First of all my sincere advice is that don’t compare Swdes with Lagaan. It?s an entirely different movie. But you will find the similarity in terms construction of plot, characters and sequences. Swades is a story of Mohan Bhargava (Shahrukh Khan).
Mohan Bhargava is a scientist/project manager working for NASA for a decade. The story takes a turn when he returns to India to find his childhood nanny ’’Kaveri Amma’’. Kaveri amma is living in a village near Delhi Charanpur. Charanpur is a place where there is no electricity till date. So when Mohan arrives here he firstly doesn’t understand the working in India.
Gita (Gayatri Joshi) is a school teacher in Charanpur. She is living with her younger brother and Kaveri Amma. This is one angle which holds Mohan to stay back in India. And then Mohan starts discovering India. There is Melaram who think that with
Mohan he can start chain of restaurants on highways in America. How Mohan brings change in life of villagers and basically how Mohan changes from a careless NRI to an Indian who understands the real problem.
The best scene I think is the one in the train. Mohan buys a glass of water from a boy in the train. This explains the whole problem. No unnecessary comedians and there faltu scenes.
There are some weak points in the plot. Especially little large no. scenes between lead pair. But these are minor. But;
I will say Gowariker added these scenes for masses. Because I saw people enjoying these scenes and all. So let?s not blame Gowariker for this. Because don’t know how many people will understand the problem shown in the movie because this time there is no cricket match.
Songs are excellent. Cinematography is good. Bhanu Athaiya’s costume design and shots at NASA add authenticity. One strong point of the film is dialogues by K.P. Saxena. they are very thoughtful yet simple. There is no pak-bashing, jai hind and all those lines. Still they easily define the patriotism.
On the front of performances by all the characters there are no issues. Gayatri Joshi is confident. Kaveri Amma, Melaram and all other are good in there roles. But Shahrukh Khan is the one who carries SWADES on his broad shoulders. He delivers his careers best performance. And if u wants to see a different Shahrukh than typical chopra, johar style then watch SWADES. From now people will start identify him as Mohan. [Please ignore that I’m a shahrukh fan :) ]
Lastly, the captain of the ship, Ashutosh Gowariker succeeds in delivering another different film. 3 cheers for Ashutosh Gowariker for daring to go with an entirely different theme ’’Reverse brain-drain’’. There is no nach-gaana for showing our culture and parampara. There is no heavy dose of maa ka pyar.Gowariker you have one the battle again.
Overall, SWADES is a must watch for every Indian.