During Black and White era, the female lead was given utmost respect and had equally to perform with the male co-stars. Legendary heroines like Savitri, Bhanumathi made sure the legacy continued for long time. As time passed by, younger heroines like Vanisri and Sarada did their best in elevating the female lead characters and good performances. However, the late 70s witnessed an era where female lead was confined to only dances and glamour opposite stalwart heroes with very little to perform. Audience started assuming that female lead’s plight has come down drastically and it is when the early 80s witnessed some phenomenal films with strong female characters resembling the new age woman.Suhasini is one gifted actress who acted in most such films which made the female audience rethink about their abilities and question the wrong happenings around them. Swathi is one defining film in Suhasini’s career where she played the role of a bold woman with strong ideals and opinions.
Story Details:
Swathi (Suhasini) is the strong daughter of a single mother (Sarada) who works as a nurse for a living. Her mother gets cheated by a guy in her younger days and that is how Swathi is born. While the society looks down at Swathi and her family by questioning about her family details, Swathi strongly opposes any such tantrums and gives back to any nonsense she comes across. She questions many clichés in our society such as widow ill treatment, singled out woman’s life, female inequality and what not? In this course she meets a communist (Bhanuchander) who starts admiring the aggression Swathi has. Swathi always thinks about her mother and worries that the latter always had a tough life. She then decides to marry her to the doctor (Jaggaiah)- a widower who has a daughter named Samyuktha (Samuyuktha). What happens next? How will Swathi’s life turn with this change? All these questions are answered in rest of the story.
Performances:
Suhasini is flawless in the role of strong woman Swathi. Her modern thinking, and aggression along with hidden pain was brilliantly portrayed on screen. She breathes life into the fantastic character with great ease. Suhasini became close to role model for many young women of 80s with such strong characters. Sarada is wonderful as the struggling mother who tries to ease her tormented daughter all the time. Bhanuchander is fantastic as the communist. Jaggaiah adds interesting flavor to the film with his earthly performance. Samyuktha is nice as the young step sister who falls for a sports lover played by Subhalekha Sudhakar. Ramaprabha is funny as the modern lady who still has superstitions.
Technical Aspects:
The film was written and directed by Kranthi Kumar who has unique ideas with respect to women empowerment. The dialogues make the audience think about women inequality and how society looks down to a single mother. Music by Chakravarthy is adequate and Kalyanam Kamaneeyam song became good hit. Production values are decent with an appropriate budget. This film was remade in Hindi as well with the talented Meenakshi Sheshadri and Sharmila Tagore playing the roles of Swathi and her mother respectively.