FILM REVIEW: SWADES (2004)

Director: Ashutosh Gowariker
Producer: Ashutosh Gowariker
Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Gayatri Joshi, Kishori Ballal, Master Smit Seth, Daya Shankar Pandey, Rajesh Vivek, Smit Sheth, Lekh Tandon and Makrand Deshpande
Music: A R Rahman
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar

Radio Sargam Rating: 6.5/10

Background
Ashutosh Gowariker has found life too taxing after Lagaan which reached the final round of the Oscars. His earlier films Pehla Nasha and Baazi were not just bad films, but box office disasters as well. Gowariker now renews his old time association with co-star Shah Rukh Khan from the television series Circus shown on the Indian television network Doordarshan in 1989. Khan also had made a special appearance in Pehla Nasha.

Synopsis:
If Lagaan was a period film, Swades is set in contemporary India with the modern day patriotism taking over. The film is about Mohan Bhargava (Shah Rukh Khan) who works as a project manager with NASA.

Mohan is working on a rainfall monitoring project called Global Precipitation Measurement which can get accurate weather predictions and has finished the first phase of the project and is all set to start the second important one which will launch a satellite into space as well. That is when he misses his parents on their death anniversary. On impulse he returns like many Indians with a singular purpose - searching for lost strings. In Mohan’s case he wants to find his childhood nanny Kaveriamma (Kishori Ballal). She represents motherhood and is the only family for him. She is more than a nanny for him and he locates her at Charanpur. He also finds Gita (Gayatri Joshi) who is taking care of Kaveriamma and falls in love with her. Gita is a teacher in the village school which has been set up by her parents who are now no more. Kaveriamma is her only family apart from her younger brother.

So while Mohan wants to take Kaveriamma with him to America, Gita wants her to stay. And that’s where the trouble starts.From dealing with the American form of democracy… Mohan now deals with the Panchayat in the village, the sarpanch and the works. The caste system is prevalent and determines the social status as is still found in rustic India. And that is a big eyesore for him. He slowly gets involved into the activities of the village and works towards getting electricity for the village – like in the case of the recently released Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost.

Mela Ram (Dayashankar Pandey who played Goli in Lagaan), wants to start a chain of restaurants in America and wants Mohan to help him out. The local postmaster Nivaran (Rajesh Vivek who played Ghooran in Lagaan), prefers to do things the traditional way… but is a great help to Mohan. Mohan realises that the children of the village hold the key to the nation’s future and puts his scientific temperament after accommodating the societal complexities within the framework and coerces the village dwellers to partake in the betterment of their lives.

The old man of the village Dadaji (Lekh Tandon) before dying tells Mohan to continue the good work the way he has given electricity to the village. This could easily be the Lagaan hangover, which had the same thought process. But while Lagaan saw the triumph of human spirit, Swades talks about how technological advancement is much more important than just having a strong will with no direction. And now it is time for Mohan to return to finish his project. He does so. But can he come back to homeland or swades? Clue: When SRK came back to India in Pardes, can he do so in Swades as well?

Critique:
While Lagaan had taken digs at the British and had shades of jingoism through the medium of comedy, Swades does not endeavour to hoof on an identical path.

Swades is sagacious and stimulating cinema about an erudite Indian who like many others goes abroad in search of greener grass and greenbacks but is then made aware of his identity and roots and stays backs.

The film has a smidgen of Manoj Kumar’s Purab Aur Paschim which dealt with a similar issue when the brain drain was prevalent in India and many were lured by western living. However unlike what Mr Bharat aka Manoj Kumar did, Swades has been shot more in India and gives more about our country to the people of the world.

Swades undertakes to resolve apprehensions of the rural Indian. It is a verity that India lives in the villages and hence Swades is set in a colourful and assorted milieu.

The first half of the film drags though. The screenplay does not move very briskly at times and hence it becomes tedious. Sorry for the comparison, but Lagaan moved fast. There was a lot of pace in the film. Here, this film has no kiss, fight or an item number. In that case, the screenplay had to be tighter. It should have been a shorter film. Agreed that it takes a while to establish characters, but maybe some characters could have been less.

The film is good and wonderfully innovative for today’s times, but lacks commercial value for the hoi polloi in India.

All performances are top class. Shah Rukh excels underplaying himself well. You hardly find traces of SRK in the film. The designer clothes have vanished and he’s worn simple stuff selected by Oscar award winning designer Bhanu Atahiya for him. SRK playing Mohan Bhargav and not himself also adds value to his character. But then one wonders why he has not put on a small American accent even though he has been staying there for 12 years according to the film. SRK was there for 22 years in a Pakistani jail in Veer Zaara and remember he had manicured nails there.

Anyway, Gayatri Joshi who did an ad with SRK before, stuns you with her simplicity and beauty. She reminds one of Sonali Bendre so much and makes a good debut.
Kishori Ballal is good, and Daya Shankar Pandey and Rajesh Vivek too are quite adequate.

The cinematography by Mahesh Aney is fine, but not too spectacular. The music is a highlight of the film and we loved it. The dialogues too are lovely at times. Mela Ram’s dialogue towards the climax where he talks of how a bulb in one man’s house is lighting the house of the neighbour but not his own, is a subtle metaphor which tells the story of brain-drain well. Dunno, whether the film could collect good money in India, but yes, it is a must for every NRI (Non Returning Indian).

Music:
About A R Rahman’s music, it just grows on you. It has been growing on me for a long time. The song Yeh Tara Woh Tara shot at night instantly reminds me of Mitwa, but then Udit Narayan is accompanied by a group of kiddies. You can even find a smattering of the Chale Chalo flavour in some parts of the film. The Pal Pal Hai Bhari song to depict a Ramleela sequence again reminds you cinematically of Radha Kaise Na Jale as it moved the narrative ahead, but has a different feel to it once the songs sets in to you. A song in Swades also seeks inspiration from the song from Naam which talks of how the country is missing its son… Yeh jo des hai mera sounds like Chitti Aayee Hai…Frankly, there is no harm if you get inspired by your own self like the theme of the film which says that Indianness can be absorbed and repeated, but take what is good from the west too, but let the final product be still Indian.

Trivia:
This may sound very strange… but believe me the last two Shah Rukh Khan movies are about nannies. While Preity Zinta comes to India from Pakistan to immerse the ashes of her nanny in Veer Zaara, SRK returns to India to find his nanny in Swades.

Reviewed by: Qamar

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