''Motor Sundaram Pillai'' is a 1966 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

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by S. S. Balan and written by Veppathur Kittoo. A remake of the

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

film '' Grahasti'' (1963), itself based on the American film '' The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker'' (1959), 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 ...

, Ravichandran,

Sowcar Janaki Sankaramanchi Janaki (born 12 December 1931), widely known as Sowcar Janaki, is an Indian actress known for her works in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. In a career spanning over seven decades, Janaki has appeared in nearly 390 fil ...

and

Jayalalithaa Jayaram Jayalalithaa (24 February 1948 – 5 December 2016), popularly known as Amma, was an Indian actress, politician, and philanthropist who served as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for more than fourteen years between 1991 and 2016. She ...

. It revolves around a man who leads a double life, having two sets of families. ''Motor Sundaram Pillai'' is the directorial debut of Balan, whose father Vasan produced the film under

Gemini Studios Gemini Studios was an Indian film studio based in Madras, Tamil Nadu. It was launched when S. S. Vasan, a businessman of many ventures (including the ownership of Ananda Vikatan) bought Motion Picture Producers' Combines from Krishnaswamy Su ...

. After Kittoo completed the screenplay, Ganesan was approached to star but declined; Vasan then produced Kittu's screenplay as ''Grahasti''. When Ganesan saw this film, he offered to act if Kittu made a Tamil version, and was cast. ''Motor Sundaram Pillai'' was released on 26 January 1966. The film was commercially successful, running for over 100 days in theatres.

Plot

Motor Sundaram Pillai, a man known for being virtuous, leads a double life, having two sets of families.

Cast

;Male cast *

as Motor Sundaram Pillai * Ravichandran as Mohan * Sooryakumar as Vimala's boyfriend *

Sivakumar Palaniswamy Gounder (born 27 October 1941), better known by his stage name Sivakumar, is an Indian visual artist and former actor who has appeared in Tamil cinema and television. He made his acting debut in '' Kaakum Karangal'' (1965) and has ...

as Gopal * Nagayya as Mohan's father * Sundararajan as Gopal's father * S. Rama Rao as Station Master * T. S. Muthaiah * Deviprasad * Master S. Kumar *

Nagesh Nageshwaran Rao (born Cheyur Krishnarao Nageshwaran; (27 September 1933 – 31 January 2009) was an Indian actor and comedian mostly remembered for his comic roles in Tamil films during the 1960s. Nagesh was born in Dharapuram. He acted in ov ...

as Shambu *

C. R. Parthiban C. R. Parthiban (1 July 1931 – 25 January 2021) was an Indian actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema and theatre. He was best known for his performance as Jackson Durai in ''Veerapandiya Kattabomman'' (1959). Biography Parthiban was born ...

as Police * Master C. P. Kumaran as Babu ;Female cast *

as Meenakshi *

as Mala *

Pandari Bai Pandari Bai (18 September 1928 – 29 January 2003) was an Indian actress who worked in South Indian cinema, mostly in Kannada cinema during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. She is considered Kannada cinema's first successful heroine. She has acted ...

as Sundaram Pillai's sister * Kanchana as Kamala *

Rajakokila Rajakokila/Rajkokila was an Indian actress. She was a prominent lead actress during the 1970s in Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, and Telugu films. She was well noted for her glamorous roles. She is married to Crossbelt Mani. The actress Meena ...

as Shanthi *

Shylashri Shylashri is an Indian actress who acted in Kannada cinema, Kannada, Tamil cinema, Tamil,Telugu cinema, Telugu,Hindi cinema, Hindi, Malayalam cinema, Malayalam, and Malay cinema, Malay (Malaysian Launguage). She was awarded the Rajyotsava Award ...

as Vimala * Manimala as Maragadham, Sundaram’s First-Love * Baby Savithri * Baby Avandhi *

M. S. Sundari Bai Madurai Saurashtra Sundari Bai (2 March 1923 – 12 March 2006) was an Indian actress, singer and dancer who worked mainly in Tamil cinema from the 1940s to the 1970s. Sundari Bai was the wife of writer and director Kothamangalam Subbu. Her most ...

* Baby Padmini as Rajee * Baby Kausalya *

Sachu Saraswathi Sundaresan Iyer, professionally known as Kumari Sachu 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 nonchalantly blended ...

as Revathy *

Padmini Priyadarshini Padmini Priyadarshini (later Padmini Ramachandran) was an Indian actor, dancer and choreographer. She acted in supporting roles during the 1950s and 1960s in Tamil, Kannada and Hindi films. She established a dancing school in Bangalore named ''Na ...

as dancer in

Rangoon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

Production

The 1959 American film '' The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker'', adapted from a play written by

Liam O'Brien Liam Christopher O'Brien (born May 28, 1976) is an American voice actor, writer, and director. He is a regular cast member of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' actual play series '' Critical Role,'' playing Vax'ildan ("Vax"), Caleb Widogast, and Orym. ...

, which was inspired by a real life incident, was a global success, especially in Madras (now

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

). Veppatthur Kittu of

wrote a screenplay based on this film (with changes made to suit regional tastes) and approached

to act. He refused, and Gemini Studios proprietor S. S. Vasan produced Kittu's screenplay in

as '' Grahasti'' (1963). When Ganesan saw this film, he offered to act if Kittu made a Tamil version. Vasan later announced the Tamil version, titled ''Motor Sundaram Pillai''. Like ''Grahasti'', this too featured some changes from the American film. It marked the directorial debut of Vasan's son Balan. Cinematography was handled by P. Ellappa.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album was composed by M. S. Viswanathan. In the song "Gubu Gubu Naan Engine", singer L. R. Eswari imitated engine sounds while A. L. Raghavan imitated train car sounds. The song "Maname Muruganin" 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

Hindolam Hindōḷaṃ is a ragam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is an ''audava'' rāgam (5 notes in arohana and avarohana) as it does not have all the seven ''swaras'' (musical notes). Hindolam is not the same a ...

. Lyricist

Kothamangalam Subbu Kothamangalam Subbu (born S. M. Subramanian, 10 November 1910 – 15 February 1974) was an Indian poet, lyricist, author, actor and film director based in Tamil Nadu. He wrote the cult classic Tamil novel ''Thillana Mohanambal'' and was awarded ...

initially wanted it to be in Atana, but as Viswanathan wanted it to be in Hindolam, Subbu assented. The song was re-used in the

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

film ''

Manchi Kutumbam ''Manchi Kutumbam'' () is a 1968 Indian Telugu-language drama film co-written and directed by V. Madhusudhana Rao. The film stars Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Sowcar Janaki, Kanchana, Krishna and Vijaya Nirmala, with music composed by S. P. Koda ...

'' (1968) as "Manase Andhala Brindavanam".

Release and reception

''Motor Sundaram Pillai'' was released on 26 January 1966. T. M. Ramachandran of ''

Sport and Pastime ''Sport and Pastime'' was a weekly sports magazine published by The Hindu Group from 1947 to 1968. Founded by S. K. Gurunathan, the magazine was eventually stopped in 1968. It was replaced with ''Sportstar'' in 1978. References

1947 establi ...

'' wrote, "Though, up to the interval, it contains the usual quota of songs, dances, romantic chases of the young lovers and comedy ..it grips the audience with a clever and logical twist in the story." The film was commercially successful, running for over 100 days in theatres.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{Gemini Studios 1960s Indian films 1960s Tamil-language films 1966 directorial debut films 1966 drama films 1966 films Fiction about polygamy Films about families Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan Films with screenplays by Kothamangalam Subbu Gemini Studios films Indian drama films Indian films based on plays Indian remakes of American films Tamil remakes of Hindi films Tamil-language Indian films