Pushpaka Vimana
Table of Contents
Quick Facts
Pushpaka Vimana is a Kannada family drama directed by S. Ravindranath, starring Ramesh Aravind, Yuvina Parthavi and Rachita Ram. Released on 6 January 2017, it was a landmark film for its leading man — Ramesh Aravind’s 100th Kannada film — and a debut directorial that arrived with a teaser so moving it went viral before release. The film drew praise for its performances and craftsmanship, even as its unofficial debt to the Korean hit Miracle in Cell No. 7 later led to a lost copyright case against Kross Pictures.
The film is now streaming on ZEE5. A bittersweet tale of a father with an intellectual disability and the little daughter who is his whole world, Pushpaka Vimana is unabashedly emotional cinema — the kind that aims straight for the tears and, for most viewers, hits the mark.
Plot
Anantaramaiah (Ramesh Aravind) lives in his own gentle, idyllic world. He has an intellectual disability, a child’s wonder, and one great passion: aeroplanes. He shares that passion with his little daughter Puttalakshmi (Baby Yuvina Parthavi), and the two of them live in a bubble of innocent happiness — she yearns for a toy plane, and getting it for her becomes his great quest.
But innocence is no protection. Through a cruel twist of fate, Anantaramaiah is wrongly accused of a terrible crime he did not commit and thrown into jail, separated from the daughter who needs him. What follows is the story of a father and daughter trying desperately to find their way back to each other — with the help of sympathetic jail inmates, a grown-up Puttalakshmi (Rachita Ram) fighting for justice years later, and a system that must be forced to see the truth.
The film’s title is borrowed from the beloved 1987 Kamal Haasan silent classic, and like that film, this one believes in the power of pure emotion. Juhi Chawla appears in a special song sequence, marking her return to Kannada cinema after 18 years.
Performance
Ramesh Aravind gives the performance of his career as Anantaramaiah. Playing a man with an intellectual disability without a trace of condescension or caricature is one of acting’s hardest assignments, and Ramesh nails it — the wonder, the confusion, the bottomless love for his daughter all feel utterly real. The famous teaser, all of two minutes and thirty-seven seconds of father-daughter tenderness, had audiences in tears before the film even released, and the full performance more than lives up to that promise.
Baby Yuvina Parthavi is extraordinary as the young Puttalakshmi — natural, expressive and heartbreaking in equal measure. Rachita Ram brings dignity and determination to the grown-up Puttalakshmi. The supporting cast of jail inmates provides warmth and humour, and Juhi Chawla’s song appearance is a delightful bonus for longtime fans.
Screenplay and Direction
Debutant S. Ravindranath directs with a sure, sensitive hand. He understands that this story lives or dies on its emotional authenticity, and he protects that authenticity fiercely — never milking the sentimentality, never winking at the audience. The jail sequences, which could have turned farcical, are handled with genuine warmth, and the father-daughter scenes are staged with a simplicity that makes them devastating.
The elephant in the room is the film’s close resemblance to Miracle in Cell No. 7, the 2013 Korean blockbuster — a resemblance the makers never officially acknowledged and which cost them a copyright infringement case. Viewers familiar with the Korean film will recognise the skeleton. But Ravindranath localises the story with enough Kannada heart, and Ramesh’s performance is distinctive enough, that the film stands on its own as an emotional experience.
Music
Charan Raj’s music gives the film its soul. His background score is the quiet engine of the film’s emotional power — swelling at exactly the right moments, receding when the actors need the space. The songs are melodious and unobtrusive, woven into the narrative rather than interrupting it. It is the kind of score you feel more than notice, which is the highest compliment.
Cinematographer Bhuvan Gowda, who would go on to lens KGF, does career-best work here. His photography of the father and daughter — intimate, sunlit, full of wonder — was singled out by every reviewer, and rightly so. The film looks beautiful in a way that serves the story: this is a film about seeing the world through innocent eyes, and Gowda’s camera does exactly that.
Themes
At its heart, Pushpaka Vimana is about the purity of a father’s love and the cruelty of a world that punishes innocence. Anantaramaiah’s disability makes him vulnerable, but the film insists — gently, firmly — on his full humanity and his absolute fitness as a father. It is also about justice: not the abstract kind, but the specific, urgent need to free one innocent man. The aeroplane motif runs through it all — a symbol of freedom, escape, and a little girl’s dreams.
Conclusion
Pushpaka Vimana is a tearjerker in the best sense — sincere, beautifully crafted and anchored by one of Ramesh Aravind’s greatest performances. Ravindranath’s sensitive direction, Charan Raj’s soulful music and Bhuvan Gowda’s gorgeous cinematography make it a film that stays with you long after the credits. Keep the tissues handy and stream it on ZEE5.
Watch the official trailer: