Tragedy, shortcomings and failure to look past certain institutions, India is a splendid example of this classic recipe to make any country downtrodden or still in terms of growth. But how often do we see these elements or this side of India portrayed through commercial cinema? Cinema that is penned down by ace writers and helmed by mainstream filmmakers and artists? Almost never. But Ashutosh Gowariker’s Swades is one such film that uses stereotypical emotions and attractions for the mainstream audience, but only to direct towards a subject deeper and keener in aspects of national importance and uses art to manifest a social cause or a string of them.
Swades portrays the story of Mohan, a scientist working for NASA settled in the US who misses his childhood nanny Kaveri Amma and in order to bring her to the states, heads to India. There, unlike what he planned he encounters several loopholes preventing the residents of Charanpur village to lead a happy life with basic amenities, and finds that he can be very useful in ridding them of it, if he stays back.
Filled with narratives of patriotism and the regular despising of NRIs, the film does take help of many such typical elements but what it delivers sheerly justifies it all to be honest.
It challenges the caste system but safely skips discrimination towards religious minorities, evidently because Hinduism is in the face of every scene, however tragic some of its elements might be. Mohan’s character isn’t entirely religious and even preaches how culture and tradition are more like roadblocks of development rather than facilitators of it, but the same Mohan preaches Ram’s greatness and is somewhat treated like his reincarnation too.
Swades has a constant focus on jobs, all kinds of it and how important all of them are to make something happen, something worth life.
Everything is put so simply and Ashutosh Gowarikar and everyone on the team should be commended for commercially emphasizing these subjects, while capitalism and mainstream Bollywood only runs away from making effort or even taking account of how the power of cinema to leave impact.
Swades is the pivotal example why Shahrukh khan should win all the debates about him vs some spoon fed manchild of an actor; he not only is self made but also utilised his abilities to embark change, something some people have the chance and finances to do everyday, but do not.
All the actors are so powerful and their characters so well written that they collectively point out the ignored obvious but never really glorify it (not consciously at least) . Back when there was no social media to police actors or makers, Gowariker made sure he would still steer clear of all the stereotypes and call out all orthodoxes.
How can I not talk about A R Rahman’s beautiful compositions and not just the songs, but the background score. If you think you wouldn’t be affected by Bollywood’s idea of tearjerkers, think again! If not the scenes, the music in the background will do the deed. Even though I am a big Rahman fan, trust me this is not an exaggeration.
One can never emphasize enough on how progressive the film is and I wonder if this is why Ashutosh Gowariker is absent from the scene today, because he wanted to be bold in a time where everyone played safe.
To sum it all up, the film is way ahead of its time, 16 years ago no one made speeches about women and their independence, caste system or the fact that India literally has culture and tradition as its defense mechanisms.
The F Word 