The Flower Chariot) is a 1987 Indian black comedy film[5] written and directed by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao, who co-produced it with Shringar Nagaraj.

The film, which has no dialogue, stars Kamal Haasan leading an ensemble cast that includes Samir Khakhar, Tinu Anand, K. S. Ramesh, Amala, Farida Jalal, Pratap Potan, Lokanath, P. L. Narayana and Ramya.

It revolves around an unemployed graduate who encounters a drunk rich man unconscious and takes over his lifestyle after keeping him prisoner.

The cinematography was handled by B. C. Gowrishankar, editing by D. Vasu, art direction by Thota Tharani, and the background score was composed by L. Vaidyanathan.

He meets a young woman trying on earrings in a fancy shop and then sees her again while waiting in line to apply for job vacancies.

They mend ways while paying tribute at the funeral of the hotel owner, and then they spend time together and develop a romantic relationship.

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.

[7] Srinivasa Rao wondered if he could make an entire film that way for a long time, but did not have an idea for the story.

[6] According to him, the story was originally a tragedy, but after being inspired by Charlie Chaplin, he and Srinivasa Rao decided to change it to a tragicomedy.

Srinivasa Rao narrated Pushpaka Vimana, Nagaraj showed excitement and joined as co-producer,[11] with the film being produced under Mandakani Chitra,[12] a company based in Bangalore, Karnataka.

[14] Cinematography was handled by B. C. Gowrishankar, editing by D. Vasu,[15] and art direction by Thota Tharani, who had worked with Srinivasa Rao on Raja Paarvai (1981).

After seeing Amala compere an awards function in Madras, enquiring about her and getting to know about her Kalakshetra background, he approached her and she accepted.

[11] Srinivasa Rao decided to cast Samir Khakhar as the drunk rich man, inspired by his drunkard character Khopdi from the Hindi television series Nukkad.

[11] Srinivasa Rao initially approached Amrish Puri to portray the contract killer, but he could not accept the offer due to unavailability of dates.

Anjana said that the climax in which the graduate is shown standing in a long queue of job seekers indicates that nothing has changed for him "except that now, he's willing to take the metaphorical stairs to succeed in life.

[26] Writing for India Today, Madhu Jain described Pushpaka Vimana as "the story of the modern Indian male Cinderella.

[27] Ravi Balakrishnan of The Economic Times said that though it eschews formulaic Indian cinema conventions like songs and dialogue, it has "all the elements that make a great mainstream entertainer – a love story, a crime caper, a thriller and a comedy – with plotlines blending together seamlessly", while comparing its primary narrative to Charlie Chaplin's City Lights (1931), and the graduate to Chaplin's character The Tramp.

[11][29] In Andhra Pradesh, it was distributed by Sravanthi Ravi Kishore, in Mumbai by actor Rajendra Kumar,[11] and in Madras by Editor Mohan.

[34][35] Reviewing Pesum Padam, the magazine Ananda Vikatan said that to make a silent film needs a lot of courage and the filmmaker needs to be congratulated for that, rating it 50 out of 100.

[38] Filmmaker Satyajit Ray applauded the film and told Srinivasa Rao, "You have created a love scene around a dead body", referring to the scene where the graduate and the magician's daughter walk around the hotel owner's dead body during his funeral several times just to spend some time together.

[16] Bombay: The City Magazine's critic wrote, "Pushpak is a bold and timely reminder that verbal diarrhoea drowns out meaning.

"[39] Though no-one expected the film to succeed, it was a sleeper hit,[7] completing a 35-week theatrical run in Bangalore,[22] and grossing around ₹1 crore according to estimates by Madhu Jain and Garga.

[7] According to film theorists Ashish Rajadhyaksha and Paul Willemen, it "opened up a new dimension in art-house entertainment",[43] and "helped change [Kamal Haasan's] screen image".

"[7] Amala listed it along with Vedham Pudhithu (1987), Agni Natchathiram (1988), Siva (1989) and Karpoora Mullai (1991) as her most memorable films.