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Producer/s:
Ashutosh Gowariker and UTV
Director: Ashutosh Gowariker
Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Gayatri
Joshi, Kishori Bilal, Mohan, Raja Awasthi,
Smit Sheth, Vishwa S. Badola, Rajesh Balwani,
Lekh Tandon
Music: A.R. Rahman
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar |
| Swades
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| Swades
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 The
fact that Ashutosh Gowariker's, 'Lagaan' turned out
to be one of the biggest hits of 2001 and also won an
Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Language Film category
made people await the release of 'Swades' with bated
breath. Would the director be able to repeat his success
story? This film is the real acid test for him. So has
he made it or not?
Well, not quite. Unlike
'Lagaan', this is not a commercial film. To begin with
'Swades' is painfully long. But to give credit to the
director one has to add that a more competent editor
could have made a brilliant film out of this one. This
means at least 40 minutes of the film needs to be snipped
off! Although set in a rural area, the director has
managed to stay away from cheap titillating sequences
involving village belles swaying their hips in the fields.
But we have to add that the film has not been well researched
and there is a lack of attention to details. It makes
us wonder if this is the same director who gave us 'Lagaan'!
The story. Mohan Bhargava
(Shah Rukh), a NASA scientist develops guilt pangs suddenly
for neglecting his childhood nanny, Kaveri Amma (Kishori
Ballal), of 12 years. On an impulse he flies to India
straight into a fictional village, Charanpur, in U.P.
Kaveri lives there with a stern young school teacher,
Geeta (Gayatri Joshi) and her kid brother (Smit Shah).
A few supposedly non-humorous
encounters with a couple of village comedians after
which Mohan is exposed to the ugly side of this village
like erratic electric supply, casteism; these are some
of the problems troubling the village inhabitants. Mohan
being the superhero has a solution for this.
Here Gowarikar stoops
to the typical Bollywood filmmaker level. A song, and
sermon are used to sort it out. Now Mohan decides to
channelize his energies into doing his bit for Charanpur.
The songs actually come as a welcome relief from the
boring narrative.
Director Ashutosh Gowariker
deserves credit for making Shah Rukh Khan look the character,
Mohan Bhargava. But somehow Shah Rukh cannot break away
from the Johar and Chopra mould and ends up looking
a bit of a misfit in the rural setting. However, that
does not take from the fact that Shah Rukh has put in
a sincere effort and is appearing genuine.
Newcomer Gayatri Joshi,
as Gita, the village schoolteacher, and Mohan's love
interest, does not look the part. She looks too model
sort with her perfectly manicured nails and the way
in which she carries herself.
While some may hail
this film as a masterpiece, yet others would like to
refer to it as archaic and regressive. The latter is
the verdict of the masses. According to them, it could
very well pass off as one of those social awareness
documentaries played just before the start of a feature
film in theatres. And while we wait for the box-office
verdict, why don’t you go watch the movie and
be the judge!
Bollyvista.com
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