PSOTD : Sadma Climax

So I am back to the second in the glorious “Pathetic scene/song of the day” series thanks to sputnik. The first one is HERE

I am talking about that (in)famous “heart-wrenching” climax scene of Kamal Haasan. Now many feel its Kamal’s best performance to date. I also agree it is. Though in a different way 😉

Firstly, in those days with that hideous moustache, Kamal always looked like a rooster somehow. I didn’t count how many times he said “Lekshmi” in that funny South Indian accent but it irritated after a point. Now Sridevi forgot Kamal towards the climax of the film, big deal. I can excuse those monkey-like facial expressions and the excessive limping while carrying a steel matka on head, may be he was reminding her of his earlier retarded habits but whats with those somersaults on the railway platform? LOL! Was he thinking that he is going to beat the speed of the train doing that! thank goodness that platform ended or else he may have continued the somersaults chasing the train all the way till the next station 😀 Whats with those gay-like hand gestures at 3.04?

All in all, a great scene no doubt.Now watch the scene:

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18 Comments
  1. sputnik 11 years ago

    I am just going to post my comments from before (July 2011) and claim credit for being the first one to call this “classic” scene for what it really is :smug:

    “I liked Sadma when I saw it years back on TV. I did not like the whole Silk Smitha track – to me it was a cheap/sleazy way of trying to attract the front benchers.

    I loved the ending back then and I thought it was brilliant. But I saw that scene on youtube again recently and I think it is so exaggerated and dramatic.”

    • Baba Ji 11 years ago

      sputnik – you are a pioneer on these matters. 😛 I think the scene was may be fine even till the monkey thing. The somersault bit is atrocious. He can neither beat the train nor sri devis memory that way. I wonder if the audience who saw this in theatre also reacted this way while coming out of the hall. They must be doing somersaults all the way down 😀

  2. Ritz 11 years ago

    Agree with you Baba.

    All Kamal serious movies tend to be link that. Ridiculously self centric and lol-worthy.

    The last pathetic acting I saw of him was “Anbe Sivam”. And people were praising that wtf OTT performance.

    • Baba Ji 11 years ago

      on self centric, I will mention “dasavatharam”. I think that film had potential and is solely ruined due to this problem of self-centric obsession of kamal.

      Can you find that scene of Anbe Sivam?

      • Manish 11 years ago

        i remember watching sadma … i liked it then bt its long time back and by the time climax came i was too much into story .. havent seen this video bt will check later …

        i remember watching dasavtaar .. i havnet seen more raddi acting than that .. the act was so OTT that it gives WTF feeling… main pakk gaya tha kasam se and i havent been able to complete and i dont know why few ppl around me were going ga ga over that movie nad his acting

        hindustani i too liked because the theme was good and most importantly kamal’s main role as that budhdha was nt completely OTT like he was in dasavtaar

      • Ritz 11 years ago

        Its more about whole movie Baba.

        He playes a crippled and who had major injury etc. He is like a caricature in the movie IMO. I will post one scene in the movie but its more to with Madhvan’s acting then Kamal. That scene is just another example of how tacky film direction is in India.

        • Ritz 11 years ago

          Within two minutes of crying and breaking down, Madhavan starts laughing and overcomes it.. Movies like these have spoilt Indian audiences patience for slower proceedings and purposefully slow paced movies who built up the mood and characterization.

          The dialogues are also cringeworthy. While the Kamal’s character is supposed to say in short “the god is inside you”, there is a dialogue

          Madhavan: Who told you you are God?
          Kamal: A woman who owns shop at top of the hill told me and I started beleiving so. (Looks at madhavan and says) You didnt understand right?
          Madhvan:No
          Kamal: You shouldnt understand, that is called God.

          Now that hint (lady at top of hill etc) shows movies does not mean to say that God is in everyone. It is just to prove how hero is larger than life etc. People are left to find the clues through that dialogue and believe that He is really something. All Kamal’s caricature crippled act is to drive home a point how hero is larger than life.
          Where is intelligence and subtle-ness in whole proceedings?

          The climax of this movie is more cringeworthy.

          The acting by Kamal is OTT. Not to mention about Madhavan too.

          • Ritz 11 years ago

            In retrospect, this kind of acting might be good for the time when Kamal was in young (80s/90s era). But unfortunately he continues to do the same now.

            When I see films like Goodwill Hunting, In the mood for love, The secret in their eyes, or a memories of murder – I realize Indian cinema is yet to reach a basic minimum level. There is too much loudness in everything we have.

  3. Baba Ji 11 years ago

    anyway before someone thinks I am a Kamal hassan hater, I loved his Hindustani.He was perfect in it as the revolutionary Varma kalai expert .May be i am just not an audience for this kind of film.

  4. Baba Ji 11 years ago

    ritz – yes in india, loud is considered good. that bring me to srk in darr and baazigar. What do you think of those two performances?sputnik has a problem with amitabh in black and aakhen being OTT then how can srk be good in his OTT act in those films?

  5. sputnik 11 years ago

    @Ritz,

    I don’t think it is right to expect the same underplay from Indian movies when it comes to acting in emotional scenes. We Indians are a lot more emotional people and we generally display our emotions whether it is hurt, anger, grief more than someone from the west.

    Saw the scene that you posted and agree with you that the scene is bad and Madhavan laughing so soon is bad.

    @Baba,

    You think this whole scene is bad with Kamal running all the way getting hit by a car and then limping and doing things to remind her of. But then how come the scene from Aankhen where Amitabh beats up a guy who cheated at the bank chases him through the streets and bashes him on the street is fine?

    You have a habit of lumping everything in the same category and saying if this is good then that is good. It does not work that way.

    Yes Amitabh hammed in Black and Aankhen and irritated me whereas SRK was good in Baazigar and Darr. SRK did overact in some initial comedy scenes of Baazigar where he was copying Amitabh but I think he acted well in the rest of the movie. And as for Darr he was playing a pyschotic character who is docile one moment and aggressive at another. And he was perfect.

    I have always said this that SRK hammed in Raam Jaane and that it was one of the most irritating performances ever. SRK in Baazigar/Darr is not same as SRK in Raam Jaane/Chahat.

    One can say that Heath Ledger is OTT in TDK or Samuel Jackson is OTT in PF or Jack Nicholson is OTT in A Few Good Men but it does not mean that since they were good, SRK was good in Raam Jaane/Chahat or Amitabh was good in Aankhen/Black.

    So you liked Jodhaa Akbar. Did you like Ashoka too?

    • Baba Ji 11 years ago

      sputnik – i know your hypocritic take on some particular films,thats why i asked ritz the question bcos he seems consistent to me in his dislike for loud/OTT characters.

  6. Bored 11 years ago

    The thing is that indian audience is very emotional and they like excessive display of emotions.

    Even the best star-actor of times – Aamir Khan is overtly emotional in critically acclaimed movies like TZP or RDB or what have you. Hrithik is trying to reduce it, but he has a long way to go. Ranbir cant get over his Raj-Kapoor roots (and openly doesnt want to). But they are still the better ones out there at present.

    As for SRK, Akshay or Salman – they dont care – nor do they take those over-emotions seriously. They dont care abt the acting bit and are pretty happy being the ‘star’.

    As for southern films and stars – they all pitch it up to Bollywood level, maybe more.

    This is the main reason Indian mainstream cinema has no global takers except NR-Asians and half-breeds.

    PS – Even when it coms to psychotic characters the takes are entirely different – watch Darr and TDK back to back if you have any doubts (not saying SRK was necessarily bad nor is there any dopubt abt Heath’s act).

    • Baba Ji 11 years ago

      agreed with what you said. tell me from an indian audience POV, you think amitabh hammed in aakhen but srk didnt in darr?

      • Bored 11 years ago

        SRK played it out to the gallery in Darr , Amitabh in Aankhen hardly had a clue about the gallery.

  7. sanket porwal 11 years ago

    I agree here. I have seen this film on TV and have liked it in bits and spurts.

  8. hithere 11 years ago

    I saw it long time back and liked it. I am not sure if I am going to like it or not. If you see in isolation you are not emotionally invested in the movie so it would look silly. I think more than the acting it was irony.

    • Baba Ji 11 years ago

      if you are emotionally invested in any movie,it wont look silly at any time. You are right about the irony part.

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