Pushpaka Vimana

Well, the movie might belong to the genre of silent movies, but the movie speaks for itself. Instant Classic, Amazing direction truly flawless acting make this a memorable experience.

Kamal has shown in this movie, what skill set someone requires to reach high standards. The movie has comedy, nice drama and an exceptional ending to wind it all.

This movie was rightly honored by the Cannes Jury in 1988 and I would say it deserves much more. It can be appreciated by everyone. If you are not an Indian maybe you will take 20-25 Min's to start appreciating the movie, but take my words, after that you'll love it.

It is a redefining piece of work in Indian Cinema. A silent movie itself has its own charm, but this one is a silent movie with a great story and a marvelous crew to support that. This is more than perfect.

A poor and unemployed youth, played by Kamal Hasan enjoys the good life by stealing the identity of a rich middle-aged drunkard. Pushpak is the name of the apartment-hotel the rich man resides in. While an imposter, Kamal gets to experience a life normally not granted men of his station and meets a beautiful girl and falls in love with her. But, like all good things, this brief excursion into paradise must end.

The movie is set against the backdrop of vast urban unemployment among educated youth in the India of the Eighties. While peppered with numerous comic incidents, the movie is quite serious in adressing its central theme. The glaring contrast between the lifestyles of the rich and the rest is evocative of Indian society. A rich beggar, whose possessions the public tries to scavenge after his death and a bungling killer who gets electrocuted are interesting diversions that do not detract from the depth of the storyline. But, what makes this film a cinematic masterpiece in my opinion is that such a powerful portrait of the times is created without resort to dialogue. This is a silent movie !! It is truly difficult not to be atleast a little moved by the ending.

S.S. Rao's "Pushpak" is a humorous yet suspenseful movie about a man's (Kamal) journey into greed and lust and finally his return to an honest and humble life. Amazingly no dialog here, just a great musical score and the sights, sounds and sighs of a people-packed city. Nothing is as it appears in Kamal's world: a street Beggar who sits on a bed of money; a Magician who smokes invisible cigarettes and drinks invisible booze in the presence of his doting wife, and finally Kamal himself who assumes the false identity of a wealthy man to woo the Magician's daughter. The sight gags and physical comedy (especially of the icicle-toting hit-man and the Magician) are great entertainment. Despite Kamal's deceit he is a sympathetic character who in the end pays a price for his misdeeds. Like Woody Allen and Roberto Benigni films, "Pushpak" requires patience (2 hours), but improves itself in the retelling! Great cocktail party fodder.

Pushpak (a.k.a Pushpaka Vimana in Kannada) is a must see film. Director Singeetham has done a superb job. Even though there are no dialogues in the movie, you don't feel like you are watching a silent movie. Camera work and direction are so clever that the scenes itself convey everything. And, Kamal Hassan is simply brilliant! He deserves all the greatest awards out there (be it Academy Awards or anything else). The film focuses on the life of an unemployed youth. The comedy, or I should say dark comedy, is superb! Pushpak is the real thing, you have to see it to believe it.

I think that Pushpak has gone unnoticed by international movie aficionados. It is a pity that Pushpak does not feature in IMDb's top 250 lists. And, I am disappointed to see many flaky Japanese horror movies being over-hyped!!!!

There can and will never be a film like Pushpak. Pushpak is a cult film from day one.

rare movie that too in the mainstream Indian cinema. a movie with out words, but conveys much more than words can convey. good direction , good screen play , good background score, good acting. the movie has mixed emotions , comedy, sentiment , love. funny way of handling the scenes of unemployed poor guy. how he tastes fortune in impersonation. the craziest scene is how the guy poses that he has more money than the beggar and get insulted as the beggar has more money than him. later after stealing money he goes near the beggar to show of his money and feels sorry to see the beggar dead and people running after beggar's money. even the romance scenes are handled well.