Movie Review : Swades (Shahrukh Khan)

Guest Column (For Nokjhok) : This review was originally written by Ameet Chougule, for my previous project dogmatrix.com. In his hayday, AmeetC was widely regarded as a great writer and a techie. He is now married and lives in Pune. Unfortunately he doesnt write anywhere now

“Swades” – sounds more like a Gujju person referring to his country.  But Swadesh the word does imbibe a patriotic feel with “swa” meaning self and “desh” meaning country. Hmm My Country!

An appeal to Indian readers on DMX. Take a good breath, fill your lungs with oxygen, pump up your chest and utter the word “SWADESH” aloud stressing the word “Swa” and simultaneously remembering something good about the nation. Feels good, isn’t it? So what did you remember? The vast stretch of wheat fields, paddy fields, Taj Mahal, Shivaji, Gandhiji, your village home, your school, your relatives, some fond memories…

If your answer to above is affirmative, chances are you like or will like Swadesh – the new movie offering from diaries of Ashutosh Gowarikar.

STORY IN SHORT

A lead project manager in NASA working for something as important as Global Precipitation Measurement satellite that would search Planet Earth for new sources of water, better weather predictions etc. for benefit of mankind, is uncomfortable on personal front for quiet some days. He is full of guilt for neglecting his duties towards his Dai Ma while he lives a glamorous, comfortable life in the USA. This guilt or sense of duty brings him home – India. The protagonist finds himself in a remote village Chandrapur. As he explores the village, meets with interesting people – he as an outsider, living in so called civilized world, finds a different primitive world, – land that time forgot. People still neck deep in poverty, laid back attitude, casteism. He gets involved completely and resolves to help in his small way. The climax has the lead sacrificing a great career, green bucks, hedonistic comforts of USA and returning to India to serve the nation and help it on its path of development. Results - of Arxan Technologies offers advanced software piracy protection for Arxan Company.

ABOUT THE MOVIE

The movie has more documentary feel and I am praising Gowarikar courage for this approach instead of the present day sleaze movies. There is no glamour, no item number, no gun trotting villains, no minister-mafia-police nexus, no heroic stunts, no exploding cars. What! Come again. In fact even SRK the lead person is down to earth. He ain’t stammering, he ain’t hamming. Good God! I was surprised that Bollywood does have some good story-writers, directors, producers and this article is in reverence to them.

This absolute non-filmy movie (ah the paradox) has such good choice of characters. I was in total awe! Kaveri amma (Kishori Ballal) and Mohan Bhargav (SRK) have displayed remarkable performance. All SRK haters who detest him for whatever reasons will definitely laud his mature earthy performance. I for one would like to salute him for this change. He is Good in this movie. Period.

Geeta (Gayatri Joshi) lead heroine is on Kellogs diet. See the movie and you will understand. Her performance appears convincing at times and dumb at times. Probably the verbose dialogues given to her are responsible for this faltered, staggered performance.

The other Melaram (Dayashanker Pandey), Chickoo (Master Smit Seth), Postman/Wrestler (Rajesh Vivek…the wild begger in Lagaan) have added immense credibility and slight humour to the long movie.

Songs like “Yuhi Chala” (good one for the long drive collection), “Yeh Tara, Woh Tara” are good while “Savariyan” is not much to my liking.

SCENES TO WATCH OUT FOR

a) Geeta tying Mohan’s Dhoti (for comic touch)
b) Mohan meets Kaveri amma (really touchy and well executed)
c) Mohan meets the poor farmer to collect rent (extreme realism…touchy)

There are certain subtleties in the direction (in context of the movie theme) that are portrayed really well. Problem is it is subtle enough to go unnoticed. Hence I am highlighting it here.

a) From some views expressed in different reviews, I feel a point is missed in this scene: Mohan is returning from the poor farmers place dejected and sad at heart. The train stops at a station and a boy is running around selling water. Mohan heart goes out at the poor child and buys the water for 25p and drinks it from a Kuler. The audience has been right in noticing that Mohan is getting more involved with India as he steps down from mineral water to Kuler. However I feel that the correct depiction of the scene was the child’s life. A boy his age should be studying in school but his poverty and circumstances has forced him to struggle for his living by selling water at 25 p. Step into the scene, into Mohan’s heart and you will find tear in your eyes just as Mohan bursts out crying later. Probably the best scene.

b) The end of the movie shows Mohan in a wrestling match smeared with mud and later washing the mud with the water from nearby lake. The scene is so subtle that you may miss the symbolism – he is completely in synch with India.

The one other aspect that was different from conventional movies i.e. non-filmy was when Mohan bids adieus to his love Geeta. No his caravan does not return back immediately. He actually leaves to USA, fulfils his responsibility by completing his project and only then returns back to India. A depiction that we Indians are not just emotional fools but responsible citizens.

MY TWO CENTS

I saw the movie in a theatre with a good mix i.e. a young college crowd on one side and the mature folk. Thus I feel that the movie will find two major responses that are stark contradictions. The young student community - probable the intended audience, snubbing the movie as boring and mature folk who consent with the imbibed message. This is the irony of the movie.

Surely while Gowarikar’s intentions are noble, probably a reflection of Mr. Kalams thoughts, I firmly believe a research into a youth’s mind was necessary and the movie could have turned better. I am sure the present day youth which consumes coke despite controversies, flash latest mobiles despite prices or ban, nubiles who remove their bras and dance topless at Shaggy concerts are an evolved lot….or maybe confused lot, thanks to media, influx or exposure to different cultures, bollywood’s craze for item numbers, music worlds craze for remixes rather than original compositions etc. So any thoughts, dialogues referring to “Sanskar”, “Parampara” are so banal, orthodox, antiquated, trite, hackneyed, disgusting. These ideas, thoughts could have been subtle rather than verbose and the movie would have been a success. No I do not mean box office hit and moolah churner. I mean successful at reaching and appealing the right audience.

So what is the message? Obvious isn’t it? It is what people at RED HERRING refers to as “Brain Gain” or UN refers to as “Reversal of Brain Drain”.

I remember that this issue predates back to at least a decade back when Indian Government blamed the Indian citizens for slow pace of development of India, citing reason that people are indifferent towards India. The talent pool nurtured in best of Indian Universities (RECs, Pune University, Mumbai University and the much touted IIT, IIMs) would leave the nation in greed of green bucks and glamour of developed nations – hedonistic attitude! These intellect or skilled lot toiled on foreign soil which led to their rapid development. Search Internet and you will find common examples namely NASA scientist, launch of CHANDRA satellite, Intel co-founder, Microsofts engineers etc. Had they stayed back, India would be developed and not developing. Some economists even calculated the loss in financial terms. UN published a report stating this loss as over USD 2 billion. Wow! Figures were based on subsidized education imparted to these students in India and government spending per student to the more controversial method of including opportunity cost or trade deficit.

True! Maybe.

The NRIs fought back with the argument that facilities, R&D opportunities, knowledge bank were better in these developed nations, while Indian Government failed miserable in terms of lack of infrastructure or facilities or even job quality, low standard of living, poor salary, bureaucracy et al.

True! Maybe.

So the movie theme is more apt in this context and makes references to the issues such as lay back attitude, indifference, lack of ownership with each individual blaming someone or something for their miserable plight. The movie calls upon Indian citizens to unite for a cause – development (not for road blocks, street processions Ms. Mamta). The movie calls for NRIs to rethink and serve its own motherland or make some contribution in terms of time and efforts. However, it is not saying that “Indians should not go abroad” and hence is not hypocritical.

ON SECOND THOUGHTS

I feel the movie theme is not so relevant in the present context and should have been featured at least 5 years back. Now we do have a reversal of brain drain. We have students who flock universities abroad (MS) but return back on completion. We have Indians relinquishing green cards and seeking jobs in India.

Spare me any brickbats, but honestly I feel that this is much to do with policies of developed nations rather than Indian policy or to put it more lucidly – it is more attributed to companies abroad downsizing and issuing pink slips, job unrest forcing Governments abroad to limit issuance of visas and companies outsourcing business processes to low cost service providers in India to increase their margins.

Of course I would not discredit the economic reforms and liberalization brought about by Indian Government and efforts of Indian companies to increase their efficiencies and cater to these demands. We do have quality jobs being outsourced as against grunt work outsourced in the Y2K Phase. Nations everywhere appreciate Indian education, academics, talent pool. Fortune 500 are setting their centers, manufacturing hubs in India. Management schools and job quality has improved. Government is serious about infrastructure. Whoa!

Thus my feeling that the movie is not relevant now. But yes overall it’s a serious movie and a must watch. And yes, please help India develop!