''Bommai'' () is a 1964 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

-language

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

, directed by

S. Balachander Sundaram Balachander (18 January 1927 – 13 April 1990) was an Indian veena player and filmmaker. He directed, produced, and also composed music for a few of his films. Balachander was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1982. He died of a hear ...

. Featuring a walking-talking doll as the main character, the film had an ensemble cast of newcomers, while

L. Vijayalakshmi Lakshmanan Vijayalakshmi is an Indian actress and classical dancer whose career was from 1959 to 1969. She appeared in Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi films. Early life and training Vijayalakshmi was born in Ernakulam and was ...

and

V. S. Raghavan V S Raghavan (18 February 1925 – 24 January 2015) was an Indian actor, who has acted both in Tamil films as well as television. He started his career as a dramatist and stage actor and went on to act as a character actor in films, starting ...

appeared in prominent roles. The film was an adaptation of

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

's 1936

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

film ''

Sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...

''. It was released on 25 September 1964.

Plot

In an attempt to kill the hero (Balachander), the villain (V. S. Raghavan), along with his gang place a bomb in a walking doll. Unexpectedly, the doll comes back to the car in which the gang travels, killing all of them.

Cast

as Somasundaram *

as Mallika * Ramesh as Anand * Lakshmirajam *

as Jagadish * Srinivasan as Prabhakar * Maali as Mani * Sadan as Sampath * V. Gopalakrishnan as Manikkam *

S. N. Lakshmi Sennalkudi Narayana Lakshmi (1927 – 20 February 2012) was an Indian actress, who appeared in supporting roles, often playing roles of a mother or grandmother in films. A recipient of the state government's Kalaimamani and Kalaiselvam awards, ...

as Manikkam's mother *

P. D. Sambandam P. D. Sambandam was a comic actor who has performed many supporting and minor roles in Tamil films. Filmography References

Male actors in Tamil cinema Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Li ...

* Anandan * Murthi * Shoba

Production

Balachander, who was known for his critically acclaimed suspense thriller films ''

Andha Naal ''Andha Naal'' ( en, italic=yes, That Day, ) is a 1954 Indian Tamil-language mystery-thriller film, produced by A. V. Meiyappan and directed by S. Balachander. It is the first film noir in Tamil cinema, and the first Tamil film to be made wit ...

'' (1954) and '' Avana Ivan!?'' (1962) made ''Bommai'' on the same genre. The film was inspired by

's 1936 British film ''

''. Balachander made a few changes in the script to suit the tastes of Tamil audience. A walking-talking doll, which carries the bomb, played the main character in Bommai. To cast the doll, Balachander was in search for a long time and even tried one from the United States. Incidentally, while shopping in

Parry's Corner George Town is a neighbourhood in Chennai (formerly Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. It is near the Fort Saint George, Chennai. It is also known as Muthialpet and Parry's corner. It is an historical area of Chennai city from where its expansion beg ...

, he found the right doll in a roadside shop and bought it. While Balachander wrote the story and screenplay, his friend Ve. Lakshmanan wrote the dialogues. Rochelle Shah appeared as an actress, this being the only film she ever acted in. ''Bommai'' is the first Tamil film in which the director introduces the cast and crew verbally, rather than using

film credits Two types of credits are traditionally used in films, television programs, and video games, all of which provide attribution to the staff involved in their productions. While opening credits will usually display only the major positions in a pro ...

Music

The soundtrack consisted of six songs, all written by Balachander's associate Ve. Lakshmanan. The music for songs, was composed by Balachander himself, while the

background score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...

was composed by D. B. Ramachandran. The philosophical song "Neeyum Bommai Naanum Bommai" marked the playback singing debut of

K. J. Yesudas Kattassery Joseph Yesudas (born 10 January 1940) is an Indian playback singer and musician who sings Indian classical, devotional and film songs. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of Indian Music and also as a ...

in Tamil cinema. In 2014, when the song was re-used in '' Moodar Koodam'', Yesudas recorded the same for ''Moodar Koodam'', coincidentally marking his completion of 50 years in the Tamil film music industry. The following song list was adapted from a book authored by K. Neelamegam.

Release and reception

Although completed and censored in 1963, the film was released only on 25 September the following year. '' The Indian Express'' wrote though "the film fails to grip"; however "A neat, tidy, suspense packet". The reviewer praised the film's cinematography but criticised the background score and editing. On 11 October 1964, '' Ananda Vikatan'' wrote, "You will not realise how time flies by watching this film". The film completed 100 days in many theatres in

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. Its commercial success helped Balachander recover from the loss incurred on his previous film ''Avana Ivan''.

References

Sources

* *

External links

* {{S. Balachander 1960s Tamil-language films 1960s thriller films 1964 films Films about dolls Films directed by S. Balachander Indian black-and-white films Films scored by S. Balachander Indian remakes of British films Indian thriller films