I am not a big fan of shahrukh But this is a movie has made me crazy about him.
Swades is inspired by the story of Aravinda Pillalamarri and Ravi Kuchimanchi the NRI couple who returned to India and developed the pedal power generator to light remote, off-the-grid village schools . Ashutosh Gowariker is believed to have read Rajni Bakshi’s book ‘Bapu Kuti’, through which he got to know about Aravinda and Ravi, and the Bilgaon project .
The idea of lighting a village appealed to him. After spending considerable time with Aravinda and Ravi, both dedicated Association for India’s Development (AID) volunteers, Gowarikar supposedly visited Bilgaon, an adivasi village in the Narmada valley, which is the back drop of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) movement.
The people of Bilgaon are credited with doing 2000 person-days of ‘shramdaan’ to make their village energy self-sufficient. The Bilgaon project is recognized as a model for replication by the Government of Maharshtra.
I think that its a brave attempt by Ashutosh.well Done