S. Raghavan as Dharmaraj, the storekeeper
• V. Gopalakrishnan as the superior of Rajan, the warden
• Isari Velan as the secretary of Rajan
• Pandari Bai as Rajan 's mother

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film has been composed by K.V. Mahadevan.^[4][5]

Around the movie

Unlike the original, this did not feature the protagonist being killed, a measure which was taken after M. G. Ramachandran's character in an earlier film Paasam died and caused negative fan reactions, that resulted in the film's failure.^[7]

Ananda Vikatan stated, "எம்.ஜி.ஆர். ரசிகர்களுக்கு மட்டுமல்ல, எல்லோருக்குமே பல்லாண்டு வாழ்க ஓர் இனிய சித்திரம்" PALLANDU VAZHGA is a film not only for MGR fans, but a good film for everyone).^[8][9]

Mes Six Forcats Le 12 mars 1952 (Ferdinand O. Lacour), we can see in both movies there, a certain similarity with the autobiographical story of Donald Powell Wilson.

Pallandu Vaazhga is the second combination, MGR – K. Shankar – K. V. Mahadevan. The first one being the sword-and-sandal Adhimai Penn.

It was for The " Thirai Isai Thilagum " K. V. Mahadevan, the 36th and last composition of a soundtrack for a movie of MGR.

References

External links

• Pallandu Vazhga at the Internet Movie Database