We, the people!
I had been planning to watch Swades for quite sometime and at last I managed to find time and occasion this week!
The movie is about a NASA project manager: Mohan Bhargav (Shahrukh Khan). He travels back to India and searches his ‘Dai’ - Kaveriamma with the intention to take her back with him to US. That lands him in a village. Kaveriamma is now living with a school teacher Geeta (Gayatri Joshi) and her younger brother. Geeta, who has modern education, prefers to teach in school in village and fulfill her late parents’ dream.
The village has all sorts of problems! There is cast disparity. There are illiterate people. Furthermore, people refuse to send their children to school. There is no electricity. There is water scarcity. You name the problem they seem to have it! Enter Mohan and bingo he has solution for everything. Are you wondering, why on earth will he try to solve their problems? Touched by their grief? Hmm… well, it begins this way: Kaveriamma is not going to leave the village till Geeta is married and her(Geeta's) school established (or that’s what Mohan thinks). So our hero is busy getting people to attend school and all. That gets him in touch with the people in the village and then he realizes their true problems.
With his ingenious skills (and willingness to spend :-) ), he manages to change the course of water and actually gets the turbine rotating to produce electricity!!!
If that is not enough, digest this: One song (ye tara wo tara) and people forget about cast differences. Oh, I forgot – but no prizes for guessing, the chemistry between Mohan and Geeta develops in the midst of all this!
He keeps stretching his leave, but alas he has to leave sometime and Geeta refuses to accompany him abroad. In the end all is well, Mohan returns back to India and the village and of course gets Geeta…
Got bored? Well, this whole thing takes 3 and ½ hours to unfold! But the direction is good. You don’t really feel the ‘length’ of the movie. A. R. Rehman scores again with his music. Javed Akhtar is at his usual best writing songs befitting the situation. Ashutosh Govarikar fails to reproduce a gem like Lagaan, but still you feel the presence of his direction throughout the movie. There are no villains. The movie isn’t comedy.
As for the performances, the villagers are convincing. No “good looking but dumb” actors are picked for roles. They really make you feel that you are in village. Shahrukh Khan carries the movie on his shoulders. Alas, he gives the glimpses of old Shahrukh. He just seemed lost in Kal Ho Na Ho, Devdas … and the list can go on!
Finally, for the debutant Gayatri Joshi: She looks good (well, she surely has people going ga ga over her looks!), dresses in simple traditional Indian attire (and shows it is still possible to catch attention). Ashutosh has also done justice to her character by giving her dialogues and songs. In general, she does not disappoint, though, she fails to score in highly emotional scenes. But definitlely not bad for start!
Special mention: the ‘Dasara’ scene. There is a song ‘pal pal hai’. The song has been particularly directed and presented well. You can real feel to be part of the whole festival in the village while watching the song!
Yea, people criticize saying that the movie is like ‘documentary’. It does get akin to that at times But, the overall effect of the movie is good. I would recommend the movie for watching (the movie, I will say, actually shines, on the background of some of the movies released off late!).
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The secret of being boring is to say everything.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
P. S. I got a forward with Gayatri's pictures with subject line arguing that a movie cannot be documentary with heroine like this ;-), and well I must say I don't disagree :D.
The movie is about a NASA project manager: Mohan Bhargav (Shahrukh Khan). He travels back to India and searches his ‘Dai’ - Kaveriamma with the intention to take her back with him to US. That lands him in a village. Kaveriamma is now living with a school teacher Geeta (Gayatri Joshi) and her younger brother. Geeta, who has modern education, prefers to teach in school in village and fulfill her late parents’ dream.
The village has all sorts of problems! There is cast disparity. There are illiterate people. Furthermore, people refuse to send their children to school. There is no electricity. There is water scarcity. You name the problem they seem to have it! Enter Mohan and bingo he has solution for everything. Are you wondering, why on earth will he try to solve their problems? Touched by their grief? Hmm… well, it begins this way: Kaveriamma is not going to leave the village till Geeta is married and her(Geeta's) school established (or that’s what Mohan thinks). So our hero is busy getting people to attend school and all. That gets him in touch with the people in the village and then he realizes their true problems.
With his ingenious skills (and willingness to spend :-) ), he manages to change the course of water and actually gets the turbine rotating to produce electricity!!!
If that is not enough, digest this: One song (ye tara wo tara) and people forget about cast differences. Oh, I forgot – but no prizes for guessing, the chemistry between Mohan and Geeta develops in the midst of all this!
He keeps stretching his leave, but alas he has to leave sometime and Geeta refuses to accompany him abroad. In the end all is well, Mohan returns back to India and the village and of course gets Geeta…
Got bored? Well, this whole thing takes 3 and ½ hours to unfold! But the direction is good. You don’t really feel the ‘length’ of the movie. A. R. Rehman scores again with his music. Javed Akhtar is at his usual best writing songs befitting the situation. Ashutosh Govarikar fails to reproduce a gem like Lagaan, but still you feel the presence of his direction throughout the movie. There are no villains. The movie isn’t comedy.
As for the performances, the villagers are convincing. No “good looking but dumb” actors are picked for roles. They really make you feel that you are in village. Shahrukh Khan carries the movie on his shoulders. Alas, he gives the glimpses of old Shahrukh. He just seemed lost in Kal Ho Na Ho, Devdas … and the list can go on!
Finally, for the debutant Gayatri Joshi: She looks good (well, she surely has people going ga ga over her looks!), dresses in simple traditional Indian attire (and shows it is still possible to catch attention). Ashutosh has also done justice to her character by giving her dialogues and songs. In general, she does not disappoint, though, she fails to score in highly emotional scenes. But definitlely not bad for start!
Special mention: the ‘Dasara’ scene. There is a song ‘pal pal hai’. The song has been particularly directed and presented well. You can real feel to be part of the whole festival in the village while watching the song!
Yea, people criticize saying that the movie is like ‘documentary’. It does get akin to that at times But, the overall effect of the movie is good. I would recommend the movie for watching (the movie, I will say, actually shines, on the background of some of the movies released off late!).
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The secret of being boring is to say everything.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
P. S. I got a forward with Gayatri's pictures with subject line arguing that a movie cannot be documentary with heroine like this ;-), and well I must say I don't disagree :D.
posted by Shrikrishna at
10:28 PM
3 Comments:
The film is neither a documentry nor an anti-brain-drain film. The message Aushutosh wants to convey through this film is "individuals can really make the difference", if provided liberty to do so. That is what Aushutosh wants to show through the electricity generation sequence.
Rather than cribbing about something, it is better to take actions on it. :)
By
Anonymous, at Mon Jan 10, 11:12:00 AM 2005
Frankly even if Ashtosh Govarikar wanted to convey the message that determined souls can achieve anything they want, this is taking it a bit _too_far_. Perhaps he could have restricted it to our hero solving fewer problems _more_realistically :-). Potraying untouchability and caste issues in India only serves to diminish her image. (Although of course it means more viewership, which should of course not be expected out of the director of Lagaan.)
By
Anonymous, at Tue Jan 11, 01:47:00 PM 2005
Krishna, I am not sure if this one qualifies to be called a blog really!!!
By
Anonymous, at Wed Jan 12, 02:02:00 PM 2005
Post a Comment
<< Home