''Pillai Nilla'' () is a 1985 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

psychological horror Psychological horror is a genre, subgenre of horror fiction, horror and psychological fiction with a particular focus on mental, emotional, and Mental state, psychological states to frighten, disturb, or unsettle its audience. The subgenre freque ...

film directed by

Manobala Balachandar (8 December 1953 – 3 May 2023), known by his stage name Manobala (), was an Indian actor, film producer, director, comedian, and YouTuber who predominantly played supporting roles in Tamil-language films. He worked predominantly i ...

, produced and written by P. Kalaimani. The film stars Mohan, Radhika, Jaishankar,

Nalini Nalini (Devanagari: नलिनी) is a female gender Indian people, Indian given name, which means "lotus", "goddess Gayatri","mother of Vedas", "sweet nectar", "Amrit", Feminine "lily" in Sanskrit.''Baby Names''"Nalini" Retrieved on 9 January ...

, and

Baby Shalini Shalini (formerly known as Baby Shalini; born 20 November 1979) is a former Indian actress and child artist who worked in Malayalam and Tamil films. During the 80s, Shalini was the most successful child artist in Malayalam and Tamil films. Aft ...

. It was released on 14 April 1985 and emerged a commercial success.

Plot

Dolly is the young sister of a widowed rich man named David. She falls in love with Mohan, who studies at her university. Before she tries to express her love, she suddenly flies abroad for an office matter. Meanwhile, in India, Mohan's mother arranges his marriage with his cousin Bhuvana, and he marries her. When Dolly returns from abroad on her birthday, she expresses her love to Mohan, but he rejects her because his wife is pregnant. Dolly's obsession causes her to commit suicide in front of him at the hospital. At the same time, as his wife is giving birth. Their daughter, Shalini, is imbued with Dolly's evil spirit as Dolly takes revenge. What happens next is the rest of the story.

Cast

Production

After his directorial debut '' Agaya Gangai'' (1982) failed,

did not get any further offers to direct which left him depressed and he contemplated suicide. P. Kalaimani approached Manobala to direct a film for him which was titled '' Muthal Vasantham''; however the partners of Kalaimani were uninterested in having Manobala as director and replaced him with

Manivannan Manivannan (31 July 1953 – 15 June 2013) was an Indian actor, film director, screenwriter, voice artist, playback singer and social activist who worked in Tamil cinema. In a career spanning three decades, he went from being a story and ...

. Despite this Kalaimani promised Manobala to direct a film which eventually became ''Pillai Nila''. The film took inspiration from various horror films such as '' Christine'' (1983), ''

Poltergeist In German folklore and ghostlore, a poltergeist ( or ; ; or ) is a type of ghost or spirit that is responsible for physical disturbances, such as loud noises and objects being moved or destroyed. Most claims or fictional descriptions of polter ...

'' (1982), ''

The Omen ''The Omen'' is a 1976 supernatural horror film directed by Richard Donner and written by David Seltzer. An international co-production of the United Kingdom and the United States, it stars Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Harvey Sp ...

'' (1976) and ''

The Exorcist ''The Exorcist'' is a 1973 American supernatural horror film directed by William Friedkin from a screenplay by William Peter Blatty, based on The Exorcist (novel), his 1971 novel. The film stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Jason Miller (play ...

'' (1973). The makers sought to avoid clichéd horror film tropes such as

haunted house A haunted house, spook house or ghost house in ghostlore is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were otherwise connected with the property ...

s, "sex-charged teenagers" and "unrealistic monsters in rubber masks".

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

Ilaiyaraaja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, multi-instrumentalist, lyricist and playback singer popular for his works in Indian cinema, predominately in Tamil cinema, Tamil in addition ...

. It took him six days to finish the film's re-recording.

Release and reception

''Pillai Nila'' was released on 14 April 1985,

Puthandu Puthandu (), also known as Tamil New Year (), is the first day of year on the Tamil calendar that is traditionally celebrated as a festival by Tamils. The festival date is set with the solar cycle of the solar Hindu calendar, as the first day ...

. Despite facing competition from other films released in the same week including Mohan's own films ''

Udaya Geetham ''Udhaya Geetham'' ( ) is a 1985 Indian Tamil-language thriller film directed by K. Rangaraj and produced by Kovaithambi. The film stars Mohan, Lakshmi and Revathi, with Goundamani, Senthil, Anand Babu, and Prathapachandran in supporting role ...

'' and '' Deivapiravi'', it emerged a commercial success. Jayamanmadhan (a duo) 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 ...

'' wrote the first half was not so boring, but the second half did not test their patience at all. The duo praised Ashok Kumar's cinematography, the performances of Mohan, Nalini and Shalini but felt the climax was absurd.

References

External links

* {{Manobala 1980s Indian films 1980s psychological horror films 1980s Tamil-language films 1985 films Films about reincarnation Films directed by Manobala Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Films set in Bengaluru Films set in Chennai Indian psychological horror films Tamil-language Indian films