About the Film “Swades”, We the people

A few words about the film director.

Ashutosh Gowariker is an Indian actor, writer, producer and director.Ashutosh started his career as an actor in Ketan Mehta’s Holi in 1984.He has also acted in several films.No Indian can forget his film Lagaan(2001) which was nominated for an Academy award for the best foreign Language film.Being an Indian i have become a die hard fan of his direction and screenplays.

courtesy : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashutosh_Gowarikar

This film, Swadesh starts with the introduction of Mohan Bhargav (played by Shahrukh khan) Project manager in NASA for building an important satellite to monitor our planet’s weather.Then the film slowly moves into the path of what it was supposed to be. Mohan as a child was very much attached to his nanny, Kaveri amma(Kishori Ballal). In the midst of his materialistic life in US he feels a sudden urge to visit the only person he could relate to, his nanny. hence, he starts off to India.

After reaching Delhi he finds that his nanny was residing in an old-age home and later taken back by Geetha (Gayatri joshi) to her village,Charanpur. Having learnt this, he heads off to that village. “yuhi chala..” song during his journey to the village best describes the traditional values of our country.(great score!!!)

He is dumb struck to see a Village without proper electricity and basic amenities. He persuades his nanny to come with him .But, Geetha who had brought her to the village is reluctant to leave such a wonderful person who had supported her and her younger brother after they lost their parents. She also happens to be Mohan’s childhood friend. Puzzled Mohan decides to spend some more days in the village hoping to win his nanny back. In the meantime, he finds that Geetha is helping educate the kids in the village. He is moved by her unselfish act and decides to help her in getting all working kids to school and also prevents the school being taken over by the village panchayat.

The lights of the postmaster Nivaran (Rajesh Vivek) and the cook “Mela naam”(Dayashankar Pandey) characters is a pleasure to watch. They bring in some light moments into the film. In due course they take up important roles in bringing people together.

The film gets a move here. Mohan helps in removing the social evils like untouchability and racialism that has long been prevailing in that village. “yeh tara oh tara….” make one think and also to tap his feet. One of my all time favourites .

The director had very carefully chosen his crew. Every single character in the film justified their roles aptly. All are worth a mention.

While visiting a nearby village, Mohan witnesses the poverty of the families and his thought to improve their economic condition strengthens. He empathizes with their helplessness which makes him prolong his stay and strengthens his determination to help them. He plans to improve the condition of his village. He starts with a plan to generate electricity from a stream of water from the near by hills and succeeds in it with the help of the villagers. He gains the respect all, including geetha.

The stage play score “Pal Pal hai bhaari…” is a top notch instrumental one.
Mohan receives a call from his friend in NASA that the project is in its final stage and his presence is a must. Having no other option he half-halfheartedly leaves to America leaving with memories of the village where he found true and unconditional love and learnt the social and traditional values of his country.

yet another song which arouses the patriotism in us..”yeh jo desh hai mera…” sung by A.R.Rahman is really touching. The music and the way the instrument,”shehnai” is used in this song is brilliant.

There are no words to praise the director for making such a great movie. I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it. A film which made my eyes watery and also to think about my country. Many of my friends felt the same. I don’t know whether i have justified the movie to what it deserves.

A.R.Rahman’s music is heart filling and makes us empathize the situation. No words to praise the background score. It is one of those must-have-seen movies. This is one of my all time favourite and i deeply feel that it deserves full credit.

Hope this blog will make u watch the movie !