Sadma
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''Sadma'' () is a 1983 Indian
Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
-language
romantic drama Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...
film, written and directed by
Balu Mahendra Balanathan Benjamin Mahendran (19 May 1939 13 February 2014), commonly known as Balu Mahendra, was a Sri Lankan-born Indian cinematographer, director, screenwriter and film editor who worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. Widely regarded as ...
. It stars
Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...
,
Sridevi Shree Amma Yanger Ayyappan (13 August 1963 – 24 February 2018), professionally credited with her stage name Sridevi, was an Indian actress who worked in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, and Kannada language films. Cited as the "First Female ...
in the lead roles, with the music composed by
Ilaiyaraaja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan, 3 June 1943) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, instrumentalist, lyricist and singer, popular for his works in Indian Cinema, prominently in Tamil films. Reputed to be one of ...
. The film tells the story of Nehalata Malhotra, a young woman who regresses to childhood as result of
retrograde amnesia In neurology, retrograde amnesia (RA) is a loss of memory-access to events that occurred or information that was learned in the past. It is caused by an injury or the onset of a disease. It tends to negatively affect episodic, autobiographical, ...
after suffering a head injury in a car crash. She was lost, and ended up trapped in a
brothel A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...
before being rescued by Somu, a lonely school teacher who falls in love with her. The film was initially released on 8 July 1983. The film was a remake of Mahendra's own 1982 Tamil film ''
Moondram Pirai ''Moondram Pirai'' () is a 1982 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written, directed and filmed by Balu Mahendra. The film stars Kamal Haasan and Sridevi, while Y. G. Mahendran, Silk Smitha and Poornam Viswanathan play supporting roles ...
'', which also starred Kamal and Sridevi. Sadma was widely acclaimed by critics for its direction, screenplay, music and performances. Sridevi's performance as an amnesiac woman was widely praised. Although a commercial failure upon release, ''Sadma'' over the years has gained a cultural following and
cult status A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
. At the
31st Filmfare Awards The 31st Filmfare Awards were held in 1984, with the Indian New Wave Cinema at its peak. ''Betaab'' and ''Masoom'' led the ceremony with 8 nominations each, followed by ''Arth'' with 7 nominations and ''Ardh Satya'' with 6 nominations. ''Ardh ...
, Sadma received three nominations : Best Actor (Kamal Haasan)
Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress awar ...
(Sridevi) and Best Story.


Plot

Nehalata, a young woman, has a car accident while returning from a party and is hospitalized with severe head injuries. When she recovers, she is diagnosed with
retrograde amnesia In neurology, retrograde amnesia (RA) is a loss of memory-access to events that occurred or information that was learned in the past. It is caused by an injury or the onset of a disease. It tends to negatively affect episodic, autobiographical, ...
. Having mentally regressed to the state of her 6-year-old self, she fails to recognize her elderly parents. While she is undergoing treatment, she is kidnapped and sold to the madam of a brothel. Somprakash, also known as Somu, visits the brothel with his old friend to relax. The madam sends Nehalata, renamed Reshmi, to his room. Somu realises that she is mentally a child and pities her upon learning how she came to the brothel. He questions her about her family and background, but due to her condition she is unable to reveal enough information for him to locate her parents. Somu rescues Reshmi from the brothel, under the pretense of a pleasure trip. He takes her to his home in Ooty, where he works as a school teacher. His elderly neighbour, whom he refers to as Grandmother, helps him care for Reshmi. Although Somu is aware of Reshmi's physical beauty, their relationship is strictly that of a child and protective caregiver and she becomes trusting of him. Their bond is briefly threatened when Reshmi accidentally spills ink over Somu's documents, angering him, but they reconcile. Later, a local woodcutter named Balua lusts for Reshmi and nearly assaults her, but she manages to save herself. When Somu learns of it, he becomes livid with rage and almost kills Balua. In a side plot Soni, the lonely younger wife of Somu's middle-aged headmaster, repeatedly attempts and fails to seduce Somu, who does not reciprocate her feelings. Reshmi's father, who was searching for her through the police, releases a newspaper advertisement about her. He is given a lead by a co-passenger of the train that Somu and Reshmi had taken to Ooty. Meanwhile, Somu takes Reshmi to a medicine man and leaves her with him for a day's treatment. The police arrive at Somu's house searching for Reshmi, eventually tracing her to the medicine man's home. Somu, fearing police action, does not follow them there. The treatment is successful, with Reshmi (now Nehalata again) regaining her memory, recognizing her parents and completely forgetting the period between her accident and recovery. She and her parents rejoice and prepare to leave Ooty. The medicine man informs her father that the man who had brought her to him had been taking good care of his daughter; her father withdraws his police complaint and the family begin their journey home. After the police leave, Somu chases the car in which Nehalata is traveling, falling and severely injuring himself in the process. Covered in mud, he limps after them to the railway station and tries to get Reshmi's attention at her train seat window, but she does not remember him. Somu repeatedly calls out to her and mimics a dancing monkey that she had developed a liking for but Nehalata, unable to comprehend, thinks he is insane and begging for food. He continues his futile attempts, but the train eventually leaves with Nehalata not recognising him. Somu is left alone at the station, heartbroken.


Cast

*
Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...
as Somprakash "Somu" *
Sridevi Shree Amma Yanger Ayyappan (13 August 1963 – 24 February 2018), professionally credited with her stage name Sridevi, was an Indian actress who worked in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, and Kannada language films. Cited as the "First Female ...
as Nehalata Malhotra / Reshmi *
Gulshan Grover Gulshan Grover (born 21 September 1955) is an Indian actor and producer who has appeared in over 100 films. He is popularly known as the "Bad Man" of Bollywood because of his ability to create an impact with his negative roles in films. Early ...
as Balua *
Silk Smitha Vijayalakshmi Vadlapati (2 December 1960 – 23 September 1996), better known by her stage name Silk Smitha, was an Indian actress and dancer who worked predominantly in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi films. Smitha was part of seve ...
as Soni * Paintal as Paintal *
Arvind Deshpande Arvind (from sa, अरविन्द ') is a common Indian masculine name meaning lotus. The name is of Hindu origin. Its variants include Aravind, Aravinda, Aravindan, and Aurobindo (). Meaning ' means sun in the Sanskrit language. In pa ...
as J.K. Malhotra *
Ashalata Wabgaonkar Ashalata Wabgaonkar (2 July 1941 – 22 September 2020) commonly known as Ashalata, was an Indian actress. Originally tracing her roots to Goa's Palolem village in Canacona ''taluka'' (or 'sub-district'), she was associated with the Mumbai-base ...
as Rajeshwari Malhotra *
Shreeram Lagoo Dr.Shriram Lagoo (16 November 1927 – 17 December 2019) was an Indian film and theatre actor, in Hindi and Marathi, in addition to being an ENT Surgeon. He was known for his character roles in films. He acted in over 250 films including Hindi ...
as Dr. Khandeparkar *
Viju Khote Viju Khote (17 December 1941 – 30 September 2019) was an Indian actor who was known for his work in more than 440 films in Hindi and Marathi cinema. He was famous as the dacoit ''Kaalia'' in the film ''Sholay'' and the dialogue, "Sardar m ...
as Inspector David *
Birbal Birbal (; born Mahesh Das; 1528 16 February 1586), or Raja Birbal, was a Saraswat Hindu Bhatt Brahmin advisor and main commander (''Mukhya Senapati'') of army in the court of the Mughal emperor, Akbar. He is mostly known in the Indian subcon ...
as Shyamu *
Leela Mishra Leela Mishra (1 January 1908 – 17 January 1988) was an Indian actress. She worked as a character actor in over 200 Hindi films for five decades, and is best remembered for playing stock characters such as aunts (''Chachi'' or ''Mausi''). She ...
as Somu's Neighbour * Padma Chavan as Brothel Madam


Soundtrack

The music was composed by
Ilaiyaraaja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan, 3 June 1943) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, instrumentalist, lyricist and singer, popular for his works in Indian Cinema, prominently in Tamil films. Reputed to be one of ...
, in his Bollywood debut, and the lyrics were penned by
Gulzar Sampooran Singh Kalra (born 18 August 1934), known professionally as Gulzar, is an Indian Urdu poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, and film director known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of greatest Urdu poets of this ...
.Ilaiyaraaja retained two of his compositions from the original
Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...
version. The song "Vaanengum Thanga Vinmeengal" was tuned differently for the Hindi version as "Yeh Hawa Yeh Fiza". The song "Narikkathai" was replaced with the song "Ek Dafa Ek Jungle Tha" in the Hindi version. The cult song "Poongatru Puthithanathu" was replaced with slightly different "Ae Zindagi Gale Laga Le" which itself went on to become a cult song in Hindi after which it was used in 1984 Tamil movie ''
Thambikku Entha Ooru ''Thambikku Entha Ooru'' () is a 1984 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film directed by Rajasekhar and written by Panchu Arunachalam. The film stars Rajinikanth, Madhavi and Sulakshana. It revolves around a spoilt rich man who is forc ...
'' sung by SPB. Ae Zindagi Gale Laga Le was first remade for the movie ''
Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
'' (2013) by Atif Afzal. It was again remade for the movie ''
Dear Zindagi ''Dear Zindagi'' () is a 2016 Indian Hindi-language coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Gauri Shinde. It was produced by Gauri Khan, Karan Johar, and Shinde under the banners of Red Chillies Entertainment, Dharma Productions, and ...
'' (2016) by Amit Trivedi. Music director
A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...
worked as a keyboard player for this film.


Release

''Sadma'' was released on 8 July 1983. In 2015, ''Sadma'' was screened at the Habitat Film Festival.


Critical reception

''Sadma'' received widespread critical acclaim with major appreciation drawn towards Sridevi's performance. It is included in iDiva's list of '10 Must Watch Movies That Weren't Blockbusters'. Sridevi's performance as a child-woman suffering from amnesia was called by
Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...
"''a milestone in her illustrious career"''. Sridevi also featured in the
Mid-Day ''Mid-Day'' (stylised as mid-day) is a morning daily Indian compact newspaper owned by Jagran Prakashan Limited. Editions in various languages were published in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Pune. In 2011, the Delhi and Bangalore editions were ...
list of 'Challenging Roles played by Bollywood Actors' describing her act in the film as "''her best performance ever"''. In 2012, when
Barfi! ''Barfi!'' is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy drama film directed by Anurag Basu and produced by Ronnie Screwvala and Siddharth Roy Kapur under UTV Motion Pictures. The film stars Ranbir Kapoor as the eponymous lead, alongside P ...
was being promoted, Anurag Basu said "People might feel so because the last film that featured the actress in a mentally challenged role was of Sadma. But the comparisons are only on the basis of the promo...once you see the film upon its release everything would be clear.". That same year,
Adil Hussain Adil Hussain () is an Indian actor who has worked in Indian cinema, including art house cinema and mainstream Bollywood, as well as international cinema, in films such as ''The Reluctant Fundamentalist'' and ''Life of Pi'' (both 2012). He rece ...
, Sridevi's co-star in ''
English Vinglish ''English Vinglish'' is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film written and directed by Gauri Shinde. The film stars Sridevi as Shashi Godbole, a small entrepreneur who makes snacks. Shashi enrolls in an English-speaking course to sto ...
'' revealed that he became a fan of the actress after watching her in ''Sadma''. The Sridevi-Kamal Haasan pair also appeared on the
CNN-IBN CNN-News18 (originally CNN-IBN) is an Indian English-language news television channel founded by Raghav Bahl based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is currently co-owned by Network18 Group and Warner Bros. Discovery. CNN provides internationa ...
list of 'Greatest Romantic Couples on Celluloid'. The climax of ''Sadma'' is included in the
CNN-IBN CNN-News18 (originally CNN-IBN) is an Indian English-language news television channel founded by Raghav Bahl based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is currently co-owned by Network18 Group and Warner Bros. Discovery. CNN provides internationa ...
list of 'Bollywood's 50 Most Memorable Scenes of All Time'.


Awards and nominations


31st Filmfare Awards The 31st Filmfare Awards were held in 1984, with the Indian New Wave Cinema at its peak. ''Betaab'' and ''Masoom'' led the ceremony with 8 nominations each, followed by ''Arth'' with 7 nominations and ''Ardh Satya'' with 6 nominations. ''Ardh ...

;Nominated * Best Actor -
Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...
*
Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress awar ...
-
Sridevi Shree Amma Yanger Ayyappan (13 August 1963 – 24 February 2018), professionally credited with her stage name Sridevi, was an Indian actress who worked in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, and Kannada language films. Cited as the "First Female ...
* Best Story -
Balu Mahendra Balanathan Benjamin Mahendran (19 May 1939 13 February 2014), commonly known as Balu Mahendra, was a Sri Lankan-born Indian cinematographer, director, screenwriter and film editor who worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. Widely regarded as ...


References


External links

* * {{Balu Mahendra 1980s Hindi-language films 1983 films Hindi remakes of Tamil films Films directed by Balu Mahendra Films shot in Ooty Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Films about amnesia