''Poova Thalaiya'' () is a 1969 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

-language

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by K. Balachander. The film stars Gemini Ganesh,

Jaishankar Jaishankar (12 July 1938 – 3 June 2000) was an Indian actor known for his work in Tamil cinema. He was a very popular lead actor in the 1960s and 70s. He was credited onscreen with title of ''Makkal Kalaingnar'' (people's artiste) or '' ...

Nagesh Nagesh (born Cheyur Krishnarao Nageshwaran; (27 September 1933 – 31 January 2009) was an Indian actor, mostly remembered for his roles as a comedian in Tamil films during the 1960s. Nagesh was born in Dharapuram. He acted in over 1,000 fil ...

S. Varalakshmi Saridey Varalakshmi (13 August 1925 – 22 September 2009) was an Indian actress and singer who worked in Telugu and Tamil-language films. She was popular for her roles and songs in Telugu films like ''Sri Venkateswara Mahatyam'' (1960) and '' ...

, Rajasree and

Vennira Aadai Nirmala Vennira Aadai Nirmala (born as A. B. Shanthi in Kumbakonam) is an Indian actress who has appeared in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films. She was a prominent lead actress from 1960s and 70s. She is credited as Ushakumari in Malayalam film indust ...

. The film, produced by M. L. A. Rama. Arangakannal, had musical score by M. S. Viswanathan and was released on 10 May 1969. The film was remade in Telugu as '' Bomma Borusa,'' in

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 2 ...

as '' Balapareekshanam'' and in

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

as ''Balondhu'' ''Uyyale''. It was also an influence on '' Kandha Kadamba Kathir Vela''.

Plot

Ganesan is a widower and Parvathamma is his mother-in-law. Shankar is the younger brother of Ganesan and he falls in love with Parvathamma's youngest daughter Nirmala. A healthy competition takes place between evil minded Parvathamma and Shankar so as to overthrow one another.

Cast

* Gemini Ganesh as Ganesan *

as Shankar *

as Nagesh * Srikanth as Nagamma's son * M. R. R. Vasu as the hotel manager * S. Rama Rao as Indra's father * J. Balayya *

as Parvathamma * Rajasree as Raji *

as Nirmala * Manorama as Indra *

Sachu Saraswathi Sundaresan Iyer, professionally known as Kumari Sachu (born 7 January 1948) is an Indian actress who has acted in more than 500 films in five different languages and a few television serials. She is a character actress/comedienne who ...

as Saraswathy * T. P. Muthulakshmi as Nagamma * Parvathy as Indra's mother

Production

The film was shot at AVM Studios and was produced by Rama Arangannal, an active politician.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by M. S. Viswanathan, with lyrics by Vaali. The title song is set to the raga

Mohanam Mohanam is a rāga in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is an ''audava'' rāga (or ''owdava'' rāga, meaning pentatonic scale). It is usually described as a '' janya'' rāga of Harikamboji (28th Melakartha Raga) ...

, and "Maduraiyil Parandha" is set to Kalyani.

Release and reception

''Poova Thalaiya'' was released on 10 May 1969. ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split be ...

'' called the film "an all-out attempt at comedy and it succeeds reasonably well", but said Balachander's direction had "not come up with the standard of his previous films".

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{K. Balachander 1960s Tamil-language films 1969 comedy films 1969 films Films directed by K. Balachander Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan Films shot in Tirunelveli Films with screenplays by K. Balachander Indian black-and-white films Indian comedy films Tamil films remade in other languages