Pannaiyarum Padminiyum (Eng: The Landlord and Padmini) is a 2014 Indian Tamil comedy movie based on the same-titled short film directed by debutant S. U. Arun Kumar of Naalaya Iyakunar fame. It features Vijay Sethupathi and Jayaprakash in the lead roles, with Thulasi, Aishwarya Rajesh and Bala Saravanan in supporting roles. Sneha and Attakathi Dinesh appear in brief guest roles. Music for the film was composed by debutant Justin Prabhakaran and editing by A. Sreekar Prasad while the cinematography is by Gokul Binoy. The film revolves around an old man and his love for his vintage car Premier Padmini. The film began production in January 2013 and released on 7 February 2014 to critical acclaim and positive reviews.
The movie begins with a young man (Attakathi Dinesh) buying a car and he says that his inspiration is from a Pannaiyar (landlord) in his village and his love for a vintage Fiat PAL Premier Padmini car.
Pannaiyar (Jayaprakash) is a wealthy and respectable man in his village. Pannaiyar and his wife Chellamma(Thulasi) are kindhearted and broadminded people who are responsible for introducing essential modern technology like Television, Radio, telephone,etc., to their villagers. The villagers also enjoy the liberty of using all these items with his permission. The couple have a married daughter Suja(Neelima Rani), who is greedy and whenever she visits her parents, she makes it a point to return to her house with whichever device she finds pleasing to her eye.
Pannaiyar visits his close friend Shanmugam(Mahadevan), who owns the then latest (now vintage) Fiat PAL Premier Padmini car. Pannaiyar is smitten by the beauty of the car and becomes an ardent admirer. He enjoys the ride like an excited kid. Soon, Shanmugam also comes to his house and to Pannaiyar’s surprise and happiness, says that he will leave the car for a couple of months under Pannaiyar’s care since he is going to visit his pregnant daughter. Pannaiyar happily agrees and from then on, he stands in front of car dusting it and admiring it for hours at a time. Since he doesn’t know to drive, he appoints a local young man Murugesan (Vijay Sethupathi) as driver and the comical household servant Peedai(Bala Saravanan) as the cleaner. Pannaiyar and Chellamma treat them like their own sons. School going kids often swarm around the car asking for a ride in the front seat and one little boy in particular is very much interested, so Peedai jokingly asks him to bring five rupees to get a front seat ride and the boy starts saving his pocket money sincerely day by day. Like all the other facilities belonging to Pannaiyar, the villagers also get the opportunities to use the car for their emergency purposes. On one such day, when Murugesan is helping a family at a funeral, he comes across a beautiful girl Malarvizhi(Aishwarya Rajesh) among the mourners. He is attracted to her instantly and after a bit of pursuing, she also falls for him and they start to love each other.
Directed by S. U. Arun Kumar
Produced by M. R. Ganesh
Screenplay by S. U. Arun Kumar
Story by S. U. Arun Kumar
Starring Vijay Sethupathi, Jayaprakash, Aishwarya Rajesh, Bala Saravanan, Thulasi
Music by Justin Prabhakaran
Cinematography Gokul Benoy
Edited by A. Sreekar Prasad
Production Magicbox Films
Release dates 7 February 2014
Country India
Language Tamil
