Swati (1986)

Sharda is in love with a young man who wants to marry her. Before the marriage could take place, some of his friends force themselves upon Sharda, leaving her pregnant. When her boyfriend ... See full summary »

Director:

Kranthi Kumar

Writers:

Kranthi Kumar (screenplay), Kranthi Kumar (story),

Stars:

Shashi Kapoor, Sharmila Tagore, Meenakshi Sheshadri

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Shashi Kapoor	...	Dr. Rajendra Prasad
Sharmila Tagore	...	Sharda
Meenakshi Sheshadri	...	Swati
Vinod Mehra	...	Satya Prakash
Madhuri Dixit	...	Anandi
Akbar Khan	...	Ram Mohan 'Comrade'
Sarika	...	Dancer / Singer
Madhu Kapoor	...	Mrs. Laxmi Joshi
Raja Bundela	...	Kamdev Prasad Chironjilal Rokadia 'Kapil Dev'
Feroz
Shubha Khote	...	Mrs. Saroj Bhatnagar (as Shobha Khote)
Dinesh Hingoo	...	Satyanarayan Chaubey (as Dinesh Hingu)
Mahendra Sharma	...	(as Mahendar Sharma)
Shribhagwan	...	(as Shri Bhagwan)
Mahesh Raj	...	(as Maheshraj)

Storyline

Sharda is in love with a young man who wants to marry her. Before the marriage could take place, some of his friends force themselves upon Sharda, leaving her pregnant. When her boyfriend does not show up, she decides to keep the child, names her Swati, re-locates to a small town in Southern India and finds employment as a nurse with Dr. Rajendra. Years later Swati has grown up to be an assertive young woman, who is not only outspoken but quite capable of physically defending herself, but her attitude alienates her and Sharda from the community in general. She befriends Ram Mohan, an activist, who is often in trouble with the police. With no one to look after her mother after she gets married, Swati asks Rajendra, now a widower, to marry Sharda, to which he agrees. The marriage takes place, and both move in to live a wealthy lifestyle with Rajendra and his daughter, Anandi. Rajendra and Sharda decide to find a suitable groom for Swati, but before that could happen Swati and Anandi ...

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Plot Keywords:

remake

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Release Date:

2 May 1986 (India)

Filming Locations:

India

Company Credits

Production Co:

Prasad Productions Pvt. Ltd.

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

Remake of Swathi (1985)

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Soundtracks

"Jannat Ka Khwab Hoon Main"
Music by Laxmikant Shantaram Kudalkar & Pyarelal Ramprasad Sharma
Lyrics by Anand Bakshi

User Reviews

Thought-provoking and touching. Highly recommended

Firstly, an assumption is made in this film on the role of woman. Nothing surprising, its very Indian culture really. Its probably argued to be functional but for women to strive to be mothers and wives to their husbands all their life isn't something I agree with. Anyway, that was the assumption made here and from there... its taken well.

Swati is a story of a girl and her mother who are in a big problem. Theirs is a family that isn't looked upon well in the society they live in. Its not like it's their fault but that society doesn't care less. Its ruthless but Swati is determined to go all out, she stands up for what she believes in and kicks down any barrier that comes in her way. She's determined to stop all the hypocrisy, prejudices and lies that engulf her and her mother's happiness But things weren't so simple. The story takes a big (and sad) twist.

I was only attracted to this story because of Madhuri Dixit. I never liked Bollywood except her. Its strange. Madhuri plays Swati's friend in the movie but their relationship eventually melts into something closer. Madhuri was great here. Who'd have thought that this woman would eventually become the industry's (arguably) greatest? She shone in this movie. This being one of the earlier movies she did, she wasn't quite as powerful as she was in a movie like Devdas but she was still really good and brought a lot of life and color to the girl she was playing. An otherwise 1-dimensional and shallow character. And god she was skinny in this movie! She was so young and skinny. A startling contrast to her 11 years later in Dil To Pagal Hai (= The lead actress was stunning though. Her piercing eyes are piercing, almost making her look like a goddess of sorts. She's a strong person, rational and with a great love for her Mother. Even without the good storyline I daresay Swati's character alone was so well played and intriguing it would make the movie worth a watch