''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 directed by

K. Balachander Kailasam Balachander (9 July 1930 – 23 December 2014) was an Indian film maker and playwright who worked mainly in the Tamil cinema. He was well known for his distinct film-making style, and the Indian film industry knew him as a master of un ...

. 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 Cine ...

, S. Varalakshmi,

Rajasree Rajasree (Rajasree Thota Panchajanyam, Kusuma Kumari, born 31 August 1945), also known as Rajasri or Rajashri, is an Indian actress active from 1956 to 1979. She is particularly famous for her portrayal as a princess in several folklore Telug ...

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 indus ...

. The film, produced by M. L. A. Rama. Arangakannal, had musical score by

M. S. Viswanathan Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan (24 June 1928 – 14 July 2015), also known as M.S.V., was an Indian music director, singer and actor who predominantly worked in Tamil film industry. He was popularly known as ''Mellisai Mannar''. He compose ...

and was released on 10 May 1969. The film was remade in Telugu as ''

Bomma Borusa ''Bomma Borusa'' () is a 1971 Indian Telugu-language comedy film directed by K. Balachander. It is a remake of the Tamil film '' Poova Thalaiya'', directed by K. Balachander himself. The film stars Rama Krishna, Chandra Mohan, S. Varalakshm ...

,'' 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 sp ...

as ''Balondhu'' ''Uyyale''. It was also an influence on ''

Kandha Kadamba Kathir Vela ''Kandha Kadamba Kathir Vela'' is a 2000 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film directed by Rama Narayanan. The film is loosely based on '' Poova Thalaiya'' (1969). The film was remade in Kannada as ''Namma Samsara Ananda Sagara'' (2001). ...

''.

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 * S. Varalakshmi as Parvathamma *

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

, 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 betw ...

'' 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