Quote
''Samjhaa dena chhokre ko--Apnain hi paani mein pighal jaana barf ka muqaddar hota hain!''
--Fatima, character, friend to the lead character's foster-mother
''Is desh ke paas ek dhan zaroor hain jo na kisi desh ke paas tha, na rahega-- Dharm aur Sanskar!''
--An orthodox villager, nobody to anybody
''Mann se raavan jo nikaale, Raam uske mann main hain! Raam tere mann me hain!''
--Mohan Bhagwan, Project Manager, Global Precipitation Measurement, NASA, lead character, played by Shah Rukh Khan.
''Kisi doosre desh mein jaakar seekhnein se pehle khudke desh ko acchese jaan lena chahiye!''
--Geeta, rural literacy evangelist, inspired social worker, strong feminist and lover to Mohan Bhagwan, played by Gayatri Joshi
''Main Cauvery Amma ko saath le jaoonga, tumhe chaahe accha lage, ya bura.''
--Mohan Bhagwan, reminding Geeta that he'd come to fetch his foster mother, Cauvery, and that he'd not go back to his office without her, though Geeta herself is disagreeable to that.
''Apne hi chaukhat ka diya, magar giving light to neighbourj house!''
--Melaram, villager, aspiring hotelier, seeking sponsorship to the USA, commenting on NRIs after realising his role in his own village.
''I know what I stand to gain... I am going places!''
--Mohan Bhagwan, in a very patriotic and nostalgic frame of mind, defending his decision to resign from NASA and settle in his homeland on being asked if he was aware of what he stands to lose by quitting NASA and of the places he could go to by continuing.
''I don't think I need to write a separate paragraph highlighting the message or even the plot of this movie.''
--Laxman Phansalkar, part-time film critic, big-time troublemaker, quite unnecessarily.
Milind Desai Undone, eh?
The Review
I watched Swades a little while after it was released. Lots of people who had watched it told me things about it-- people on MouthShut who wrote reviews on it seemed, in general, to have been overawed by the show. Certain others complained about it's length, some said it lacked effectiveness, and some found it boring. Naturally, I watched Swades with both things in mind-- the good things I'd heard and the bad things, hoping to emerge as the wise judge, the fellow to know which one of them was in fact reporting the truth. What I found was, however, unfortunate. Both were equally correct. I'll elaborate...
Screenplay
In parts, Swades is very impressive. A movie documenting the poverty and stagnation of rural India, Swades is packed with scenes that grip your heart with a cold, desperate fist. I found myself searching for a reason to rub my eyes once or twice, I confess. I'm talking about the encounter between the lead hero Mohan (played by SRK) and a poor, starving tenant, Haridas, pauparized by caste-differences and unfortunate decisions on his part. I'm talking about the brief moment when Mohan watches a child, not older than ten years, selling water at 25p to a glass on a railway platform, begging him to buy one, and then counting his coins, sadly as his train left.
However, there are parts that could have been done better. The chemistry between Mohan and Geeta (played by Gayatri Joshi), the leady lady character, is just as bad as the chemistry between carboxylic esters and Grignard's Reagent... you know what I mean... Morover, the chemistry between Mohan, the NRI who returns from overseas only for his foster-mother, and his foster-mother herself isn't effectively portrayed either.
In parts, it slows down and lets the scene fill the viewer's heart, and in parts zips through the story, leaving the viewer irritated at not being allowed to enjoy the story completely. Mixed--neither too good, nor too bad... sorry, Mr. Govartikar!
Music
Music is an inseparable part of Indian cinema and is usually the index of how popular a movie is likely to get. There isn't any spectacular about Swades' music at all-- in fact quite average is what I'd call it. One can stand songs like--''Yeh taara'' and ''Swades'' (the theme song). I'll even call them ''good''. But the love-songs are positively intolerable! I don't know who sang ''Saavariyaa Saavariyaa'', but whoever it was, was positively doing so at gunpoint--or so she sounded.
Background music is harsh and definitely not enjoyable in some parts, if you ask me. In general, it is monotonous and not alluring. It contributes to the ''why don't they just skip this part and proceed'' element that you associate with scenes in which the character is shown thinking in bed or something.
Cast Performance
Movies like Swades draw most of their power from the performance of the actors. Shah Rukh Khan delivers, of course. I always looked at SRK as “a guy who should be ashamed of wearing clothes like an overgrown teenager” as India Today (or was it Outlook?) puts it. But he proves me wrong here: Shah Rukh Khan can do positively well in sensitive roles. I’ve not watched Veer-Zaara to comment further.
Gayatri Joshi, however, does little justice to her role. Call me an idiot for it, but I somehow, always get involved with the “ambitious woman” character in a movie. So when she cries, I feel sorry and when she’s happy, I feel more interested in the movie. Her performance couldn’t sustain this trait of mine—sorry, poor show. The rest are, I suppose, for their limited roles, good—especially the postmaster and Melaram.
Trivia
I still think the name “Cauvery Amma”was politically motivated—Cauvery and Amma (Jayalalithaw) together have made headline news for inter-state quarrels for a long time, after all! And the movie does touch aspects about how we just sit back and point fingers when we’re faced with a problem and do little to solve it.
Verdict
I can’t say “go watch it” or “don’t be silly—you want to watch THIS?” either. All I can say is—do you have three hours? If you do… you could take the risk…
