''Nairu Pidicha Pulivalu'' ( ml, നായരു പിടിച്ച പുലിവാല്) is a 1958

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...

film directed by P. Bhaskaran and written by Uroob based on his own story "Business". Ragini and Sathyan play the lead roles, while Prema, Pankajavalli and T.S. Muthayya appear in major supporting roles. The film received a certificate of merit at the

National Film Awards The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorat ...

Plot

The film is set against the backdrop of a

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclis ...

company. Chandran is a circus performer. Thankam, a beautiful 17-year-old girl, is his childhood sweetheart. But, Thankam's mother Kalyani Amma forbids her to prolong her affair with Chandran. She wants Thankam to marry Gopi, a well known bully from the town. Thankam's father Paithal Nair, however rejects this proposal. But as the circus shifts to another village, everything goes wrong. The circus people owed some money to Paithal Nair which they were unable to pay. Despite the circus manager's assurances Kalyani Amma and Nair decide to hold the circus animals hostage until the circus manager repays his debt. Managing the animals soon becomes a nightmare and Paithal and family realize they have invited trouble (pulival pidikkuka - an expression in Malayalam for trouble, mess etc. It literally means catch a leopard by its tail). Paithal Nair is in financial stress and has no other way than to accept the marriage proposal from Gopi for his daughter. Chandran decides to make enough money by playing trapeze without a safety net. But Lalitha, whose proposal is rejected by Chandran, damage the rope of trapeze to kill Chandran. But Chandran fall to ground only with minor injuries and Lalitha commits suicide. Gopi is attacked and killed by an unleashed tiger, just before the marriage. Chandran arrives to the spot and kills the tiger though Gopi eventually dies from the injuries. At the end of the movie, Chandran marries Thankam.

Cast

* Ragini as Thankam * Sathyan as Chandran * Prema Menon as Lalitha, a circus performer who also loves Chandran *

Pankajavalli Pankajavalli is an Indian actress in Malayalam movies. She was known for her supporting roles during the late 1960s and 1970s in Malayalam. She made her debut in Jeevitha Nouka in 1951. She has acted in more than 50 movies. Her grand daughter ...

as Kalyani Amma *

T. S. Muthaiah T. S. Muthaiah (1923 – 12 February 1992) was a Malayalam and Tamil film actor. He was a very popular actor in both film industries who usually played character and supporting roles in 1950s and 1960s. He acted with M. G. Ramachandran in Thayi ...

as Paithal Nair *

Muthukulam Raghavan Pillai Muthukulam Raghavan Pillai (1900–1979) was a Malayalam dramatist, poet, screen play writer and actor who was well known in the role of Ashaan in Kavyamela. He was born in 1900 in Muthukulam, a small village near Haripad in Alappuzha Distri ...

as Kuttappa Kurup *

S. P. Pillai S. P. Pillai (28 November 1913 – 12 June 1985) was an Indian film and stage actor, best known for his comic roles in Malayalam films. Biography S. Pankajakshan Pillai alias S. P. Pillai was born in 1913 in the temple town of Ettumanoor in ...

as Chanthu, a circus joker *

Bahadoor Padiyath Kochumoideen Kunjalu (1930 22 May 2000), known by his stage name Bahadoor, was an Indian actor and comedian who, along with Adoor Bhasi, redefined the way in which comedy and funny scenes were perceived in the Malayalam cinema. They ...

as Keshu, a circus joker * G. K. Pillai as Gopi *

T. N. Gopinathan Nair T. N. Gopinathan Nair (24 April 1918 – 24 May 1999), was an Indian dramatist, novelist, poet, screenwriter and biographer of Malayalam language. One of the prolific among Malayalam playwrights, Nair published 39 plays, besides his four novels ...

as Circus Proprietor * Kochappan as Kirukkan Kochunni * Kunhava as Khader * Vaanakkutty as Kurup's Guru *TKR Bhadran

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

K. Raghavan K. Raghavan (2 December 1913 – 19 October 2013), also fondly called Raghavan Master, was a Malayalam music composer and Carnatic Vocalist. Along with G. Devarajan, V. Dakshinamoorthy and Baburaj, Raghavan is often credited for the renaissanc ...

with lyrics by P. Bhaskaran.

References

External links

*
''Nairu Pidicha Pulivalu''
at the Malayalam Movie Database 1950s Malayalam-language films Films based on short fiction Circus films Films scored by K. V. Mahadevan Films directed by P. Bhaskaran {{1950s-Malayalam-film-stub