Pallandu Vazhga

Plot

Rajan (MGR) is a jail warden who rehabilitates six deadly prisoners released on parole into persons of virtue. He takes these notorious, often surly, murderers and makes them work hard with him on a dilapidated country farm, rehabilitating them through hard work and kindly guidance as they eventually produce a great harvest. The warden is however given an ultimatum: He will be arrested if even one of the prisoners attempts escape.

They all come across Saroja (Latha) an itinerant seller who they get attracted to, but she only gets close to Rajan, after he saves her from a bunch of goons. As Saroja is homeless, the six prisoners plead with Rajan to let the girl stay with them and he subsequently agrees. When Sanguili (R.S. Manohar), one of the prisoners, coincidentally runs into his long-lost family, he tearfully re-unites with them. But they appear homeless, and so Rajan allows them also to stay with him and the other prisoners. This angers the other prisoners who feel that Rajan did not give them freedom, compelling them to try killing him in order to escape.

Another prisoner Mayandi (V.K. Ramaswamy) who was a barber before his arrest, agrees to give Rajan a shave (it is his trick to kill the warden by cutting his neck). The warden has unaware that he is going to be killed and blissfully sits for the shave, but the prisoner sees Rajan's magical eyes and gets hypnotised, thus compelling him to abort the idea of murder. The prisoners who were attempting escape while Rajan was having a shave, however see a statue of C. N. Annadurai and because they see Rajan's spirit in it, they get hypnotised and eventually return. The prisoners' escape was well seen by the other policemen around, which leads to Rajan's stay in jail for one day. However, when they hear that the prisoners have returned, Rajan is released and returns to his duty. The prisoners gradually turn into good people and become attached to Rajan, who dreams of marrying Saroja, in his mother's presence.

One night, the prisoners are invited to a bar by a corrupt businessman and Rajan is unaware of this. They return drunk and almost attack Rajan and Saroja. Rajan is not pleased with their status and commands them to kill him if that is what they want. Hypnotism and conscience again strike the prisoners, causing them to drop their weapons. The next morning, the prisoners fall at Rajan's feet and explain that the corrupt businessman forced them to drink; they earn the forgiveness of both Rajan and Saroja.

Later, the same corrupt businessman orders that Rajan and his prisoners surrender, or else their plantation and home will be destroyed. Rajan refuses, so the businessman sends his thugs and elephants to destroy everything in sight. However, Rajan and his men vigorously battle all the thugs and emerge victorious, while the local police capture the corrupt businessman and arrest him. Rajan, having been praised for transforming the six prisoners into reformed people, frees the prisoners and tearfully sees them off.

Cast

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film has been composed by K.V. Mahadevan.

Around the movie

Unlike the original, this did not feature the protagonist being killed, a measure which was taken after M. G. Ramachandran's character in an earlier film Paasam died and caused negative fan reactions, that resulted in the film's failure.

Ananda Vikatan stated, "எம்.ஜி.ஆர். ரசிகர்களுக்கு மட்டுமல்ல, எல்லோருக்குமே பல்லாண்டு வாழ்க ஓர் இனிய சித்திரம்" (Pallandu Vazhga is a film not only for MGR fans, but a good film for everyone).