Sadma
Encyclopedia
Sadma is a 1983 India
n film
directed by Balu Mahendra
which stars Kamal Haasan
and Sridevi with music composed by Ilayaraaja. The picture tells the story of Nehalata (Sridevi), a young woman who regresses to childhood after suffering a head injury in a car crash. Lost, she ends up trapped in a brothel
before being rescued by Somu (Kamal Haasan), a lonely school teacher who falls in love with her.
The film is a remake
of the 1982 Tamil film Moondram Pirai
. Sridevi's autistic child-woman performance brought her nominations at the Filmfare
Best actress award as well as State awards and National Awards. Kamal's performance in the film's famous climax scene won him the National Award in the Tamil version. The film, however, flopped at the box office as it was considered way ahead of its time. Over the years the movie has achieved cult status and is regarded as an all time classic featuring Kamal Haasan and Sridevi's career best performances.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
directed by Balu Mahendra
Balu Mahendra
Balanathan "Balu" Mahendran is an Indian filmmaker, screenwriter, and cinematographer widely regarded as part of the first in a wave of directors and screenwriters from the Chennai film industry who revitalised Tamil cinema...
which stars Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan is an Indian film actor, screenwriter and director, considered to be one of the leading method actors of Indian cinema. He is widely acclaimed as an actor and is well known for his versatility in acting...
and Sridevi with music composed by Ilayaraaja. The picture tells the story of Nehalata (Sridevi), a young woman who regresses to childhood after suffering a head injury in a car crash. Lost, she ends up trapped in a brothel
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
before being rescued by Somu (Kamal Haasan), a lonely school teacher who falls in love with her.
The film is a remake
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
of the 1982 Tamil film Moondram Pirai
Moondram Pirai
Moondram Pirai is a 1982 Indian Tamil film written and directed by Balu Mahendra, starring Sridevi, Kamal Haasan, Poornam Vishwanathan and Silk Smitha. Ilaiyaraaja composed the music. Kamal Haasan won the National Film Award for Best Actor for his role as Srinivas...
. Sridevi's autistic child-woman performance brought her nominations at the Filmfare
Filmfare
Filmfare is an English-language tabloid-sized magazine about Indian cinema. Published by The Times Group, India's largest media services conglomerate, in Mumbai , it highlights the doings of the Bollywood film scene...
Best actress award as well as State awards and National Awards. Kamal's performance in the film's famous climax scene won him the National Award in the Tamil version. The film, however, flopped at the box office as it was considered way ahead of its time. Over the years the movie has achieved cult status and is regarded as an all time classic featuring Kamal Haasan and Sridevi's career best performances.
Plot
Nehalata (Sridevi) is a young, modern girl who meets with an accident that leaves her with the memory and intelligence of a seven year old. Circumstances lead her into prostitution, and in the brothel she meets Somu (Kamal Haasan). He realizes that she has been tricked into the trade. He rescues her and takes her to his home in Ooty and begins to take care of her. He knows Nehalata as Reshmi, which was the pseudonym given for her at the brothel. Reshmi reciprocates Somu's care as they spend several months together sharing an amazing and innocent relationship that treads the tender line between affection and love. The sub-plot of the film follows the wife of Somu's boss who is attracted to Somu, though Somu doesn't reciprocate her feelings. It depicts how the outside world succumbs to human feelings of lust and desire which are missing between Somu and Reshmi. Somu takes Reshmi to a village medical practitioner who cures her and brings her back to sanity as she recovers her memory up to the point of her accident. When Somu comes to meet Reshmi later that day, she is unable to identify or remember him. Despite his efforts to make her understand that he was the one who had taken care of her for several months, she is indifferent to him and leaves Ooty for her hometown, thus abandoning Somu and the life and relationship that she once had with him.Cast
- Kamal HaasanKamal HaasanKamal Haasan is an Indian film actor, screenwriter and director, considered to be one of the leading method actors of Indian cinema. He is widely acclaimed as an actor and is well known for his versatility in acting...
as K. Somprakash ('Somu') - Sridevi as Nehalata Malhotra ('Reshmi')
- Gulshan GroverGulshan GroverGulshan Grover is an Indian actor, who has acted in over 400 films through a career spanning over 30 years.Gulshan Grover is one of the first Indian actors to have made a successful transition from Bollywood into Hollywood and international Cinema....
as Balua - Silk SmithaSilk SmithaSilk Smitha was an Indian film actress. She became a movie extra and subsequently the most wanted heroine of the early 80s. The sobriquet "Silk" came in 1979, with her first Tamil film Vandi Chakkaram, in which she played a bar girl named Silk...
as Soni - PaintalPaintalPaintal is an Indian surname."Paintal" is sub- surname from Ahluwalia ,rise from sikh families . Persons having this surname include:* Dr.Autar Singh Paintal , an Indian medical scientist...
as Paintal - Arvind Deshpande as J. K. Malhotra
- Viju KhoteViju KhoteViju Khote is an Indian actor who has worked as character actor in more than 300 films in Hindi cinema and Marathi cinema. He is especially famous as the dacoit Kalia in the film Sholay and the dialogue, Sardar maine aapka namak khaya hai and Robert in movie Andaz Apna Apna...
as Police Inspector David - BirbalBirbalRaja Birbal was the Grand Vizier of the Mughal court in the administration of the Mughal emperor Akbar. He one of his most trusted members along with being a part of Akbar's inner council of nine advisors, known as the navaratna, a Sanskrit word meaning nine jewels...
as Shamu - Leela MishraLeela MishraLeela Mishra was an Indian film actor, who worked as a character actor in over 200 Hindi films for five decades, eventually playing stock characters like aunts, Chachi or Mausi...
as Somu's Neighbor ('Nani') - Asha Latha as Rajeshwari Malhotra
- Padma Chauhan as Madam
Soundtrack
- Aye Zindagi Gale Lagaa Le - Suresh WadkarSuresh WadkarSuresh Ishwar Wadkar is an Indian playback singer. He performs in both Hindi and Marathi films.He has sung songs in some Bhojpuri films and in Konkani.- Early life :...
- O Babuaa Yeh Mahua - Asha BhosleAsha BhosleAsha Bhosle is an Indian singer. She is one of the best-known and most highly-regarded Hindi playback singers in India, although she has a wider repertoire. Bhosle's career started in 1943 and has spanned over six decades. She has done playback singing for over a thousand Bollywood movies...
- Surmayee Ankhiyon Mein - K. J. YesudasK. J. YesudasKattassery Joseph Yesudas is an Indian classical musician and playback singer.Yesudas sings Indian classical, devotional, and popular music. He has recorded more than 50,000 songs in many languages including Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, Bengali, Gujarati, Oriya, Marathi, Punjabi,...
- Ek Dafa Ek Jungle Tha - Kamal HaasanKamal HaasanKamal Haasan is an Indian film actor, screenwriter and director, considered to be one of the leading method actors of Indian cinema. He is widely acclaimed as an actor and is well known for his versatility in acting...
, Sridevi - Yeh Hawa Yey Fiza - Asha Bhosle, Suresh Wadkar
- Surmayee Ankhiyon Mein (Sad) - K. J. Yesudas
Filmfare Awards
Nominated- Filmfare Best Actor AwardFilmfare Best Actor AwardThe Filmfare Award for Best Actor is given by Filmfare as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to recognise a male actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role. The award was first given in 1954....
- Kamal HaasanKamal HaasanKamal Haasan is an Indian film actor, screenwriter and director, considered to be one of the leading method actors of Indian cinema. He is widely acclaimed as an actor and is well known for his versatility in acting... - Filmfare Best Actress AwardFilmfare Best Actress AwardThe Filmfare Award for Best Actress is given by Filmfare as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to recognise a female actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role. The award was first given in 1954.-Superlatives:...
- Sridevi