Director: Balu Mahendra; Writer: Balu Mahendra; Producer: G. Thyagarajan; Cinematographer: Balu Mahendra; Editor: D. Vasu; Cast: Kamal Haasan, Sridevi Kapoor, Y.G. Mahendran, Silk Smitha, Kanthimati, Vasantha, Poornam Vishwanathan, S.R. Veera Raghavan, J.V. Ramana Murthy, Nataraj, Jhansi, Vairam Krishnamurthy, Varadarajan, Loose Mohan, Ashok, Master Peter
Duration: 02:14:30; Aspect Ratio: 1.379:1; Hue: 32.542; Saturation: 0.141; Lightness: 0.205; Volume: 0.138; Cuts per Minute: 11.159
Summary: Mahendra’s best-known film is a morality tale about a schoolteacher (Kamalahasan) who rescues a mentally deranged woman (Sridevi) from a brothel and looks after her in his hillside home. While the crazed woman, regressing into a childlike state, becomes devoted to him, he struggles to keep his sexual desire in check. The libidinal tensions culminate in an orgiastic dream sequence attributed to the headmaster’s (Vishwanathan) sexually frustrated wife (Silk Smitha) who desires the hero: she erupts into a sinuous, hip-swinging dance around a tree (and the teacher) on a bare hill. Mahendra remade the film with its original cast in Hindi as Sadma (1983).
Indiancine.ma requires JavaScript.
