''Kannur Deluxe'' is a 1969 Indian Malayalam-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

A. B. Raj Antony Basker Raj (25 June 1930 – 23 August 2020), also known as A. Bhaskar Raj, was an Indian director of Malayalam movies. Career From 1951 to 1960, he directed ten Singalese (Sinhala) movies followed by directing 65 Malayalam movies fro ...

and produced by

T. E. Vasudevan T. E. Vasudevan (16 July 1917 – 30 December 2014) was an Indian film producer, who worked mainly in Malayalam cinema. He is the first ever winner of the J. C. Daniel Award, Government of Kerala, Kerala government's highest honour for contributi ...

who wrote the story under the pseudonym V. Devan. It is the first road movie in Malayalam which pivots on a theft that occurs in a bus and stars

Prem Nazir Prem Nazir (born Abdul Khader; 7 April 1926 – 16 January 1989) was an Indian actor known as one of Malayalam cinema's definitive leading man, leading men of his generation. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential actors in the histo ...

, Sheela, Adoor Bhasi. The film was released on 16 May 1969.

Plot

Cast

as Thirumeni /CID Officer * Adoor Bhasi as Chanthu, Thirumeni's Assistant/Assi. CID Officer *

K. P. Ummer Kachinamthoduka Puthiyapurayil Ummer known as K. P. Ummer (Malayalam: കെ.പി. ഉമ്മർ) was an Indian actor from Thekkepuram quarter of Kozhikode, Kerala, India. He was active in the Malayalam cinema from early sixties until late ...

as Venu, K. B. Pillai's Son *

Sankaradi Chandrashekaran Menon, better known by his screen name Sankaradi (14 July 1924 – 8 October 2001), was an Indian actor. He was a veteran Malayalam comedian and character artist, who had over 700 Malayalam films to his credit. He dominated the ...

as Kammath, a Passenger * Sheela as Lady on the Bus *

N. Govindan Kutty N. Govindan Kutty was a Malayalam film actor. He has appeared in around 100 films, acting mainly in villain roles. Background Kutty was born at Fort Kochi in 1924, Ernakulam as the son of Sankara Narayanan and Nanukutty Amma. He was a natura ...

as KBS Nair * Jose Prakash as Gopalakrishnan, the thief *

T. R. Omana T. R. Omana is an Indian actress in Malayalam films. She mainly acts in supporting roles and mother roles. She has acted in more than 500 films. Personal life T. R. Omana was born as eldest among five children to T R Gopala Pillai, Timber mer ...

as K G Pillai's wife * Nellikkodu Bhaskaran as Bus Conductor * G. K. Pillai as K. B. Pillai * Paravoor Bharathan as K B Pillai's company manager *

P. Sreekumar P. Sreekumar is an Indian actor, scriptwriter, director and producer who appears in Malayalam movies. He has acted in more than 150 Malayalam films. Presently he is serving as the Chairman of Kerala Cultural Activists Welfare Fund Board. Backgro ...

K R Radha a Job aspirant *Ammini *Abbas *

Kottayam Chellappan Kottayam Chellappan (10 November 1923 – 26 December 1971) was an Indian actor in Malayalam movies. He was also a renowned stage actor and film actor who was very active in Malayalam films during the 1960s and '70s. He died on 26 December 1971 ...

*Paappi *

K. Radhakrishnan Koppillil Radhakrishnan (born 29 August 1949) is an Indian space scientist who headed the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) between November 2009 and December 2014 as Chairman of Space Commission, Secretary of the Department of Spa ...

*M. Radhakrishnan

Production

The film is perhaps the first road movie in Malayalam. A real life incident that occurred at

Cherthala Cherthala, , (formerly Shertalai, Shertallai or Shertallay) is a Municipal town and a Taluk located at National highway 66 in the district of Alappuzha, in the state of Kerala, India. Cherthala is the satellite town and industrial hub of Ala ...

in Alappuzha district of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

inspired the modus operandi used to arrest the thief in the film. Major portions of the film were shot inside Kannur Deluxe, a KSRTC bus service between

Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

and

Kannur Kannur (), formerly known in English as Cannanore, is a city and a municipal corporation in the state of Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Kannur district and situated north of the major port city and commercial hu ...

that was started in 1967 and is still on. The indoor portions were shot at Vahini, Arunachalam, and Newton Studios.

I. V. Sasi Irruppam Veedu Sasidaran (28 March 1947 – 24 October 2017), better known as I. V. Sasi, was an Indian film director who made over 110 films predominantly in Malayalam, in addition to Tamil and Hindi languages. In 2015, he was awarded the J. ...

worked as assistant director in the film.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

V. Dakshinamoorthy Venkateswaran Dakshinamoorthy (9 December 1919 – 2 August 2013) was a veteran carnatic musician and composer and music director of Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi films, predominantly in Malayalam films. He has set scores for the songs in over 125 ...

and the lyrics were written by Sreekumaran Thampi.

Historical importance

The film helped the

Kerala State Road Transport Corporation Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is a state-owned road transport corporation in the Indian state of Kerala. It is one of the country's oldest state-run public bus transport services. The corporation is divided into three zones ( ...

(KSRTC) to win a trademark case against the Karnataka Road Transport Corporation by submitting its scenes with the KSRTC logo as prime evidence. The scenes were used to prove that the Transport Corporation existed in Kerala even before the Karnataka RTC.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0257832 1960s Malayalam-language films 1960s thriller films 1969 films Films set in Kerala Films shot in Kannur Films shot in Thiruvananthapuram Indian road movies Indian thriller films