Satyam Shivam Sundaram: Love Sublime

RK introduces seductive Zeenat Aman in this love story. The central theme of this movie emphasizes the strength of the inner beauty of a person over the external appearances. Shot beautifully around the rural areas of India, this movie was widely recognized for its artistic excellence as well as some soul stirring songs by Lata Mangeshkar.

Truth, godliness and beauty. An unconventional Hindi film about inner beauty. Zeenat Aman's character Rupa is a village outcast having burnt one side of her face leaving her disfigured. She lives life in the shadows of others hiding her scars by veiling one side of her face. Enter the vain Shashi Kapoor as Ranjeev who falls madly in love with Rupa after hearing her angelic singing at the temple but remains unaware of her disfigurement. Rupa then literally leads two lives in order to maintain his love.

When released in India it caused much controversy over the mix of religion, the semi-clad Zeenat Aman and erotic symbolism in some sequences. True, no chance is wasted in showing as much of Zeenats inch perfect body as possible. For many this compromises the message of the film however it is never vulgar. The portrayal of her own self-loathing and sense of worthlessness tugs at the heart strings. There is a small minus in Shashi Kapoors total miscasting as the big engineer he looks continually bemused and his sudden conversion doesn't quite ring true.

The film is beautifully shot and the sunrise colour schemes give it a surreal and dream like quality. The dialogues are well done and complimented by some great songs. Highly recommended.

Eyes, as humans are we really gifted to be bestowed with them? Or do they blind us and stop us from listening to our heart? Are they a boon or bane? Raj Kapoor takes these questions and weaves a love story to illustrate the point.

The human mind cannot bear too much of truth and precisely on this premise Shashi Kapoor's character Rajiv is based upon. He is unable to see the beauty beyond the skin and fails to see the truth. Raj Kapoor juxtaposes the same logic and toys with the audience. Ample innocent skin show is thrown in for the eyes to feast upon. However does the audience look beyond and see the underlying sublime message? Or suffer from the same predicament as Rajiv. The message has been told since time immemorial. With "Satyam Shivam Sundaram" Raj Kapoor makes his sincere attempt.

Zeenat Aman:: As always with Raj Kapoor's films, the female characters get fleshed out in greater prominence and hence tend to steal the thunder against the male counter-part. Zeenat Aman gets a role of her lifetime and perhaps might now be thanking her stars for having got an golden opportunity to work with Raj Kapoor. Her character is called "Rupa" which is aptly chosen.

The rest of the star cast lend adequate support.

The music and lyrics have always been forte of RK Films and "Satyam Shivam Sundaram" is no exception. Raj Kapoor manages to extract the best out of Laxmikant-Pyarelal to delivery a rich, soulful and haunting melodies. The lyrics by Pandit Narendra Sharma carry a deep meaning. Lata Mangeshkar renders the songs in top form, as always for Raj Kapoor.

The movie was a commercial failure when it was released. It was the time action films ruled the roost. The film was certainly well ahead of its times. The audience lacked the maturity and sensibility to grasp the underlying message. Nonetheless, "Satyam Shivam Sundaram" is a best masterpiece created by the greatest showman of Indian Cinema.

Satyam Shivam Sundaram is one of Raj Kapoor's iconic pictures. It is an entertaining mainstream film which is very symbolic in the message it tries to convey. The film addresses themes of superstition, social stigma, the discrepancy between physical attraction and pure love, and above-all the deception of beauty. The film tells the story of Roopa, a greatly beautiful young woman half of whose face was burnt and left disfigured when she was a child. It doesn't take away from her charismatic appearance and most of the time she covers her damaged side. Soon she catches the eye of Rajeev, a young man who falls deeply in love with her beauty but never sees her entire face until they are finally married. Soon after marriage, he totally ignores his new bride and flees home to keep his affair with the old Roopa, making both of them lead a sort of double life, which is clearly fake. The only difference between his wife and lover is that side of her face.

Yes, when read this way, the story doesn't seem to ring true and, indeed, even in the film, it could strain credulity. Viewers might wonder how on earth Rajeev does not realise this is the same woman. But the answer is simple as, in my view, he is perfectly aware that both his wife and the 'other woman' he supposedly loves are the same person, he is just in complete denial and not prepared to admit that the woman he loves looks this way. He just lives immersed in his imagination. Even more important, however, is to see the film in the right context. The film is given an aura of a fairytale which is symbolic, forgivable and even appropriate within the story. Obviously, the story is well developed in the hands of Kapoor who gives it a greatly sensual, mystical energy. He really manages to offer a true, critical commentary on our perception of beauty and how deceitful it really is, and how totally it is removed from one's inner feelings.

Kapoor had this amazing ability to combine realism with some elements of fantasy, but more than that, he was one of the few directors who knew how to capture a woman's beauty, sensuous body and raw sexuality, sometimes without revealing much and sometimes by revealing a lot but never in the vulgar sense. Here he does just that as we have a heroine who is half naked throughout and yet never looks cheaply seductive. Still, it was a challenge for any actress in such a conservative society to take up such a role. It was Zeenat Aman who was brave enough to rise to occasion. She might not be an outstanding actress, but she is perfect for the part as hers is a true exotic, sensual appearance which suits the character of Roopa to the T. That she is directed by Kapoor only helps because he is able to make use of her advantages to create a believable character. Her Roopa is modest and decent despite her so-called physical indecency, and very attractive all through.

Shashi Kapoor, the director's younger brother, does fairly well in his part of a seemingly shallow man who lives under the empty illusion that he loves a woman based strictly on her looks, which is clearly not the case. Again, his gullibility is sometimes hard to believe but still he does very well, and it is more due to the script than his acting. The one who actually stays with you after the show is over is Padmini Kohapure, that actress who used to be a wonderfully fresh talent. Her brilliantly raw energy in portraying the young Roopa resonates in mind even when Aman takes her place. She is the epitome of innocence. Another player in the film is without doubt Lata Mangeshkar's divine voice which gives the film its poetic tone and beautifully melodic narrative. With all its pluses, however, Satyam Shivam Sundaram is not the best film you will see. While it does work like a true fairytale, it doesn't totally work as a film and at times loses its focus, but who can ignore Raj Kapoor's cinema - it is nonetheless the best of his later career.

Satyam Shivam Sundaram review :

Known mainly for Zeenat Aman's abundant skin exposure, the legendary Raj Kapoors Satyam Shivam Sundaram (SSS) is actually an intense philosophical look at the pristine soul beyond the ordinary body. Raj Saahab explains the theme in the opening scene itself where he talks about faith and devotion in an idol which may appear to be a piece of rock to an atheist.

Some say Raj Kapoor got the idea in the 1950s from his favourite singer Lata Mangeshkar who had a divine voice but was not particularly beautiful face. The basic idea of inner beauty vs physical body stayed with him for decades and finally, in late '70s, he decided to translate his vision on screen.

Surprisingly, Zeenat Aman was not the first choice and Raj Saahab had Hema Malini as well as Vidya Sinha in mind. Zeenat literally grabbed the coveted role by dressing up as the village belle Roopa and directly landing up at RK Studios, Chembur to stun Raj Kapoor who instantly signed her.

Satyam Shivam Sundaram remains Zeenat's career best performance though she got her share of criticism for exposing without any inhibitions. In one scene, her breasts are clearly visible yet the Censors were liberal to pass the film without a single cut.

Shashi Kapoor was earnest as Rajeev, the civil engineer who visits a village on duty and falls in love with a beautiful voice whose face he hasnt seen till he marries her. The girl is Roopa (Zeenat) who had burnt a part of her face in childhood and on seeing her, Rajeev shuns her..

Raj Kapoor's collaboration with Laxmikant Pyarelal yielded some excellent music and the duo won the Filmfare award that year. Radhu Karmakar also took home the best cinematographer award that year.

The social drama was released with lot of fanfare at Mumbai's prestigious Metro Cinema. The star studded premiere at Metro had the entire Kapoor family standing at the entrance welcoming their guests for the evening. The film wasn't a big hit commercially but didn't burn a hole in Raj Saahab's pocket like his magnum opus Mera Naam Joker (1970) did.

Satyam Shivam Sundaram is one of my favorite Raj Kapoor film after Shree 420 (1955) and Mera Naam Joker (1970). Only a legend like him can make such an aesthetic piece of work without stepping the line of vulgarity. Kudos!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.