It all began on the 511 days celebrations of K.Vishwanath’s earlier marvel Sagara Sangamam in Garden City Bengaluru. The Kala Tapasvi himself along with Poornodaya Art Creations producer Edidha Nageshwara Rao, Kamal Hassan and writer Balamurugan started having a cool conversation.
K.Vishwanath who always has the knack of experimenting with innovative characters expressed his wish of making a film with a lead role who is still a child at heart despite being a grown up. The idea formulated in his mind on this particular day and by the time he returned Madras, the story got its written form!
However, there was lot of speculations about why the artistic combo of K.Vishwanath- Edidha Nageshwara Rao chose to take a mentally challenged hero subject. It was only the confidence on the story and storytelling abilities which led this powerful duo go ahead in great vigor!
Swathi Muthyam has the credit of breaking many clichés not only in Telugu Cinema but also in the lifestyle of Telugu people. It showed that a widowed mother like Lalitha (Radhika) has every right to get married again and have a beautiful life. It also showed that a mentally challenged guy Sivayya (Kamal Hassan) could transform his life with the power of love and affection offered by his wife and step son. In short, Swathi Muthyam proved that love doesn’t have boundaries in figurative sense, but a person needn’t be glamorous or stylish to be loved.
Another biggest asset of this film is music by Maestro Ilaiyaraaja and amazing lyrics by legends like Dr.C.Narayana Reddy, Sitarama Sastry and Acharya Athreya. The biggest credit goes to Kala Tapasvi for the placement of these masterpiece songs which go hand in hand with the main storyline but never out of pace. Dialogue writer Sainath who got introduced by K.Vishwanath earlier with Sirivennela wrote some thought provoking dialogues for this flick.
Kamal Hassan outperformed all his earlier films with this challenging role and nobody can forget his missing dance steps in the eternal song Suvvi Suvvi. Radhika did a remarkable job with a totally de-glamorized role as a widowed mother and an unconditional lover and wife to the hero. A very special credit is to be made for Tamil actress Deepa to adorn the role of a washerwoman who has sensibilities better than any educated person we come across! It would be surprising to know that the kid who acted as son to Radhika is none other than grandchild of folk star Kantha Rao.The film was shot in pristine locations of Godavari shores namely Rajahmundry, Torredu, Taadikonda and Pattiseema.
Swathi Muthyam became greatly successful and completed 100 days run in 25 centers. The film also had a record run of 516 days in Bengaluru and a year long in Mysore. The 100 days function commenced in Devi Theatre, RTC X Roads, Hyderabad for which dignitaries like Raj Kapoor, Sr.NTR, Chiranjeevi were the chief guests.
iQlikmovies remembers this masterpiece for completing 30 years in grace and class!
