Pallandu Vazhga

Pallandu Vazhga
Directed by	K. Shankar
Produced by	Manian Vidwan Ve. Lakshmanan
Written by	R. K. Shanmugam
Screenplay by	Manian Vidwan Ve. Lakshmanan Thamarai Manalan Na. Pandurangan
Story by	V. Shantaram
Starring	M. G. Ramachandran Latha Thengai Srinivasan M. N. Nambiar V. K. Ramaswamy P. S. Veerappa R.S. Manohar
Music by	K. V. Mahadevan
Cinematography	T. V.Rajaram
Edited by	K. Shankar
Production company	Udhayam Productions
Distributed by	Udayam Productions
Release dates	31 october 1975[1]
Running time	154 mins
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Pallandu Vazhga (English: Live Long!) is a 1975 Indian Tamil film directed by K. Shankar, starring M. G. Ramachandran and Latha in the lead roles. The film ran for over 100 days in theatres.^[2]

It is a remake of V. Shantaram's 1957 Hindi film Do Aankhen Barah Haath.^[3]

Plot

The film portrays Rajan (MGR), a young jail warden who rehabilitates six deadly prisoners released on parole into persons of virtue. He takes these notorious, often surly, murderers and makes them work hard with him on a dilapidated country farm, rehabilitating them through hard work and kindly guidance as they eventually produce a great harvest. The warden is however given an ultimatum: He will be arrested if even one of the prisoners attempts escape.

They all come across Saroja (Latha) an itinerant seller who they get attracted to, but she only gets close to Rajan, after he saves her from a bunch of goons. As Saroja is homeless, the six prisoners plead the warden to let the girl stay with them and he subsequently agrees. At one time when Sanguili (R.S. Manohar), one of the prisoners, coincidentally runs into his long-lost family, he tearfully re-unites with them. But they appear homeless, and so the warden allows them also to stay with him and the other prisoners. This however angers the other prisoners who feel that the warden did not give them freedom, compelling them to try killing him in order to escape.

Another prisoner Mayandhi (V.K. Ramaswamy) who was actually a barber before his arrest, agrees to give the warden a shave (it is his trick to kill the warden by cutting his neck). The warden however has no idea that he is going to be killed and blissfully sits for the shave, but the prisoner sees the warden's magical eyes and gets hypnotised, thus compelling him to call off the idea of murder. The prisoners who were attempting escape while the warden was having a shave, however see a statue of C. N. Annadurai and because they see the warden's spirit in it, they get hypnotised and eventually return. The prisoners' escape was well seen by the other policemen around, which leads to the warden's stay in jail for one day. However when they hear that the prisoners have returned, the warden is released and returns to his duty. The prisoners gradually turn into good people and become attached to the warden, who dreams of marrying Saroja, in his mother's presence.

One night however, the prisoners are invited to a bar by a corrupt businessman and the warden is unaware of this. They return drunk and almost attack the warden and the girl. The warden is not pleased with their status and commands them to kill him if that is what they want. However, hypnotism and conscience again strike the prisoners, causing them to drop their weapons. The next morning, the prisoners fall at the warden's feet and explain that the corrupt businessman only told them to drink, thus they earn the forgiveness of the warden and the girl. The prisoners try to keep up to Gandhian philosophy and even refuse to fight back at the corrupt businessman when he sends his minions to beat them up. They however stay still while getting beaten up, continuously praising dharma and are eventually saved by the village girl while the nearby people beat the businessman on behalf of the prisoners. The warden is proud of the prisoners' act of non-violence and tearfully praises them.

However the next day, the same corrupt businessman orders that the warden and his prisoners surrender, else there plantation and home will be destroyed. The warden refuses, so the businessman sends his men and elephants to destroy everything in sight. However, the warden and his men vigorously battle all the thugs and emerge victorious, while the local police capture the corrupt businessman and arrest him. The warden, having been praised for transforming the six prisoners into reformed people, frees the prisoners and tearfully sees them off.

Cast

• M. G. Ramachandran as Rajan (Chinnaiya), The assistant director of prison
• Latha as Saroja, an itinerant seller
• M. N. Nambiar|| Bhaiyaravan, n°999, (He stabbed a businessman)
• V. K. Ramaswamy as Mayandhi, n°111, (Ex-barber, he knifed a customer)
• Thengai Srinivasanas Mounkannu, n°144,(He stabbed a man and his daughter)
• R. S. Manohar as Sanguili, n°302, father of 2 children (He flooded his wife)
• P. S. Veerappa as David, n°250, (He killed a policeman)
• Gundumani as Kalayr, n°1320 (He killed all his family)
• V. S. Raghavan as Dharmaraj, the storekeeper
• V. Gopalakrishnan as The superior of Rajan, the warden
• Isari Velan as The secretary of Rajan
• Pandari Bai as Rajan 's mother

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film has been composed by K.V. Mahadevan.^[4][5]

Around the movie

Unlike the original, this did not feature the protagonist being killed, a measure which was taken after MGR's character in an earlier film Paasam died and caused negative fan reactions, that resulted in the film's failure.^[6]

MGR in this film shows that how Tamil Nadu is presently and what can he do if he has given power Reactions to Pallandu Vazhga were generally negative, with the film being criticized as "horrible/vulgar".^[7] However, Ananda Vikatan stated that "எம்.ஜி.ஆர். ரசிகர்களுக்கு மட்டுமல்ல, எல்லோருக்குமே பல்லாண்டு வாழ்க ஓர் இனிய சித்திரம்" (Pallandu Vazhga is a film not only for MGR fans, but a good film for everyone).^[8][9]

My Six Convicts (Mes six forçats) Le 12 mars 1952 (Ferdinand O. Lacour), we can see in both movies there, a certain similarity with the autobiographical story of Donald Powell Wilson.

PALLANDU VAAZHGA is the second combination, MGR - K. Shankar - K. V. Mahadevan. The first one being the sword-and-sandal ADIMAI PENN.

It was for The " Thirai Isai Thilagum " K. V. Mahadevan, the 36th and last composition of a soundtrack for a movie of MGR.

References

External links

• Pallandu Vazhga at the Internet Movie Database