The promos of this movie itself had me interested. The storyline and
music appeared to be engrossing. Swades is the story of a NASA project
manager Mohan Bhargava who returns to India for a brief stay to find
his childhood nanny kaveriamma. His search takes him to the village
Charanpur where he finds his Kaveriamma with Gita( gayatri Joshi). It
is at this point that he sees the problems of the village- no
electricity, illiteracy and caste system. He realises that using his
scientific knowledge he can make things better. In the process, he also
gets romantically linked with Gita.
The high points in the movie include the successful generation of electricity, the
hospitality of the farmer despite abject poverty. The supporting cast include Mela
Ram( cook) who sees Mohan as a business partner for the chain of
restaurants he dreams of starting.Nivaran as the local postmaster is
also endearing.
Shah Rukh delivers a great performance. This is one of the few roles in
which he is completely de-galamourized.Gayathri Joshi also performs
well. The movie is a unique experiment with grassroots realism. The
music is also very good.The movie is a welcome change from the
innumerable skin flicks being released. The movie remains focussed on
it’s central theme and does not over-dwell on the romatic part. Another
plus point is that the movie has no violence, unlike movies based on
underworld which abound in violence.
All in all, a welcome experiment in Hindi cinema.