== Quoth a child, “My father,
What among the myriad things men own,
And of the thousand wares they hoard,
What in this great façade of life,
Is dearest to their hearts?
So dear that even He canst not separate them both?”
Quoth father…
“Their eyes, my son, their eyes!
Look how sparkling thine glow!”
“No, no,” quoth son, “no papa,
Not eyes!
For if the Lord were to stand before me,
I would never peer nor gaze;
I would but close them shut,
And blinded bend to bow!”
- Laxman Phansalkar ==
== Life is a con. For one, it is a friend, for the other but an acquaintance, to a third a mission or to some other, a foe. There is no one way to live, no single talisman to happiness.
Yes, there is but one thing that is common to all of us; us men and women bound to different paths of life. We will all meet in the End. ==
== The Review ==
“SHWAAS” is the first ever Marathi movie I have chanced to see. Some inexplicable misfortune has been cast on regional movies of my state; people like you and I seem apathetic about their own tongue! But self-esteem and self-determination is not our issue of discussion just now. Let us review the movie!
== The Story ==
SHWAAS is a story of a very different kind. There is no plot, per se, no suspense nor is their any surprising end or twist in the tale. The story begins, proceeds and ends in the same one direction. So Shwaas is not a movie one watches for thrill. It is not a movie one can expect some light entertainment from. There is no glamour (unfortunately also read as sex), no romance and no complications. To those who want some of this, Shwaas is not an ideal choice at all!
SHWAAS is the story of an old man from the country side and his grandson. The child is a victim of a rare retinal cancer; and to save his life, he must loose his eyes, have them taken out! The boy is but eight years or so, standing before a dreadful disease and a life of darkness, asked to embrace one of them. The movie shows the initial shock, the helplessness and the search for divine intervention that follows when someone learns of such an appalling future. Then, it flows into the battle in the old man’s mind: How do I reveal this to the child? And finally, as flawlessly as it begins, it ends with first, the turmoil and weakening mental strength of the old man and child, then the final trauma… the story is emotionally draining!
The movie ends in a fashion that is worth mentioning here. This little boy—seven or eight years of age—full of playful bubbling energy has just lost his eyes. His frolicking laughter muffled and gagged by handicap, the boy returns home, crossing a river by boat. Children of his village run to receive him; a group that he ought to have been a part of, running and scuttling… But he is blind, alienated from the pleasures of life. And how does he welcome his new life of darkness and sightless sounds?
The boy stands and applauds! He claps to the glory of his life! Which is still with him!
== Cast Performance ==
ARUN Nalawade, as the old man from the village, was enthralling and brilliant. He portrays the helpless and insecure face of a rustic villager, his grief on learning his grandson’s fate, the mental turmoil as he tries to keep the child in high spirits, slowly coming to the point of revelation—everything—with complete flawlessness. He takes his art to the next level: the movie is an audience with the old man himself!
ASHWIN Chitale, as the unfortunate child is unimaginably brilliant. In a National Award winning performance, this young child plays the role of the young boy who suffers from a painful disease, who learns he will be blinded for life because of it and who has to face the prospect whether he is prepared for it or not, in a style I can find few words for! He is a prodigy!
SANDEEP Kulkarni, as the oncologist who operates on the child, is again sublime. The entire movie demands great skill from him; it must have been a phenomenal task to play the role of the doctor who must inform a frightened old man from a village of the terrible fate of his grandson, who must also reveal to the child his eyes shall no longer be with him and who has to still be strong and calm till the final moment. He is a class act himself.
AMRITA Subash plays the role of a social worker who volunteers to assist the old man and the child through their ordeal with fate. Her role is delicate, and she has handled it perfectly. Wonderful job, ma’am!
Everybody in the entire cast has performed brilliantly. Their acting, their actions, their gestures, everything takes you to the world where all this happened: the entire movie is actually an audience with these characters. They take you into their lives and you live the characters yourself. Sublime!
== The Verdict ==
DIRECTED by Sandeep Sawant, Swaas is a flawless movie. In fact, it is not a movie at all! It is a huge, draining emotional experience. The viewer will weep heavily as the old man battles his tears and tries to force an encouraging smile to his grandson…
There are two questions, however, that come to my mind. The first: Will Shwaas win an Oscar? And the second, currently most relevant, is this. Will you watch it?
