''Motor Sundaram Pillai'' is a 1966 Indian Tamil-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 ...

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 ...

film '' Grahasti'' (1963), itself based on the American film '' The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker'' (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, Tel ...

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 Sub ...

. 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 as Gopal * Nagayya as Mohan's father * Sundararajan as Gopal's father * S. Rama Rao as Station Master * T. S. Muthaiah * 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 fil ...

as Shambu * C. R. Parthiban 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 as elder daughter of Maragadham and Sundaram * Shylashri 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 * 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 '' The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker'', adapted from a play written by Liam O'Brien, 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 '' Grahasti'' (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. The lyrics were penned by Kothamangalam Subbu and Vaali. In the song "Gubu Gubu Naan Engine", singer L. R. Eswari imitated engine sounds while A. L. Raghavan imitated train car sounds. The song "Maname Muruganin" is set in the Carnatic raga known as Hindolam. 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 film '' Manchi Kutumbam'' (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