''Pilot Premnath'' is a 1978

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 film written and directed by

A. C. Tirulokchandar A. C. Thirulokachandar (11 June 1930 – 15 June 2016), also known as A. C. Tirulokchandar, was an Indian film director and screenwriter who worked mainly in Tamil films from the 1960s to 1988. He also directed a few films in Hindi and Telugu. ...

. 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 ...

as the eponymous character. It is based on R. Venkat's play ''Mezhugu Bommaigal'' (). The film, the first joint Indo-Sri Lankan co-production in history, was shot entirely in Sri Lanka, while post-production took place in India. It was released on 30 October 1978.

Plot

Premnath, a pilot, loses his wife in an accident and he decides to shower all his love and affection on his two sons and a blind daughter. But things change when he reads an unsent letter written by his wife.

Cast

as Premnath *

Malini Fonseka Wanniarachchige Malini Senehelatha Fonseka, popularly as Malini Fonseka ( Sinhala:මාලිනී ෆොන්සේකා) (born 30 April 1947, in Kelaniya) is an actress in Sri Lankan cinema, theatre and television as well as a director. ...

as Premnath's wife * Vijayakumar as Premnath's son *

Jai Ganesh Jai Ganesh (1946 – 11 February 2001) was an Indian Tamil film actor. He had supporting roles in the films ''Aval Oru Thodar Kathai'' and ''Attukara Alamelu'', among others. His most popular roles have been as a supporting actor or as a villa ...

as Premnath's son *

Jayachitra Jayachitra is an Indian actress films who works mostly in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films. Early life Jayachitra was born in 1957. Her father Mahendra was a veterinary doctor, who had earlier worked as a lawyer. Her mother Ammaji (a.k.a. Ja ...

as Vijayakumar's lover * Sridevi as Kanchan * Major Sundarrajan as Balu * Prem Anand as Kanchan's lover * Thengai Srinivasan as Premnath's co-pilot * Manorama as Thengai Srinivasan's wife * Sathyapriya as Jai Ganesh's lover

Production

''Pilot Premnath'' was directed by

, who also wrote the screenplay while Aaroor Dass wrote the dialogues. The film was produced by D. M. Chandrasena, Mukundan Menon and M. M. Saleem. The first joint Indo-Sri Lankan co-production in history, it was shot entirely in Sri Lanka, while post-production took place in Madras, India. The film was an adaptation of the play ''Mezhugu Bommaigal'' written by R. Venkat. Sivaji Ganesan portrayed the lead character originally played by A. R. Srinivasan, and Sridevi portrayed that character's blind daughter, reprising the role originally played by

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 ...

Soundtrack

The songs were composed by M. S. Viswanathan, and written by Vaali. The song "Azhagi Oruthi" belongs to

Baila Baila (also known as bayila; from the Portuguese verb ''bailar'', meaning ''to dance'') is a form of music, popular in Sri Lanka and among Goan Catholics. The genre originated centuries ago among the Portuguese Burghers and Sri Lankan Kaffirs. B ...

, a Sri Lankan genre.

Release and reception

''Pilot Premnath'' was released on 30 October 1978, Diwali day. ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' wrote, "Excellent photography is the chief asset of ''Pilot Premnath''". ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split be ...

'' wrote, "Captivating photography and M. S. Viswanathan's music. A few of the melodious numbers are bound to become hits". Kousigan of ''

Kalki Kalki ( sa, कल्कि), also called Kalkin or Karki, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. He is described to appear in order to end the Kali Yuga, one of the four periods in the endless cycle of exist ...

'' appreciated the film for its music and cinematography, especially the capturing of Sri Lankan locales on camera. Historian Randor Guy noted that the film was a "reasonable success" in both the countries it was produced.

References

External links

* {{A. C. Tirulokchandar 1970s Tamil-language films 1978 films Films directed by A. C. Tirulokchandar Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan Films shot in Sri Lanka Indian films based on plays Sri Lankan films based on plays