Retro : Pushpaka Vimaanam (1988)
Sep 28, 2009 - 6:16:46 AM
By Sri
Page: 123
After the story was finalized, I approached many producers but none came forward to bear the production. Then, I decided to produce it myself and told the same to Ramoji Rao, who advised me to tell the story to six people and go ahead with it if three people okay it. I took the advice seriously and narrated the story first to music director Chakravarthy, director Kranthi Kumar, and director 'Vijaya' Bapineedu. When all the three approved of the story, I went ahead with the production.
I was doing a Kannada film for the legendary Rajkumars family at that time. On one occasion, Sringar Nagaraj, their close family friend, heard that I was producing a film on my own, and asked about the subject. When I narrated the same, he was really excited and evinced interest in joining the production. He never produced any films before that and nothing after either. (Now, Sringar Nagaraj's daughter is married to one of the sons of Rajkumar.)
Kamal was already a part of the film from the beginning. We thought of taking in Neelam Kothari (who debuted with Govinda in Love 86 and is now divorced and occupied with jewelry designing), but she wanted glittering costumes like in a regular Hindi film. Such inclusions would not suit my film, and thus we dropped the idea of casting her. I then saw Amala compering The Cinema Express Awards at Chennai, liked her there, enquired about her and got to know about her Kalakshetra background too. When I asked her eventually, she agreed to do the film.
Since the film didnt have any dialogue, we wanted to cast actors were from all over India. Sameer Kakkar was then very familiar as a drunkard in Nukkad back then and so we cast him as the millionaire drunkard in the film. I saw Rameshs magic show in Bangalore once and took him for the role of the magician and Farida Jalal, who was doing TV shows at that time, as his wife. P.L. Narayana was the ideal choice for the role of the beggar - he gave strength to that role. We also got a couple of Kannada actors to work for the film. I knew Thota Tharani since the time he was assisting his father Thota Venkateswara Rao. I gave him his first break with the film Rajaparvai (Amavasya Chandrudu in Telugu) and have been good friends ever since. He constructed a street set for the film, beside the Hyland Hotel in Bangalore. The little ramshackle room where Kamal lived, and the building itself, was constructed above the hotel. Most of the shooting was done in Windsor Manor Hotel in Bangalore.
When we wanted to choose the music directors, I laid down the condition that they should work like I wanted them to and that Id be supervising the music department in general. They did not want to do work that way, and at one stage, I thought of doing the music myself. Luckily though, L. Vaidyanathan stepped in as the music director. Most of the BGM was the same in all languages, but we did incorporate minor changes such as using a native song in the raido (aarEsukObOyi paarEsukunnaanu...was used in Telugu).
The film was released mainly in Kannada, and also in Telugu (Pushpaka Vimanam) , Tamil (Pesum Padam), English (Love Chariot), Hindi (Pushpak), and Malayalam (Pushpakvimanam) . Sravanthi Ravikishore bought the rights in Telugu. After seeing the preview, Hindi actor Rajendra Kumar (who was fondly called Jubliee Kumar as most of his films until then enjoyed silver jubilee runs) said he wanted to distribute for the Hindi film in Mumbai area. This was the only film he distributed, in fact. (I was later offered Phool with his son Kumar Gaurav and Madhuri Dixit in the lead.) Raj Kapoor said that he never saw such a scene where love was shot so beautifully over the death scene. Bal Thackeray said (referring to the trash Kamal threw in the dustbin) that this was a real motion picture. (Laughs)
The film was in the list of worlds Top 100 Movies, which is a rare honor for any Indian film. It still holds a 9.1 ranking in Internet Movie Database (IMDB), which is also rare for an Indian film. When it was screened in Milan, people enjoyed the film but they didnt understand why people were standing in a line at the toilet! The film won the National Award for Best Popular Film in 1988.
About the Cameraman Late Sree B.C. Gowri Shankar:
Most of us do not know about the cameraman for this film but Gowri Shankar is a popular name in Kannada film industry. He did 99 films in Kannada, nearly a third of them for the Rajkumar family! After completing cinematography course in Jayachamarajendra Occupational Institute, he joined in Kantheerava Studio as a studio assistant, where he got a chance to work with an Australian cameraman from whom he learned a lot about lighting. It was Pattabhiramireddy (who made films like Samskara and Nimajjanam) who gave him break with the film Srungaaramaasa. While doing a documentary Hosa Belaku for B.V. Karanth, he met Mamatha Rao whom he later married. Their daughter Swetha is none other than the popular actress Rakshita who Telugu audience know through films like Idiot and Shivamani. He is the only cinematographer who won the Karnataka State governments award for Best Cinematographer award six times! He also worked for two Tamil films (Michael Madana Kamaraju (dubbed into Telugu by the same title), Apoorva Sahodarugal (Vichitra Sodarulu in Telugu) and one Hindi movie Phool, all of which were directed by Sree Singeetam Srinivas Rao. He also directed three movies Kendada Maley (1986), Ambarish-Gautami starrer Elu Sutthina Kote (1987) and Aata Bombata (early 1990s) but could not see box-office as a director. After a prolonged illness, he died at the age of 50 on November 16, 2004. His last film was Kanchanaganga for S.V. Rajendrasing Babu (who directed Nagarajunas Prema Yuddham).
About Music Director Late Sri L. Vaidyanathan:
Music Director L.Vaidyanathan studied music under the guidance of his father V. Lakshminarayana Iyer, who was also a renowned musician. Vaidyanathan started his film career assisting music director G.K. Venkatesh and later worked independently for over 150 films in various languages. He set music to Bharatiyars lyrics in the award-winning Ezhavathu Manithan (directed by Hariharan, introducing late Raghuvaran to the screen) and was appreciated very much for his work. He also composed music for Marupakkam starring Sivakumar (todays hero Surya's father), and the film went on to win four national awards. People who watched the Malgudi Days in Doordarshan cannot forget the haunting title track, also composed by Vaidyanathan. Telugu filmgoers know him through his background music for Pushpaka Vimaanam and Ramayanam (starring Jr. NTR and other kids, produced by M.S. Reddy and directed by Gunasekhar) and director Kashinaths debut movie dubbed from Kannada as Aparichitulu. Vaidyanathan passed away at the age of 65 on May 19, 2007.
About Late Sri P.L.Narayana:
P.L. Narayana is did several films in Telugu as villain, comedian, and character artiste. He was a versatile actor who also wrote dialogues for several rebellion movies including some by R. Narayana Murthy. He directed the much-acclaimed play Yagnam by KaRa master (Kalipatnam Ramarao) and also won the Best Actor Award for that film. His roles in movies like Pushpaka Vimaanam, Indrudu-Chandrudu, Rendu Rellu Aaru, Deshamlo Dongalu Paddaaru (as a Gandhian who even dresses up like Gandhi) are unforgettable. Hes one of our finest character artistes that did not get all the recognition he deserved.
