Wikipedia

Dasharatham

Dasharatham is a 1989 Indian Malayalam-language drama film written by A. K. Lohithadas and directed by Sibi Malayil. It stars Mohanlal, Rekha, Murali, Nedumudi Venu, Sukumaran, Karamana Janardanan Nair, Sukumari, Kaviyoor Ponnamma, K. P. A. C. Lalitha, and Jayabharathi. The music was composed by Johnson. The movie deals with the subject of traditional surrogacy.[1] The film was released on October 28 1989, on the occasion of Diwali.

Dasharatham
Poster
Directed bySibi Malayil
Written byA. K. Lohithadas
Produced bySaga Appachan
StarringMohanlal
Rekha
CinematographyVenu
Edited byL. Bhoominathan
Music byJohnson
Production
company
Saga Films
Distributed bySaga Films
Release date
  • 28 October 1989 (1989-10-28)
Running time
157 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageMalayalam

Dasharatham is widely regarded as one of the best films from the writer-director duo Lohithadas-Sibi Malayil. Lohithadas won the Kerala Film Critics Award for Best Scriptwriter. Dasharatham was the first Malayalam film officially dubbed and released in Marathi as Mazaa Mulga (Meaning: My son).[2][3][4]

Plot

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Rajiv Menon is born into riches and is an alcoholic with absolutely no aim in life. With no parents to guide him and with the family business being run by a trusted manager Pillai, Rajiv is free to waste his life and money on drinks and debauchery. A close friend Scariah with his wife and children come over to stay at Rajiv's palatial house for a week. Soon Rajiv gets attached to one of Scariah's children and decides that he wants to have a child of his own, but neither does he want to get married nor does he want to adopt a baby.

One of his good friends, guide and philosopher Dr. Hameed, advises Rajiv to find a surrogate for artificial insemination. They come across a former football player Chandradas who is in dire need of money for an operation, his wife Annie agrees to give birth to Rajiv's child through traditional surrogacy. Both Chandradas and Annie aren't happy about the decision – it's clearly a desperate solution to their financial needs.

At first Annie just wants to get over with the 9-month pregnancy period, hand over the baby and move on with life. The usually rash and immature Rajiv is now a changed man, reading up books on pregnancy, childbirth and making sure that Annie stays in an atmosphere that is cheerful, beautiful and is taken care of by nurses, provided with the best diet and so on to ensure the birth of a healthy and happy baby. He is completely taken up by the thought of having a child, the thought of finally having someone he can call his own. But by the time of the child's birth, and also being its biological mother,[5] Annie gets emotionally attached to the life that is taking shape in her womb and refuses to part with the baby and starts to become extremely selfish.

Finally Rajiv hands over the child to Annie very reluctantly. In the climax, Rajiv asks the maid Maggie, whether every mother has an attachment to her child like Annie has. Rajiv asks Maggie if she can love him as if she would her own son. Maggie is dumbfounded while Rajiv walks off emotionally distraught and in tears without waiting for an answer.

Cast

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Soundtrack

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All lyrics are written by Poovachal Khader; all music is composed by Johnson

No.TitleArtist(s)Length
1."Chinchilam Thenmozhi"M. G. Sreekumar 
2."Mandaara Cheppundo" (Shuddha Dhanyasi)M. G. Sreekumar, K. S. Chithra 

References

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  1. ^ "Under-appreciated Malayalam Films Of The 80s". Film Companion. 4 February 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  2. ^ "Dasharatham". IMDb.
  3. ^ "- YouTube". YouTube.
  4. ^ Menon, Neelima (December 2019). "From 'Dasharatham' to 'Kireedam', parenting archetypes in Lohithadas films". The News Minute.
  5. ^ "What is Surrogacy and How Does It Work?".
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