I knew I had to watch this movie. No matter what one said about it I had to watch it to decide for myself. I was a little later to see it and got to see many reviews on it. Some calling it boring some a masterpiece. I hardly saw a critical view which judges teh plot and any discrepancies thereof. Recently I saw review from the King of the mouthshut (criminal) and I thought I should also express what I felt while watching this movie.
My Experience: Now, I myself was in USA for 5.5 years, I traveled to India 3 times during this period (4 if you count the last one). So the moment the movie started I for the first time in last 10-15 years imagined myself in Shahrukh’s role. I confess that whatever I saw in the next 3 hrs was exactly I had felt after coming from USA. You look at the things differently with a totally different vision specially initial few weeks/months.
You question yourself why not MY land is as prosperous as western world. Why My land doesn’t seem to have accepted democracy as they have? Why, we are still bogged down by some of the things in our society that are not to say the least quality for ’Bharat-Bhushan’ !! Why not big roads like USA, why not tourist sports as developed as promoted as the rest of the world? Why we are so mean to section of our own people when we think we are blessed with prob’ly the best culture & heritage, why we keep using culture & heritage as a weapon of defense the moment people talk about prosperous west?
Do not get me wrong, I know the reasons. I know it will take years/decades to change the scene and there is no magical solution to it.
The Good Things: At the same time you also appreciate how happy or content ’We, the people’ of India are with so less resources or with the bare-minimum quality of life. We as a country are highly tolerant overall and are say ’Sajjan’ people. Why, We can’t be fooled by our Govt that Saddam has weapons of mass-destruction and we need to attack him for this reason. How good still our social binding and social awareness is. You also realize how life & charitra of ’’Bhagwan Raam’’ has affected our lives from generations and even today at subconscious level it affects the thinking positively even though you are spending most of the time in a dance-club or a bar.
Now lets us come back to the movie. Getting out of the Shahrukh’s character makes you think some weak-links and also the positive (objectively speaking) parts of the movie.
The Plot: Very simplistic! So simple that even the main-theme lighting a bulb is handled without too many issues or troubles. Something people who pay big bucks need to have to keep them involved and also make them realize how imp and crucial that task is. The movie also doesn’t explain how miserable their life is without Bijli. A movie is not good enough, someone loosing life due to that would have been more realistic (at Doctors place etc) & effective (it is also a practical reality anyways)
The part where Mohan takes leave and talks to the boss could have been handled the way they handled the last part, a little sophisticated than simplistic, seating in a cabin instead of standing casually along side some machinery! :)
The part where Mohan learns about the farmer’s plight and on the way back comes across ’25 paise ka Pani’ is shown very effectively. It also makes you realize how stupid BJP was to say India Shining or feel-Good Factor. The ground reality is much worse than you could imagine. If you can’t give water to people then what else you can give? (Pardon me to ignore bigger issues like population control and water mgmt).
The issue of caster system isn’t dealt with in details too. They show all the kids coming into the school but then what happened to the skeptical people who refused to send them in the same school !?
The movie also shows some effective debates where Mohan debates that India in current state is not a GREAT country but yes, it had the potential. To call our country great would be fooling ourselves and what not! It also underlines that people need to help themselves in order for Govt to help them too.
The Music: I liked it, liked them all. They needn’t be all time great to appreciate them. Ye Tara Woh Tara, Yunhi Chala chal raahi, Ravan-Wadh and other romantic songs are noteworthy and are presented very well. Good job there.
The Acting: Shahrukh Khan gives an honest performance. Always a good actor but not having any objective evidence of it, now Shahrukh has something to show to critics and also his 25+ year-old fans! :) Even then I think that at times he doesn’t seem to fully comprehend what he is saying. Too much time away from real people of India is the issue in my opinion. Shahrukh is a true sapano ka saudagar and I do not think he fits very well in such roles. But overall 9 out of 10 to him in this movie.
Ms. Joshi looks cute, shows idealistic school-teacher very well and hard to believe she is 30+ ! The post-master is Ashutosh’ pet and does a 100% honest and very effective job. The smart ’Tapariwala’ appears smart and gives some nice moments in the movie.
Kaveri-Amma is the highlight of the movie and the glue that keeps the movie together.
The Direction Ashutosh: Are mitra evadha inert ka rahilayes tu? The overall approach to direction is documentary sort and could have been more involving. The direction to set the record straight is extra-ordinary. We are talking about the expectation level from Ashutosh. We have different expectations from Karan Johar and Ashutosh, correct!? :)
Conclusion It seems to me that the movie is made to be seen from the eyes of NRIs and thats the strong/weak point as you see it. For the people staying abroad (which is now a highly profitable community and a major chuck of money comes from them) it would be a classic. For people like me who have been away for years, the movie would make cent-percent sense. What about the ordinary people:: They get to see how NRIs think and what they miss about India. It would also help NRIs relatives staying in India to understand them better and not in stereotypical way!
I whole heartedly recommend the movie and it is a good see for at least once. It shows that if people come together they can achieve a lot. Could this movie much better given it goes for 3+ hrs? You bet!!
Please do opine on the review. Would really appreciate to hear your take.
P.S.: This is in reference to cool_Raman’s comments. For the records I do not advise or petronize any NRI who wants to come back as Mohan Bhargav did, the reality is way too harsh than what is portrayed in Swades. You need to decide which life is more meaningful & satsfying to you!! There is no fix answer for everyone here!
Also, I didn’t come back for any sublime reasons like in Swades...I just missed India, my people, my language, my parents, my relatives. I just connected to Mohan Bharav’s character and specially dialogs that conveyed my feelings (about USA’s prosperity and out culture/heritage etc).