Pushpak

Language – Silent

Director – Singeetham Srinivasa Rao

Pushpak is a black comedy, that deftly uses background music and symbols to convey meaning in the absence of dialogue. 

In the Ramayana, the Pushpak was a flying machine with the ability to conjure up on offer, all the luxuries of the world. The Pushpak Hotel and its winged halo logo featured in the movie are an allegory for the lavish life on board the mythological flying machine. At another level, the movie explores the fleeting, illusory world of money and the divide between the haves and the have-nots.

An unemployed youth (Kamal Haasan) comes across a millionnaire (Sameer Khakkar) lying in an inebriated state, with a room key of the luxurious Hotel Pushpak in his pocket. The youth decides to steal the millionnaire's identity, leaving him gagged in his own humble room. He moves into the lavish suite of the Hotel Pushpak, and uses the millionnaire's wealth to groom himself in the fashion of the wealthy.

The youth falls in love with a magician's daughter staying at the hotel. The young lovers spend time together and the youth senses with some relief, that the magician's daughter (Amala) does not hanker after his presumed wealth. Meanwhile, a hitman (Tinu Anand) fails in his attempts to kill the youth. The youth realises that the real target is the millionnaire and, decides to investigate. Disillusioned with the material world that gave him wings, he sets things right, finally returning to his own humble life.

Pushpak won the Golden Lotus among the National Awards for the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.

An edited version appeared in Culturama's May 2011 Issue.