''Bale Pandiya'' () is a 1962 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

-language

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

produced and directed by B. R. Panthulu. The film stars

Sivaji Ganesan Villupuram. Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001), better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, was an Indian actor and film producer. He was mainly active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th centur ...

, M. R. Radha and

Devika Devika Devadoss (born Prameela Devi; 25 April 1943 – 2 May 2002) was an Indian actress who worked in Tamil cinema, Tamil and Telugu cinema, Telugu along with a few Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi films. She was one of the popular lead actresse ...

, with

K. Balaji Krishnamachari Balaji (24 June 19342 May 2009) was an Indian film producer and actor. He was a prominent actor in the 1960s and 1970s, playing lead, supporting and antagonist roles. He appeared in many films featuring Sivaji Ganesan. Early l ...

, Vasanthi and Sandhya in supporting roles. It revolves around the title character having to evade a lookalike wanting to kill him for insurance money. The story of ''Bale Pandiya'' was written by Maa. Raa. and Joshi, while the screenplay was written by Dada Mirasi. Cinematography was handled by V. Ramamoorthy, and the editing by R. Devarajan. The music was scored by

Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy were an Indian music composing duo composed of M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy. They worked together on over 100 films, from 1952's '' Panam'' to 1965's '' Aayirathil Oruvan''. After their split, Ramamoorthy w ...

. The features stars Ganesan in three distinct roles, and Radha in two. Production began in early May 1962, ended in the middle of the month, and the film was released on the 26th of the same month.

Plot

Bale Pandiya is a young innocent man who leads a troubled life. He is saved from his suicide attempt by Kabali, who hatches a plan to get him killed under the false identity of his goon (Pandiya's look-alike) Marudhu and get all the insurance money on Marudhu's head and share among themselves. Meanwhile, Pandiya falls for Geetha, and her father Amirthalingam Pillai accepts the romance. Ravi, Geeta's nephew helps her love to get approval from Amirthalingam. Pandiya is continuously being chased by Marudhu and Kabali. While being chased by them once, he gets into a runaway car being driven by an insane young girl. The car crashes, but the girl gets cured from her insanity. Her father as a token of gratitude for her daughter's cure, allows Pandiya, who is homeless, to stay with them. Parallelly, Marudhu and Kabali's pursuit for Pandiya still continues. On one occasion, they successfully toss him into the sea. Meanwhile Ravi and Vasanthi fall in love. What happens next with all the look-alike identities and the comedy of errors forms the remaining story.

Cast

;Male cast *

as Pandiya, Marudhu and Shankar * M. R. Radha as Kabali and Amirthalingam Pillai *

as Ravi ;Female cast *

as Geetha * Vasanthi as Vasanthi * Sandhya as Shankar's wife

Production

Shortly before his trip to the United States in May 1962,

had signed up for a film titled ''Bale Pandiya'', produced and directed by B. R. Panthulu under Padmini Pictures. He visited the studio on the second day of the month, and left on the twelfth after the film was completed. Ganesan believed himself to hold the "world record of completing a film in eleven days time." He played three distinct roles, while his co-star M. R. Radha played two roles. Ganesan spoke in

Madras Bashai Madras Bashai (Tamil: , ) is a Variety (linguistics), variety of the Tamil language spoken by native people in the city of Chennai (previously known as Madras) in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. In the past it was sometimes considered a pidgin, ...

to play his characters. The story was written by Maa. Raa. and Joshi, while the screenplay was written by Dada Mirasi. Cinematography was handled by V. Ramamoorthy, and the editing by R. Devarajan. According to Panthulu's son Ravishankar, the entire film was completed in 15 days, with shooting going on simultaneously in three places. The final length of the film was .

Soundtrack

Music was composed by

, with lyrics by

Kannadasan Muthiah Sathappan Chettiar better known as Kannadasan (; 24 June 1927 – 17 October 1981) was a poet, film song lyricist, producer, actor, script-writer, editor, philanthropist, and is heralded as one of the greatest and most important l ...

. "Neeye Unakku Endrum" is set in the

Carnatic raga A Carnatic raga refers to ''ragas'' used in Carnatic music. It has several components: a primordial sound (''nāda''), tonal system (''swara''), pitch (''śruti''), scale, ornaments ('' gamaka''), and important tones. Origins and history Carnati ...

known as

Suddha Dhanyasi Udayaravichandrika, or Shuddha Dhanyasi, is a rāgam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is an ''audava'' rāgam (or ''owdava'' rāgam, meaning pentatonic scale). It is a ''janya'' rāgam (derived scale), as it ...

( Dhani in

Hindustani classical music Hindustani classical music is the Indian classical music, classical music of the Indian subcontinent's northern regions. It may also be called North Indian classical music or ''Uttar Bhartiya shastriya sangeet''. The term ''shastriya sangeet'' ...

), and attained popularity. The song "Vaazha Ninaithal" was recreated as the theme song for the Sun TV series ''

Ilakkiya ''Ilakkiya'' is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language television series starring Shambhavy Gurumoorthy and Nandan Loganathan in lead roles. The series was produced by Saregama. It was premiered on 10 October 2022 airing on Sun TV from Monday to Satu ...

''.

Release and reception

''Bale Pandiya'' was released on 26 May 1962. Sekar and Sundar of ''

Ananda Vikatan ''Ananda Vikatan'' is a Tamil-language weekly magazine published from Chennai, India. History ''Ananda Vikatan'' was started by Late Pudhoor Vaidyanadhaiyar in February 1926 as a monthly publication. The issue for December 1927 was not publishe ...

'' praised the film for its comedy and Ganesan's triple role performance. Kanthan of ''

Kalki Kalki (), also called Kalkin, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hinduism, Hindu god Vishnu. According to Vaishnavism, Vaishnava cosmology, Kalki is destined to appear at the end of the Kali Yuga, the last of the four ages i ...

'', however, gave a less positive review, praising Ganesan and Radha's multiple role performances, but criticising the direction and cinematography.

References

External links

* * {{B. R. Panthulu 1960s Indian films 1960s Tamil-language films 1962 comedy films 1962 films Films about brothers Films about lookalikes Films directed by B. R. Panthulu Films scored by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy Indian comedy films Tamil-language comedy films Tamil-language Indian films