Madras to Pondicherry (Tamil,1966 B/W)
One of the sites I saw recently placed this Tamil film as #4 in his list of 50 Tamil movies 'to see before you die!'. Not for anything but its unique genre - road movie category. In fact, I remember watching another movie (Thirumalai Thenkumari) where it shows various characters and escapades whilst enroute to perform pilgrimage. Along the way, the marvel of divine powers of the Lord is depicted in rather melodramatic and melodious ways through its story and devotional songs.
In Hollywood, off hand, one can recollect films like 'Boney & Clyde' and 'Easy Rider' which fit into this bill. In a way, the 60s western TV series 'Have Gun will travel' - "¶Paladin, paladin where do you go?¶" can be included for it shows someone with a dark past going places for adventure!
MTP is a full length comedy with a small element of suspense embedded in it. It is the story of the adventures of a bus driver (A. Karunanidhi ) and his conductor (Nagesh) as they travel in their bone shaking bus, which had seen better days, from Madras to Pondicherry.
A lady desperately aboards the moving bus in a state of panic, trying to escape some assailants. As the bus moves on, we are told that the lady, Mala has a dark past. Her story is told in instalments, interspersed with the antics of the bus passengers and the occasional pandemonium and even anarchy that erupts in the bus every now and then. There is a group of 3 men from a drama troupe, some friends of different religion, a narcoleptic, a bossy mother and daughter, a Brahmin couple - a domineering wife (Manorama), a henpecked husband with their overgrown obese pakora demanding thumb-sucking child (Pakora Khader who also appears in many movies with obese jokes) and others.
Mala (Kalpana), a wannabe actress, had run from her home after falling prey to two conmen who promised her stardom. Rivalry between them led to murder of one by the other. This act is witnessed by Mala and she goes on the run. Her love interest is Ravichandran (@B.S.Raman, a Malaysian medical student who found acting more rewarding than burning the midnight oil studying Anatomy) who appears mysteriously during her career enhancing attempts.
Meanwhile the crooks trails the the bus and one of his accomplice boards the bus to attempt to gun Mala down. Somehow, Ravichandran also boards the bus. And the hero saves the day. The crooks are arrested. Actually Ravichandran was the arranged groom for Mala and their marriage occurs at the end.
All the passengers gather at the wedding, uninvited, and the take home message to the audience was not to look at single girls with suspicious eyes and ill intent like how the passengers of the bus were guilty of. They could be just as good as anybody else.
I remember watching this film in RRF but I think there was a massive power failure and we missed a major proportion of it. We did not miss much anyway. The jokes, however, were quite original and were unashamedly copied over the years many times over. The songs did not leave an everlasting mark and I have never heard them in my life.
Personally, for a full length comedy, I would prefer Nagesh's tour de force 'Server Sundram' anytime.
One of the sites I saw recently placed this Tamil film as #4 in his list of 50 Tamil movies 'to see before you die!'. Not for anything but its unique genre - road movie category. In fact, I remember watching another movie (Thirumalai Thenkumari) where it shows various characters and escapades whilst enroute to perform pilgrimage. Along the way, the marvel of divine powers of the Lord is depicted in rather melodramatic and melodious ways through its story and devotional songs.In Hollywood, off hand, one can recollect films like 'Boney & Clyde' and 'Easy Rider' which fit into this bill. In a way, the 60s western TV series 'Have Gun will travel' - "¶Paladin, paladin where do you go?¶" can be included for it shows someone with a dark past going places for adventure!
MTP is a full length comedy with a small element of suspense embedded in it. It is the story of the adventures of a bus driver (A. Karunanidhi ) and his conductor (Nagesh) as they travel in their bone shaking bus, which had seen better days, from Madras to Pondicherry.
A lady desperately aboards the moving bus in a state of panic, trying to escape some assailants. As the bus moves on, we are told that the lady, Mala has a dark past. Her story is told in instalments, interspersed with the antics of the bus passengers and the occasional pandemonium and even anarchy that erupts in the bus every now and then. There is a group of 3 men from a drama troupe, some friends of different religion, a narcoleptic, a bossy mother and daughter, a Brahmin couple - a domineering wife (Manorama), a henpecked husband with their overgrown obese pakora demanding thumb-sucking child (Pakora Khader who also appears in many movies with obese jokes) and others.
Mala (Kalpana), a wannabe actress, had run from her home after falling prey to two conmen who promised her stardom. Rivalry between them led to murder of one by the other. This act is witnessed by Mala and she goes on the run. Her love interest is Ravichandran (@B.S.Raman, a Malaysian medical student who found acting more rewarding than burning the midnight oil studying Anatomy) who appears mysteriously during her career enhancing attempts.
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| All in a day's job |
All the passengers gather at the wedding, uninvited, and the take home message to the audience was not to look at single girls with suspicious eyes and ill intent like how the passengers of the bus were guilty of. They could be just as good as anybody else.
I remember watching this film in RRF but I think there was a massive power failure and we missed a major proportion of it. We did not miss much anyway. The jokes, however, were quite original and were unashamedly copied over the years many times over. The songs did not leave an everlasting mark and I have never heard them in my life.
Personally, for a full length comedy, I would prefer Nagesh's tour de force 'Server Sundram' anytime.
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