Swades........We. The People....

Tight Close up of a Shahrukh Khan with minimal and just enough expressions on his face..A NASA backdrop , the Globe with camera focussed on India and A R Rehman creating magic in background with "Yeh jo Des hai tera , Swades hai Tera"...

The Background score playing the theme of Swades and a glimpse from the window of an Aircraft...just when u are abt to land at ur home land.....

"Aaaaaaaaayoooooooooooo re.......Aaaaaaaaaa Yoooo re.....and then Lost NRI drives thru the small lanes BACK TO HOME in his Caravan..."

Uffff.... touchy enough to melt even a semi Patriotic Indian... Well as u guys wld have figured out, this post is abt movie Swades but a few clarifications before u either close the window or get intrested and read further

1. I am not an Indian holding a morcha against Brain drain
2. This Blog is not gonna have any senti patriotic stuff
3. Its more to appreciate the Film craft of Ashutosh Gowarikar and his art of Story telling

The more I see this movie, the more I fall in Love with it.. I have a friend who is also madly in Love with it and we go on discussing it every time we catch up... Well am definitely nt trying to step in to shoes of the Khaleed Mehmoods of Bollywood..Am not a Film Critic/Analyst but this is more from the Perspective of a commom man , who just likes to spend some more thought on the Films he likes...

Swades starts with a perfect flow and plot... But towards the end when a NRI (Never Returning Indian ? ) leaves behind his Green Card, Pent house, Jaguar and career at NASA for his home land, for his own people does not sounds convincing to lot of people...Come on after all its the U S of A is a Country Run by Uncle Sam..The Land of Opportunities..???...Hmmmmm But I guess there are Bunch of such guys...

Ok coming back to the Film craft , each character has an amazing amount of depth to it.. Something u find very rare in Indian movies.. It can be compared with the likes of Sholay where even the smallest characters were well defined and with a Purpose tagged to their presence..

Shahrukh Khan has done a great job (or may be Ashutosh has made him do it)... He is no KKKKK Kiran or PPPP Paro in this movie..No Overacting ..Infact those subtle expressions were a huge fit for the character.."Mohan bhargav".. The Character looks like a typical Phoren return - Preferes to drink mineral water and shower in his Caravan- but the time spent in a Village brings a gradual change and he is seen sleeping on the Charpoy and bathing at a Well in backyard in later scenes..Thts the Brilliance of Ashutosh Gowarikar..the change in attitude of the character is blended beautifully in the scenes...Also a guy with Apple Laptop ( Lot of real tech guys prefer a Apple Macintosh instead of the easy to use Windows ).. Just a couple of Jeans and few shirts used all thru movie..

A Big Hurray for Gayatri Joshi.. I had a Big Crush on her..The way she stands up before Shahrukh and delivers a confident performance scene after scene takes a lot of stuff from a debutant...The Scene where she ties Dhoti for Shahrukh is just PERFECT..a Simple, Cunning , Naughty peice of Table in the background and characters again at their best Subtle expressions... The Song picturised later when they both admit their feelings is also so real..No Running around trees...No Latkas and Jhatkas..its just the way a mature, well educated couple would behave in a relationship... Also the way her character believes in working at a Grass Root level trying to make things better..Considering herself as a part of the system and responsibile for the entire system to work, instead of just being a Lazy Critic, sets a FINE example for us to improve things in our own Country ... Instead of just cribbing abt the Goverments and Politics,we need to take things in our hand and lead the way ...

Mohan Bhargav presents a very bitter and honest view about India..one he gains post his exposure at International Arena... Whenever we get stuck in an argument we come up with our last shield of Culture, Values and a Glorious past....But we need to be more Honest in scrutinising ourselves..

Kaveri Amma was just perfect with all her Motherly Bliss and a typical mother like scheming mind - (Expert in trying to get a Guy and Gal hooked to one another ). The Ease and Simplicity with which she explains a Satellite to fellow villagers ( some thng which a NASA Proj Mgr fails to) is really splendid... Lets face it !!! Lot of us "Educated" proffesionals tend to make things sound Savvy and hi tech instead of SImple and Understandable...Or may be shows the state of our minds where we look at everthing in a Complex manner instead of the simplicity of a really educated person...

Then comes the Post Master who says "Hum wahi Karenge jo hame sahi lagta hai"..the details in his character can be seen the way he keeps his neck stiff through out the movie..even when he rides triples on the moped..

and yes tht brings me to the typical "Melaram"... one more Indian desperate to reach the "Land of Opportunities".. and the way he changes his mind in one of the later scenes..he says "Apne Ghar ka Diya and giving Light to Neighbour's house "...

Well guys I can just go on and on writing abt this movie.. I just wanted to Pen a few words for this movie. If I can trigger few more thoughts abt the movie in ur minds and draw a different perspective to look at the movie then..MISSION ACCOMPLISHED...

Thanks to Mr Ashutosh Gowarikar and Swades team ...