Satyam Shivam Sundaram (1978 film)

Satyam Shivam Sundaram (transl. The truth, the God, the beauty) is a 1978 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film produced and directed by Raj Kapoor and written by Jainendra Jain, starring Shashi Kapoor and Zeenat Aman. The film's original soundtrack was composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal. It is a social drama about the differences between physical and spiritual love. Satyam Shivam Sundaram was released on 24 March 1978 on the day of Holi.

For the Kannada film, see Sathyam Shivam Sundaram (1987 film). For the Malayalam film, see Sathyam Sivam Sundaram (2000 film).

Satyam Shivam Sundaram
Film poster
Directed byRaj Kapoor
Produced byRaj Kapoor
Written byJainendra Jain
StarringShashi Kapoor
Zeenat Aman
Padmini Kolhapure
Narrated byRaj Kapoor
Music byLaxmikant-Pyarelal
CinematographyRadhu Karmakar
Edited byRaj Kapoor
Production
company
R. K. Studio
Raj-Baug Loni
Distributed byShemaroo Video Pvt. Ltd.
Release date
24 March 1978 (1978-03-24)
Running time
172 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Budget₹85 lakh (equivalent to ₹19 crore or US$2.6 million in 2019)[1]
Box office₹4.5 crore (equivalent to ₹99 crore or US$14 million in 2019)[2]

Plot

The story is set in a village where Roopa lives with her father, the village priest. As a young child, the right side of Roopa's face and neck were burned by a pot of boiling oil, leaving part of her face disfigured. Henceforth, Roopa keeps her right cheek hidden under the veil of her sari. Despite the terrible accident, Roopa remains religious and goes to the village temple daily, singing hymns and devotional songs.

Rajeev is a dashing engineer who arrives in the village to oversee the operation of a major dam. He abhors anything ugly. He hears Roopa's lovely singing and meets her, but does not see her disfigured side, and falls in love with her. He then asks her father's permission to marry her.

After the wedding, he discovers the truth and thinks that he was cheated and forced to marry someone else, at which point he disowns Roopa and drives her out of the house. Roopa decides to meet him at night, using a veil to hide the charred side of her face. Rajeev spends his days ignoring his wife, and his nights loving his mistress, not knowing they are both the same woman.

During one of their nights together, they make love and Roopa gets pregnant. When Rajeev finds out that his wife is pregnant, he suspects her of infidelity and refuses to believe that his "mistress" and wife are the same. He publicly shames her and sends her back to her home. Seeing it, her father dies out of agony. Roopa vows that she will never ever return to him as his mistress.

A terrible storm ravages the village, breaking open the dam which Rajeev had come to repair. The village is being evacuated as the dam's shutters are opening. In the swirling waters of the flood, Rajeev realises how shallow he has been, and saves Roopa from drowning. He now realises both are the same person and accepts Roopa as his wife.

Cast

Production

In her book Raj Kapoor Speaks, Ritu Nanda reveals that Lata Mangeshkar was the inspiration behind the film and that he wanted to cast her in the movie; "I visualised the story of a man falling for a woman with an ordinary face but a golden voice and wanted to cast Lata Mangeshkar in the role, the book quotes Raj Kapoor as saying."[3] Before Zeenat Aman was cast in the role, Hema Malini, Dimple Kapadia, Vidya Sinha were offered the role, but they refused because of sensual content and body exposure in the film.[4][5]

Kumar Gaurav (Son of Veteran actor Rajendra Kumar) was an assistant director on the film SSS. He was credited as "Manoj Kumar".

Music
Satyam Shivam Sundaram
Studio album by
Laxmikant-Pyarelal
Released1978
GenreFeature film soundtrack
LabelSaregama
ProducerLaxmikant-Pyarelal
Laxmikant-Pyarelal chronology
Badalte Rishtey
(1978)		 Satyam Shivam Sundaram
(1978)		 Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan
(1978)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Planet Bollywood[6]

Laxmikant-Pyarelal's music won the Filmfare Best Music Director Award. Lata Mangeshkar lends her voice to the main theme song "Satyam Shivam Sundaram", which was among the chart-toppers of the year, and remains a chartbuster. Various recent music groups from both India and the United States, such as Thievery Corporation and Sheila Chandra, have re-done the theme song from the movie. Also, many variations of the song have been made (e.g. the original version is considered, in Indian music, a Bhajan, but Lata Mangeshkar has also made a bhangra-like version, a different style). The song "Chanchal Sheetal Nirmal Komal" was the last song of the popular singer Mukesh, who died soon after recording the song.

Mangeshkar at the time of recording the main theme song was in dispute regards royalties with Raj Kapoor. She has conveyed that she came for the recording, practiced the song for a short while, sang the song in anger in one take, and left.

  • Song "Satyam Shivam Sundaram" was listed at #6 on Binaca Geetmala annual list 1977
  • Song "Yashomati Maiya Se" was listed at #7 on Binaca Geetmala annual list 1978
  • Song "Chanchal Sheetal Nirmal Komal" was listed at #24 on Binaca Geetmala annual list 1978

Rakesh Budhu of Planet Bollywood gave 9 stars stating, "Satyam Shivam Sundaram is still a soundtrack that shines more amidst L-P’s many melody accomplishments."[6]

SongSingersLyricistTime
"Satyam Shivam Sundaram" Lata Mangeshkar Pandit Narendra Sharma 5:05
"Bhor Bhaye Panghat Pe" Lata Mangeshkar Anand Bakshi 5:30
"Woh Aurat Hai Too Mehbooba" Lata Mangeshkar, Nitin Mukesh Anand Bakshi 5:00
"Chanchal Sheetal Nirmal Komal" Mukesh Anand Bakshi 5:50
"Saiyan Nikas Gaye" Lata Mangeshkar, Bhupinder Singh Vitalbhai Patel 4:45
"Suni Jo Unke Aane Ki Aahat" Lata Mangeshkar Pandit Narendra Sharma 3:20
"Satyam Shivam Sundaram" Lata Mangeshkar Pandit Narendra Sharma 6:15
"Yashomati Maiya Se Bole Nandlala" Lata Mangeshkar, Manna Dey Pandit Narendra Sharma 3:45
"Yashomati Maiya Se Bole Nandlala" Lata Mangeshkar Pandit Narendra Sharma 3:10
"Shree Radha Mohan Shyam Shobhan" Manna Dey Pandit Narendra Sharma 2:50
"Shri Radhamohan" Lata Mangeshkar, Manna Dey Pandit Narendra Sharma 2:55

Accolades
Filmfare Awards[7]
Won
Nominated

Controversy

The Film's exhibition was challenged by a man named Laxman from Himachal Pradesh. A prosecution u/s 292 of the Indian Penal Code was lodged against Raj Kapoor for promoting 'Obscenity' through the Film. The local Magistrate Court took cognisance and summons/notice was issued to Mr. Raj Kapoor. The notice was challenged by Mr. Kapoor before the High Court but the High Court did not interfere. Kapoor then approached the Hon'ble Supreme Court. Justice Krishna Iyer found merit in the contention of the Filmmaker and quashed the prosecution at the threshold. Once a certificate u/s 5. A of the Film Certification Act was granted, the Filmmaker would be covered by the protection u/s 79 of the Indian Penal Code which states, "Nothing is an offence which is done by any person who is justified by law, or who because of a mistake of fact and not because of a mistake of law in good faith, believes himself to be justified by law, in doing it." Justice Iyer in the concluding para has made following observation highlighting the responsibility of the Censor Board, "And the Board, alive to its public duty, shall not play to the gallery; nor shall it restrain aesthetic expression and progressive art through obsolete norms and grandma inhibition when the world is wheeling forward to glimpse the beauty of creation in its myriad manifestations and liberal horizons, A happy balance is to maintained."

gollark: C++ that is.
gollark: With unique stupidity thrown in.
gollark: It's kind of an amalgamation of other languages.
gollark: Rust.
gollark: C++ is C meets new features nobody wanted.

References
  1. Purie, Aroon (3 April 2008). "From the editor-in-chief". India Today. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  2. "Satyam Shivam Sundaram - Lifetime Box Office Collection, Budget, Reviews, Cast, etc".
  3. http://www.hindustantimes.com/News- Feed/Books/Raj-Kapoor-The-face-behind-the-star/Article1-254712.aspx
  4. "Blast from the Past-Satyam Shivam Sundarma (1978)". The Hindu. Hindu. 25 September 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
  5. "'I still regret saying no to Raj Kapoor for Satyam Shivam Sundaram'". Rediff.
  6. "SSS Music Review by Rakesh Budhu". Planet Bollywood. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  7. "Filmfare Award Nominees and Winner 1953-2005" (PDF).
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