Swati Mutyam

Swati Mutyam
Directed by	K. Viswanath
Produced by	Edida Nageshwara Rao
Written by	Sainath (dialogues) Akella (dialogues) Atreya (lyrics) C. Narayanareddy (lyrics) Sirivennela (lyrics)
Screenplay by	K. Viswanath
Story by	K. Viswanath
Starring	Kamal Haasan Raadhika Sarathkumar
Music by	Ilaiyaraaja
Cinematography	M. V. Raghu
Edited by	G. G. Krishna Rao
Production company	Poornodaya Movie Creations
Distributed by	Sri Venkata Krishna Films Ramana Movies
Release dates	27 March 1986 (1986-03-27) (India)
Running time	2 hrs 40 min
Country	India
Language	Telugu

Swati Mutyam (English: The White Pearl) is a 1986 Telugu drama film written, directed by K. Viswanath, and produced by Edida Nageshwara Rao.^[1] The film stars Kamal Haasan and Raadhika in the lead roles, with soundtrack and background score by Ilaiyaraaja.^[2] Swati mutyam depicts the plight of a young widow who is rescued by an autistic man. The cult classic was selected by India as its entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards in 1986, but was not nominated.^[3][4]

The super-hit film was screened at the Moscow Film Festival, Tashkent Film Festival, International Film Festival of India, and the Asia Pacific Film Festival were it won awards for "Best Film" and "Best Actor" categories.^[5][6][7][8] The film received the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu, the Nandi Award for Best Feature Film, and the Filmfare South Award for Best Direction. The film was later dubbed into Tamil as Sippikkul Muthu. Upon its success, the film was later remade in Hindi as Eeshwar and in Kannada as Swathi Muthu.^[9] The 1994 Hollywood film Forrest Gump, and the 2003 bollywood film Koi... Mil Gaya were inspired from Swati Mutyam.^[10][11]

Plot

Shivaiah (Kamal Haasan), an autistic orphan, lives along with his grandmother (Nirmalamma) in a village. In that village Lalitha (Raadhika), a young widow with a 5-year-old son, lives along with her brother's (Sarath Babu) family. She and her son often get abused by her sister-in-law but Lalitha, having nowhere to go bears it all.

Shivaiah often encounters Lalitha and gets appalled by her condition. One day, during Sri Rama Navami festival, Shivaiah marries Lalitha, shocking all the villagers. His grandmother approves of his marriage as she also has much sympathy and regard for Lalitha. But his uncle and orthodox villagers oppose that marriage as they consider remarriage of a widow was a sin. In that brawl, Shivaiah's grandmother dies leaving innocent Shivaiah in the hands of Lalitha. Lalitha, moves in with her husband with the blessings of her brother.

Some of the villagers help them to build a new life. Gradually Lalitha makes Shivaiah understand the household duties and responsibilities of a man. Shivaiah finds work and starts to support his wife and step son. Later they have son and live happily for long time. Years pass and Lalitha becomes ill and dies in her husband's arms. In the climax, Shivaiah walks out of his house surrounded by his children and grandchildren. He carries a tulsi plant which was his memory of Lalitha's love.

Cast

Production

Arun Kumar, and Venkatesh were the production designers for the film.^[9][5] The film was shot for nearly 70 days near the shores of Rajamundry, Torredu, Tadikonda, Pattiseema, Chennai and Mysore.^[9][5]

Soundtrack

All music composed by Ilayaraja.

Awards and Honors

Remakes

References

External links

• Swati Mutyam at the Internet Movie Database