Neelagiri Express

Neelagiri Express நீலகிரி எக்ஸ்பிரஸ்
Directed by	Thirumalai-Mahalingam
Produced by	V. Arunachalam
Written by	Cho Ramaswamy
Screenplay by	Cho Ramaswamy
Starring	Jaishankar Vijaya Nirmala Cho Ramaswamy S. A. Ashokan Vijaya Lalitha S. V. Ramadoss
Music by	T. K. Ramamoorthy
Cinematography	G. Vittal Rao
Edited by	A. Paulduraisingam
Production company	A. L. S. Productions
Distributed by	A. L. S. Productions
Release date	April 14, 1968 (1968-04-14)
Running time	120 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Neelagiri Express (தமிழ்: நீலகிரி எக்ஸ்பிரஸ்) is 1968 black-and-white Tamil suspense thriller film that was directed by Thirumalai-Mahalingam and produced by V. Arunachalam. The screenplay and dialogue was written by Cho Ramaswamy. The score was written by T. K. Ramamoorthy. Starring Jaishankar , Cho Ramaswamy , Vijaya Nirmala and Vijaya Lalitha. The film is remake of a 1967 Malayalam film Cochin Express (1967).^[1][2][3]which was also subsequently remade in Kannada as Bangalore Mail starring Rajkumar , in Telugu as Circar Express starring Krishna and in Hindi as The Train starring Rajesh Khanna.

Synopsis

A murder takes place in Neelagiri Express bound to Coimbatore from Chennai. Ravanan(Cho Ramaswamy) is the only co-passenger who is travelling with deceased. One of Cho's co-passengers is an attractive and mysterious young woman Kalavathy(Vijaya Lalitha). She takes him off the train to have food at Arokanam and the purposely make him lose the train and disappearance.In meantime Sabapathy(V. S. Raghavan) is murdered and Ravanan becomes crime suspects and realise that Ravanan is an innocent party and begins investigation. Shankar(Jaishankar) is assigned the task of nabbing the criminal behind the murder. So, he sets out of solve the case with the help ofCho ramasawmy and eventually find the murderer.

Plot

In Indian cinema it is usually stories from the epic or folk that are made in multiple language because of the wide appeal across regions. However, are story essentially a murder mystery about man killed on a moving train.

A rich man Sabapathy(V. S. Raghavan) is murdered on a running train for the jewels he is carrying in his suitcase.Ravanan(Cho Ramaswamy) gives a brilliant performance as the man who notice the body in the carriage. One of the Ravanan's co-passengers is an attractive young women Kalavathy(Vijayalalitha) with mysterious background. she takes him off the train to have food at Arakonam and then purposely make him lose the train and disappeared. In the meantime Sabapathy is murdered and Ravanan becomes crime suspects. Shankar(Jaishankar) is assigned the task of nabbing the criminal behind the background the murder. And, realise that ravanan is an innocent party and begins investigation. CID Officer Shankar is in the love with a young women (Vijaya Nirmala). But since his parents do not approve of her. She leaves him. Some months later, Shankar happens to meet her in a hotel where she works as a receptionist, but she is not keen to revive the relationship. Shankar sense that there is mystery behind her life and tries to solve it.

Meanwhile, then are quite a few suspects implicated in the train murder, including his chain-smoker brother-in-law Boopathy(S. V. Ramadoss) and bald villain with wears an eye-patch(S. A. Ashokan). In the climax, the CID Officer disguised a rich Muslim meets a dancer(Vijaya Lalitha) who reveals herself as his sweet heart by taking off her facial mask(Vijayanirmala). She dies in his arms after consuming poison. Shankar realises she has been used as a pawn by the killers (the bald man and his gang).^[4]

Cast

• Jaishankar as CID Inspector Shankar
• S. A. Ashokan as Eye-Patch Villain
• Cho Ramaswamy as Ravanan
• Vijaya Nirmala as Geetha
• Vijaya Lalitha as Kalavathy
• V. S. Raghavan as Sabapathy
• S. V. Ramadoss as Boopathy
• K. Vijayan as Kumar
• S. Parvathi as Mahalakshmi
• Tambaram Lalitha as Geetha's mother

Soundtrack

The music composed by T. K. Ramamoorthy and lyrics written by Kannadasan. The music T. K. Ramamoorthy was stumbles through the movie with typical Ear shattering Music. At the Kalavathy Aalayam, two dancer performances to the only popular song "Thiruthani Muruga Thennava Thalaiva"- P. Suseela & Soolamangalam Sisters (A very young Srividya appears one of the dancers).^[5]

Reception

The Randor Guy says in to The Hindu article interesting story line, gripping on screen narratation and fine performance by Jaishankar and Cho Ramaswamy who wrote the screenplay and dialog. Positive is barely interesting and only positive point are the jokes by Cho, who has the best lines and gives an able performance like Mr. Bean.^[4]

Releases

Neelagiri Express movie was made into movie some decades ago in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi with different casts, Writers, and different directors. The first version was in Malayalam 1967, titled Cochin Express.

• Original Version Malayalam: the film titled Cochin Express is a 1967 Malayalam Thriller film was directed by M. Krishnan Nair and produced by T. E. Vasudevan. Music by Dakshinamoorthy. The film starring Prem Nazir Sheela Adoor Bhasi and Sankaradi. The film hit at the box office.^[6]
• Kannada: The film name was Bangalore Mail is 1968 the film was directed by L. S. Narayanan and produced by Y. V. Rao. Starring Rajkumar Narasimharaju and Jayanthi. Music by Chellapilla Satyam assets to the movie. The film fairly hit at the box office.^[7]
• Telugu: Circar Express is a 1968 film was directed by M. Krishnan and produced by Y. V. Rao. The film starring Krishna Vijayanirmala Raja Babu and Jothi Lakshmi. Music by Chellapilla Satyam.^[8]
• Hindi: The film name The Train (1970 film) was directed by Ravikant Nagaich and produced by Rajendra Kumar and Ramesh Behl. Music by R. D. Burman assets to the movie. Starring Rajesh Khanna Nanda and Helen. The film did "Above Average" business at the box office.^[4][9]

References

External links

• Neelagiri Express on IMDb
• Neelagiri Express on YouTube