Finally,after 3 years,Ashutosh Gowariker,the director of the superhit and Oscar nominated film ?Lagaan? is back with his latest film ?Swades?.
If his previous film was set in the historic era,then his latest film shows us how India,as a country is developing.It is a very different and daring subject,because usually such kind of movies do not succeed at the box-office,but wait,in this movie Shahrukh Khan ?hai na?!With Bollywood`s king`s presence in the movie,will the film succeed?
Will it set the same records as ?Lagaan? did?Will Ashutosh Gowariker,have a second hit to his credit,after ?Lagaan?.Will SRK,who has had two hits ?Main Hoon Na? and ?Veer-Zaara?,to his credit this year,be successful with this film too?
THE FILM:
UTV Motion Pictures.?Swades?,directed by Ashutosh Gowariker,stars Shahrukh Khan,Gayatri Joshi,Kishori Ballal,Makrand Deshpande,Dayashankar Pandey, Lekh Tandon and Master Smit Seth.This is one of the most awaited film of the year because it brings back the team behind the superhit ?Lagaan?,and that too,with a superstar like Shahrukh Khan.
THE CHARACTERS AND PERFORMANCES:
1.Mohan Bhargava(Shahrukh Khan):Mohan Bhargava,is a very successful project manager in NASA who is doing a very big project but circumstances change his life and he starts on a mission to develop the rural areas of India.Shahrukh Khan has,as usual done an excellent job in this film.As Mohan Bhargava,he is very convincing and he has acted well throughout the film,showing the change in the character of Mohan Bhargava,who used to look down upon India but finally started to understand the ways and the culture of his homeland.This performance will surely give him lots of awards nominations and will win him lots of applause and praises from the critics.
2.Gita(Gayatri Joshi):Gita is very much a typical Indian girl who believes that India without cultures is equal to a body without soul.She is a teacher in the school in village,which was set up by her parents,before they passed away.Gayatri Joshi is not that kind of a scantily clad newcomer,whom we see usually every Friday.She has a very simple and innocent face,which is rarely found,nowadays.Though,this is her first film,she still comes out with a very confident performance and she looks surely very promising.Of course,she needs some improvement in her acting skills but overall,she has performed well.
Kishori Ballal,as Mohan`s nanny,Kaveriamma,is fantastic and she looks exactly what she is playing.Dayashankar Pandey,as Mela Ram,who wants to start an American restaurant with the help of Mohan is wonderful!Rajesh Vivek,who plays the role of a postman,lends able support.The child artiste,Smit Seth,who plays Gita`s younger brother gives a brilliant performance and also looks very cute.
THE STORY:
Mohan Bhargava,is a very successful project manager in NASA,who is currently working on a rainfall monitoring project which will get the best weather information,with full accuracy.He also planst to launch a satellite in space,but when he remembers his parents,who passed away years ago,he goes back to his homeland for a short visit to find his nanny.
After lots of searching,he finds his nanny,Kaveriamma,out,in her village.He starts living there,in the village,where he also finds out his childhood friend Gita,who is now a teacher in the school in the same village,which was set up by her parents.
Mohan finds Indians of the rural areas very amusing and looking at their lifestyles,he feels as if he has entered into some alien land.He feels that these people in India can never get ahead and they can never be as successful as the people in America are.
He finds the Indians to be too old-fashioned.Gita thinks completely opposite.She feels that India doesn`t need to be developed and it is absolutely fine,the way it is.Mohan degrades India whereas Gita always tries to prove that India is the best.
Slowly,slowly,Mohan starts taking his homeland seriously,something at which he used to laugh earlier.He starts to understand the people of the village and their mentalities. He makes friends,over there,such as Mela Ram,who wants to start an American restaurant and the postman,Nivaran.
Mohan thinks of introducing electricity in such areas,and he succeeds in doing so.He starts developing the rural areas of India and gets very much involved in these activities,but at the cost of the very big project he has been assigned to do for NASA.
There,at America,his job is waiting and here,in India the people have all their expectations on Mohan,that one day they will be more developed than ever,with his help.What should Mohan do?Go to America and carry out the researches,he was doing or help HIS OWN people?
THE WORK OF THE CREW:
First things first,this film has no love-making scenes,no item numbers and no stupid romantic stuff,something of which we have terribly got used to,so don`t expect some 3 hours entertainment from this film.It is a very different attempt from the director Ashutosh Gowariker,in which he definitely succeeds.He conveys his message,beautifully.The film is not a drama kind of a film where you can single out a scene,and say that,?this scene was amazing,etc.etc.?.
The film itself moves at a slow place,establishing its characters,and showing their thinkings.The scenes where Mohan is discovering India are good,though they drag a times but they are definitely not a waste of time.The scenes,where Mohan and Gita constantly argue with each other and where Mohan wants to take his nanny to USA but Gita doesn`t want her to go,are well-executed.
The film gets interesting from where the Dadaji,an old citizen of the village,before dying encourages Mohan to keep up his good work.That is one scene,which can be singled out as one of the best scene of the film.The climax is also well-shot,though there is no drama,as there was in ?Lagaan?,but as I earlier said,this is not a drama film.Screenplay is fine.
The characters are very well sketched and you can relate with Mohan`s character very easily,whether it be his criticism about India or his change of heart,but there are some flaws.Why does Mohan,after such a long time thinks to go back to India and find out her nanny,when since so many years,he never thought of it?Editing could have been more crisper.The film drags a lot,especially in the first half,and the film can be trimmed down from many parts.
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