Swades Rocks!!. Review on Swades

A couple of weeks back I had stressed the need of making movies with a strong social theme and Iam sure that Swades has answered my prayers and probably one of the best movies I have seen this year.

Ask not what the country can do for you, ask for you can do for the country, this was one of the famous statements which the former US president John F. Kennedy and this is something which I firmly believe in.

I was eagerly waiting for the release of this movie and I knew for sure that Ashutosh will come up with something in this movie and he has for sure not failed me in this regard.

Plot

We have the King Khan playing the role of a NASA employee who works there as the project manager and it was very heartening to see real scenes being shot at the NASA centre. Iam sure now that Indian films are improving.

Suddenly Mohan Bhargava (SRK) realizes that he misses his old aged aunt Kaveriamma. And decides to take a break of 2 weeks and comes back to India. He comes to know that she has left the home which she was residing. He tries to find her whereabouts and finally lands in a place called Charanpur. He meets his aunt and wishes to take her with him back to the US. Kaveriamma wants Gita (Gayatri Joshi) to get married and then come with him and moreover there are certain issues in the village that catches the attention of Mohan.

He undergoes a slow and steady transition and decides to do something for the village and wants the overall condition of the village to improve. As always is the case with Indians we never try to understand things at the first instance. There are problems which Mohan faces in his path but is resilient enough to face this. There is an electricity problem in the village and Mohan takes this as a mission and finally gets power for the village.

Though this might sound and shown in a simple 15 minutes scene in the movie but in reality it does take time and the audience will get a Lagaanish feel to some scenes especially in the later half.

Chemistry between Mohan and Gita

well this movie shows Mohan (SRK) the actor and romance scenes are very well balanced and Ashutosh goes about the real task at hand in a very methodical manner which is what every director should aim for. He never even once deviates from his original story. This is one of those stories which convey its message right from the start till the finish.

Thankfully there are no item numbers in this movie, no smooch scenes and I sincerely thank the director for having made a movie in the real sense as we as audience are just tired of the seeing those everyday in the MTV and Channel V.

Star performances

Well when Ashutosh in his recent interview to the rediff site had told that he wanted ?SRK the actor and not SRK the star?, I was pondering as to what that actually meant and after seeing the movie Iam sure about of what he meant when he said that. SRK has performed the role of Mohan to perfection and surely deserves to get a pat at his back for it.

The scenes of SRK and his childhood nanny seem very real. Gayatri surely is the face of the year for me simply because of the way she carries herself in the movie and though she has done over 200 ads she seems to be at ease when it comes to facing the camera (silver screen).

Dialogues and cinematography

Dialogues by K.P.Saxena are very well written and apt for the story which is a welcome change after the string of second grade movies such as Rok Sako to Rok lo, Aitraaz, to name a few have had sad dialogues.

Cinematography is surely of the first rate and costumes of both SRK and Gayatri compliments the role which they are playing.

Songs

Well ARR has done a magic with the background score especially the scenes that are been shot in NASA. The songs such as Pal Pal hai Bhari, Yuhi Chala Chala, Dekho Na could have been repeated as it unusually takes time in the movie and this probably is the cons in the movie.

Probably the song of the year for me will be the title song of the movie sang by ARR with a background of Shenai and complimented by Lyrics by Javed Akhtar is just a treat to the ears.

Yeh Jo des hai tera

kabhi toot nahi sakta

Pros and Cons

Pros of this movie is the way the whole concept has been brought about, the star performances have been awesome.

Cons could be that the movies tends to get preachy at times and the number of songs that are there could have been avoided but Iam not at all complaining at all as it is one of the well made movies which I have seen this year for sure.

Final Word

Well this movie is a sure treat to all the viewers though it can get preachy at times and no wonder not many film pundits did not give it a good rating simply because such movies do not get credit in India which is understood.

Give this movie ½ for this movie and is surely watch able.

This will be my last review for the year and hope to write more and more reviews next year and till then I wish you a very happy weekend, a happy x-mas and rocking New Year 2005.