wrapped in the paper from her car window as they depart Pushpak. The graduate picks up the rose, but the wind blows the paper into a gutter. Later, the graduate is shown standing in line again to apply for job vacancies. Cast Kamal Haasan as the unemployed graduate Samir Khakhar as the rich man Tinu Anand as the killer K. S. Ramesh as the magician Amala as the magician's daughter Farida Jalal as the magician's wife Pratap Potan as the lover Lokanath as the hotel owner P. L. Narayana as the beggar Ramya as the rich man's wife Production Development Singeetam Srinivasa Rao was assisting director K. V. Reddy in a film where there was a scene requiring a character to emote fear without dialogues. Rao wondered if he could make an entire film that way for a long time, but did not have an idea for the story. The idea for the film that would become Pushpaka Vimana came to Rao when he was in a shower, after which he wrote the screenplay within two weeks. Kamal Haasan agreed to work on the film after being impressed by the script. According to him, the story was originally a tragedy, but after being inspired by Charlie Chaplin, he and Rao decided to change it to a tragicomedy. Pushpaka Vimana thus became the first full-length dialogue-less film in India after the "silent era" of cinema. The film struggled to find a producer, prompting Rao to take over production himself. When Kannada actor Shringar Nagaraj, a relative of Kannada matinee idol Rajkumar with whom Rao was working at that time, heard that Rao was producing a film on his own, he asked about the subject. Rao narrated Pushpaka Vimana, Nagaraj showed excitement and joined as co-producer, with the film being produced under Mandakani Chitra, a company based in Bangalore, Karnataka. Pushpaka Vimana was the only film Nagaraj had produced in his entire career. Cinematography was handled by B. C. Gowrishankar, editing by D. Vasu, and art direction by Thota Tharani, who had worked with Rao on Raja Paarvai (1981). Casting Since the film had no dialogue, Rao chose to cast actors from different parts of India. Haasan, a native of Tamil Nadu, was cast as the protagonist, an unemployed graduate. He had to shave his signature moustache for the role. Rao initially wanted Neelam Kothari to be the female lead, but she