Sadma, released in 1983, is an Indian movie starring Sridevi and Kamal Haasan. The movie is a story of Reshmi/Nehalata and Somprakash/Somu. A lot of Indians, young and old, would definitely call it a sweet love story.
One fine day, Nehalata was returning home from a party. While she was driving, her attention diverted for two seconds, and she got into an accident. That accident didn’t even give her a scratch. But sadly, she did get regressive amnesia from it. She regressed to her 6-year-old self, and her whole personality changed that way.
After her doctor’s recommendation, her parents get her admitted to a nursing home. While staying there, she could recover and get proper care and attention. But oh well, a man kidnapped her from there. Don’t worry, the man didn’t do anything, except for selling her to a brothel. Yikes!
This is where Somu comes in. Somu is a man with introverted nature. He came to Bombay after a long time and he was drinking with his friend. Well, at least he was trying to drink. The man couldn’t handle the bitterness of the alcohol. He and his friend were conversing with each other and it was revealed that Somu has never done the deed. The friend was shook to the core. “How could Somu live in chilly weather conditions without having sex?”
So, the friend did what he had to do. You guessed it right! They went to a brothel. In that brothel, after much hesitation, Somu went into a room with Reshmi. Somu obviously didn’t know about her condition. He was awkward but wanted to go along with it until, scared and vulnerable Reshmi hit him with a glass.
At this point, any man would start getting angry and demand for a refund. But, Somu isn’t that person. After some time, Somu went back to that brothel to meet Reshmi. I think that because he was such a kind-hearted person, he tried to understand her situation. She was scared and kept crying, saying that she wants to go home. Somu didn’t know where she lived or who her parents were. So, he decided to take her with him.
Somu, Reshmi, and Somu’s friend arrive at the train station. There, Somu and his friend were having a conversion about this situation. Reshmi, on the other hand, was making herself comfortable inside the train. She saw an ice seller and yelled for him. She got two ice creams from him and started eating with them in the same way a child would. It was as if those two ice cream cones had taken away all the worries. This was one of my favourite scenes from the movie.
From there, the movie progresses slowly. Somu introduces Reshmi to all his neighbours. She starts settling down in that town. She was able to find company in Hari Prasad, a cute dog that she lovingly pets. Both, Reshmi and Somu start to bond more as the time passes by. People see theirs as a sweet love story but, for me, it was just a friendship. I’m not saying that because they didn’t look like a good pair for each other. But, it was really impossible for them to be like a normal couple.
This became evident when Somu was dreaming of Reshmi wearing a red saree and looking like a model wife. But, in reality, she couldn’t wear that saree very well, because at that moment she was just a kid.
Somu may have loved her romantically, but Reshmi didn’t feel the same towards him. For her, he was a safe place, a place she could call home. However, I don’t think that there was a genuine feeling of love from her side.
During the ending of the movie, Reshmi gets cured of her regressive amnesia. What irked me was how they cured her. 1983 was a time when I’m pretty sure that people didn’t rely too much on god’s blessing and other weird stuff to cure themselves of diseases. I mean, we’re talking about people who were educated about such illnesses. But, oh well, Bollywood had to add that element in the movie, so they did.
By that time, Nehalata’s parents had found about her whereabouts. This was all thanks to a man who saw Reshmi eating ice cream from the opposite seat. He saw the missing person’s ad with Nehalata’s picture in a newspaper. So, he contacted her parents and from there it didn’t take them much time to find her.
After finding her, they decide to take her home. Nehalata remembered everything from before, even the fact that she was in an accident. But sadly, she forgot everything about Somu. This was all that there was in their journey with each other. In the last scenes, Nehalata was sitting in her train seat and Somu, who was in muddy clothes because he was in an accident, tried to get her attention. For Nehalata, he wasn’t a friend any more, he was just some weirdo, so she ignored him.
At the end, Somu was left all alone.
Sadma is a movie that had beautifully captured innocence of a young child. Obviously, props to late Sridevi for acting in a way that awed everyone who watched this movie. Kamal Haasan did a great job too. He played the character very well. His acting wasn’t boring and he matched well with Sridevi. The story overall was interesting and sweet. There were few likeable characters, Nani and Hari Prasad. Silk Smitha’s presence in the movie was pointless for me. Gulshan Grover did well for his character. I’d give this movie a 6/10.
Thank-you for reading! ❤
