''Motor Sundaram Pillai'' is a 1966 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, nativ ...

-language

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by S. S. Balan and written by Veppathur Kittoo. A remake of the

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

film ''

Grahasti ''Grihasti'' is a family drama produced by Sphere Origins, that aired on Star Plus during weekday afternoons. The show premiered on 25 February 2008 and aired until 27 March 2009. Synopsis ''Grihasti'' is based upon the Khurana family. After t ...

'' (1963), itself based on the American film ''

The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker ''The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker'' is a 1959 DeLuxe Color film starring Clifton Webb and Dorothy McGuire directed by Henry Levin in CinemaScope. The film is based on the 1953 Broadway play of the same, which ran for 221 performances: Burgess Me ...

'' (1959), the film stars

Sivaji Ganesan Villupuram Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy, better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001) was an Indian actor and producer. He was active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th century. Sivaji Ga ...

Ravichandran Ravichandran is an Indian name. Notable people with the name include: * Ravichandran (Tamil actor) (1942–2011) * Ravichandran (Tamil film director) (born 1971) * N. Ravichandran (professor) (1955), professor at IIM Ahmedabad * N. Ravichandran, ...

Sowcar Janaki Sankaramanchi Janaki (born T. Janaki; 12 December 1931), popularly known as Sowcar Janaki (Tamil) or Shavukaru Janaki (Telugu) or Sahukar Janaki (Kannada), is an Indian actress who has appeared in over 300, films, predominantly in Tamil, Telug ...

and

Jayalalithaa Jayaram Jayalalithaa (24 February 1948 – 5 December 2016) was an Indian politician and actress who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for more than fourteen years over six terms between 1991 and 2016. From 9 February 1989 to 5 December 2 ...

. It revolves around a man who leads a double life, having two sets of families. ''Motor Sundaram Pillai'' is the directorial debut of Balan, whose father Vasan produced the film under

Gemini Studios Gemini Studios was an Indian film studio based in Madras, Tamil Nadu. It was launched when S. S. Vasan, a businessman of many ventures (including the ownership of Ananda Vikatan) bought Motion Picture Producers' Combines from Krishnaswamy Subr ...

. After Kittoo completed the screenplay, Ganesan was approached to star but declined; Vasan then produced Kittu's screenplay as ''Grahasti''. When Ganesan saw this film, he offered to act if Kittu made a Tamil version, and was cast. ''Motor Sundaram Pillai'' was released on 26 January 1966. The film was commercially successful, running for over 100 days in theatres.

Plot

Motor Sundaram Pillai, a man known for being virtuous, leads a double life, having two sets of families.

Cast

;Male cast *

as Motor Sundaram Pillai *

as Mohan * Sooryakumar as Vimala's boyfriend *

Sivakumar Palaniswamy, better known by his stage name Sivakumar (born 27 October 1941), is an Indian visual artist and former actor who has portrayed a wide range of leading and supporting roles onscreen in Tamil cinema and television. He made his actin ...

as Gopal *

Nagayya V. Nagayya (born Vuppaladadiyam Nagayya Sarma; 28 March 1904 – 30 December 1978) also known as Chittoor Nagayya was an Indian actor, singer, music composer, and director known for his works in Telugu cinema, Tamil cinema, and Telugu theatre. ...

as Mohan's father * Sundararajan as Gopal's father * S. Rama Rao as Station Master *

T. S. Muthaiah T. S. Muthaiah (1923 – 12 February 1992) was a Malayalam and Tamil film actor. He was a very popular actor in both film industries who usually played character and supporting roles in 1950s and 1960s. He acted with M. G. Ramachandran in Thayi ...

* Deviprasad * Master S. Kumar *

Nagesh Nagesh (born Cheyur Krishnarao Nageshwaran; (27 September 1933 – 31 January 2009) was an Indian actor, mostly remembered for his roles as a comedian in Tamil films during the 1960s. Nagesh was born in Dharapuram. He acted in over 1,000 film ...

as Shambu *

C. R. Parthiban C. R. Parthiban (1 July 1931 – 25 January 2021) was an Indian actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema and theatre. He was best known for his performance as Jackson Durai in ''Veerapandiya Kattabomman'' (1959). Biography Parthiban was born ...

as Police * Master C. P. Kumaran as Babu ;Female cast *

as Meenakshi *

as Mala *

Pandari Bai Pandari Bai (1930 – 29 January 2003) was an Indian actress who worked in South Indian cinema, mostly in Kannada cinema during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. She is considered Kannada cinema's first successful heroine. She has acted as both heroi ...

as Sundaram Pillai's sister * Kanchana as Kamala *

Rajakokila Rajakokila/Rajkokila was an Indian actress. She was a prominent lead actress during the 1970s in Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, and Telugu films. She was well noted for her glamorous roles. She is married to Crossbelt Mani. The actress Meena is her ...

as elder daughter of Maragadham and Sundaram *

Shylashri Shylashri is an Indian actress who acted in Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam cinema. She was awarded the Rajyotsava Award in 2019 for her contributions to Kannada Cinema. Shylashri is known to be one of 3 daughters of a classical musician, Veena G ...

as Vimala *

Manimala Manimala is a small town and a village in Kottayam district in the Indian state of Kerala, situated about from the nearest town Kanjirappally. It's declared as a folklore village since 2011 by the central government to promote folklore. Ge ...

as Maragadham * Baby Savithri * Baby Avandhi *

M. S. Sundari Bai Madurai Saurashtra Sundari Bai (2 March 1923 – 12 March 2006) was an Indian actress, singer and dancer who worked mainly in Tamil cinema from the 1940s to the 1970s. Sundari Bai was the wife of writer and director Kothamangalam Subbu. Her mos ...

* Baby Padmini as Rajee * Baby Kausalya *

Sachu Saraswathi Sundaresan Iyer, professionally known as Kumari Sachu (born 7 January 1948) is an Indian actress who has acted in more than 500 films in five different languages and a few television serials. She is a character actress/comedienne who ...

as Revathy

Production

The 1959 American film ''

'', adapted from a play written by

Liam O'Brien Liam Christopher O'Brien (born May 28, 1976) is an American voice actor, writer, and director. He is a regular cast member of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' actual play series ''Critical Role,'' playing Vax'ildan ("Vax"), Caleb Widogast, and Orym. ...

, which was inspired by a real life incident, was a global success, especially in Madras (now

Chennai 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 ...

). Veppatthur Kittu of

wrote a screenplay based on this film (with changes made to suit regional tastes) and approached

to act. He refused, and Gemini Studios proprietor

S. S. Vasan Subramaniam Srinivasan (4 January 1904 – 26 August 1969), popularly known by his screen name S. S. Vasan, was an Indian journalist, writer, advertiser, film producer, director and business tycoon. He is the founder of the Tamil-language maga ...

produced Kittu's screenplay in

as ''

'' (1963). When Ganesan saw this film, he offered to act if Kittu made a Tamil version. Vasan later announced the Tamil version, titled ''Motor Sundaram Pillai''. Like ''Grahasti'', this too featured some changes from the American film. It marked the directorial debut of Vasan's son Balan. Cinematography was handled by P. Ellappa.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album was composed by

M. S. Viswanathan Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan (24 June 1928 – 14 July 2015), also known as M.S.V., was an Indian music director, singer and actor who predominantly worked in Tamil film industry. He was popularly known as ''Mellisai Mannar''. He compose ...

. The lyrics were penned by

Kothamangalam Subbu Kothamangalam Subbu (born S. M. Subramanian, 10 November 1910 – 15 February 1974) was an Indian poet, lyricist, author, actor and film director based in Tamil Nadu. He wrote the cult classic Tamil novel ''Thillana Mohanambal'' and was awarded ...

and Vaali. In the song "Gubu Gubu Naan Engine", singer

L. R. Eswari Lourde-Mary Rajeswari, better known as L. R. Eswari, is an Indian playback singer who has sung several songs in Tamil language, Tamil, Telugu language, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi language, Hindi, Tulu language, Tulu, and English. She wa ...

imitated engine sounds while

A. L. Raghavan A. L. Raghavan (1933 – 19 June 2020) was an Indian playback singer, who sang many songs in Tamil-language films. Biography Raghavan was born to a Saurashtra Brahmin family in Ayyampettai near Thanjavur to Lakshmana Bhagavathar, Raghavan ...

imitated train car sounds. The song "Maname Muruganin" is set in the

Carnatic raga Carnatic raga refers to ''ragas'' used in Carnatic music. A Carnatic raga has several components - primordial sound (''nāda''), tonal system (''swara''), pitch (''śruti''), scale, ornaments ('' gamaka'') and important tones. Origins and histo ...

known as

Hindolam Hindōḷaṃ is a rāgam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is an ''audava'' rāgam (or ''owdava'' rāgam, meaning pentatonic scale). It is a ''janya'' rāgam (derived scale), as it does not have all the sev ...

. Subbu initially wanted it to be in

Atana Atana or AThana (अठाण / अठाणा) is a raga (musical scale) in Carnatic music (South Indian classical music). It is a ''Janya'' raga (derived scale), whose ''Melakarta'' raga (parent, also known as ''janaka'') is ''Sankarabharan ...

, but as Viswanathan wanted it to be in Hindolam, Subbu assented. The song was re-used in the

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

film ''

Manchi Kutumbam ''Manchi Kutumbam'' () is a 1968 Indian Telugu-language drama film co-written and directed by V. Madhusudhana Rao. The film stars Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Sowcar Janaki, Kanchana, Krishna and Vijaya Nirmala, with music composed by S. P. Kodan ...

'' (1968) as "Manase Andhala Brindavanam".

Release and reception

''Motor Sundaram Pillai'' was released on 26 January 1966. T. M. Ramachandran of ''

Sport and Pastime ''Sport and Pastime'' was a weekly sports magazine published by The Hindu Group from 1947 to 1968. Founded by S. K. Gurunathan, the magazine was eventually stopped in 1968. It was replaced with ''Sportstar ''Sportstar'' is an Indian monthly ...

'' wrote, "Though, up to the interval, it contains the usual quota of songs, dances, romantic chases of the young lovers and comedy ..it grips the audience with a clever and logical twist in the story." The film was commercially successful, running for over 100 days in theatres.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{Gemini Studios 1960s Tamil-language films 1966 directorial debut films 1966 drama films 1966 films Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan Films with screenplays by Kothamangalam Subbu Gemini Studios films Indian drama films Indian films based on plays Indian remakes of American films Polygamy in fiction Tamil remakes of Hindi films