This is something I had written around 3 years back when SWADES released. Recently digged it out from my Yahoo account. Enjoi maadi :-)



The story is quite obvious from the promos shown on tv.Shah rukh(Mohan bargava) is a Project manager at NASA( thankfully shot really at NASA hq,not at mumbai filmcity or ramoji filmworld).He returns to India to see his nanny Kaveriamma and then many incidents take place which cause a drastic transition in him.The subsequent developments form the plot of the movie.....

The best thing about Swades is the Indian element in the movie.You can sense and smell India rite from when Mohan lands at IGI airport,New Delhi.We have the ubiquitous dhoti clad villager, the sarpanch,etc - reminiscences of a bygone era of Indian cinema.The film is mostly shot in brown giving us a deep sense of the rugged Indian village...

Ashutosh Gowariker has delved seriously into the problems of any common Indian.His strong obsession with the Indian village life is present in each and every frame of the movie-the landless villager and the child who sells water for a pittance at the railway station being some examples.These images bring a sense of nationalism to any Indian watchin the movie...

Ashutosh filmmaking reminds me of the early 80's school of malayalam cinema spearheaded by Bharatan and Padmarajan.He has a story which he deals starightforwardly without any unnecessary subplots...

The biggest problem with the film is its length.The song "pal pal he bhaari" could have been easily dumped into the editors bin...The obsession of the director with the theme becomes a little bit tiresome during the post interval portions....

The best thing to happen to Swades is Shah rukh khan.He gildes through the role and acts with utmost perfection never going overboard.The scene in which he runs from the turbine to the reservoir(executed in one shot i think) completely defines the dedication of the man..

Songs are good but the background music doesnt reach the league of previous rahman classics like Lagaan or Dilse...The ladylead,Gayathri joshi is good and looks quite composed..The supporting cast is also realy good .

This review wont b complete without a mention about the title card.The names of heavyweights like Ashutosh,A R Rahman,Javed akhtar are written in the same font size and design as that of any other technician and this in a nutshell shows us the meaning of the first three words of the preamble to our constitution-"We,the people"

I would rate Swades an 8 on 10 because it has something to tell us all-esp to ppl like us who wait to catch the next flight to the US