Neelagiri Express is 1968 black-and-white Tamil suspense thriller movie that was directed by Tirumalai Mahalingam and produced by V. Arunachalam. The screenplay and dialogue was written by Cho Ramaswamy. The score was written by T. K. Ramamoorthy. Starring Jaishankar , Cho Ramaswamy , Vijayanirmala and Vijayalalitha. Neelagiri Express is remake of a Malayalam film Cochin Express (1967).
In Indian cinema it is usually stories from the epic or folk that are made in multiple language because of the wide appeal across regions. However, are story essentially a murder mystery about man killed on a moving train.
A rich man Sabapathy(V. S. Raghavan) is murdered on a running train for the jewels he is carrying in his suitcase.Ravanan(Cho Ramaswamy) gives a brilliant performance as the man who notice the body in the carriage. One of the Ravanan’s co-passengers is an attractive young women Kalavathy(Vijayalalitha) with mysterious background. she takes him off the train to have food at Arakonam and then purposely make him lose the train and disappeared. In the meantime Sabapathy is murdered and Ravanan becomes crime suspects. Shankar(Jaishankar) is assigned the task of nabbing the criminal behind the background the murder. And, realise that ravanan is a innocent party and begins investigation. CID Officer Shankar is in the love with a young women (Vijayanirmala). But since his parents do not approve of her. She leaves him. Some months later, Shankar happens to meet her in a hotel where she works as a receptionist, but she is not keen to revive the relationship. Shankar sense that there is mystery behind her life and tries to solve it.
Meanwhile, then are quite a few suspects implicated in the train murder, including his chain-smoker brother-in-law Boopathy(S. V. Ramadoss) and bald villain with wears an eye-patch(S. A. Ashokan). In the climax, the CID Officer disguised a rich Muslim meets a dancer(Vijayalalitha) who reveals herself as his sweet heart by taking off her facial mask(Vijayanirmala). She dies in his arms after consuming poison. Shankar realises she has been used as a pawn by the killers (the bald man and his gang).
Directed by Tirumalai Mahalingam
Produced by V. Arunachalam
Written by Cho Ramaswamy
Screenplay by Cho Ramaswamy
Starring Jaishankar, Vijayanirmala, Cho Ramaswamy, S. V. Ramadoss, S. A. Ashokan
Music by T. K. Ramamoorthy
Cinematography G. Vittal Rao
Edited by A. Paul Duraisingam
Production ALS Productions
Distributed by ALS Productions
Release dates 1968
Running time 120 Mins
Country India
Language Tamil
