Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

GazerRise Fantastic!

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

agbausa Films will come, perform at the box office and fade into oblivion. What truly stay in mind and memories are classics and the ones that you can relate to. I have watched Swades over the years from the time it came out and each time I have a deeper reaction to it. I find less faults and appreciate finer nuances in the direction and the visuals. While Patriotism is the underlying emotion, the stark contrast between wasteful plentiness and abject poverty/hardship is brought out excellently. SRK has done a fabulous job here and scenes where his eyes well up could be a natural reaction to the scene and the background music. He should do these kind of roles more. We also need movie makers like Ashutosh G who go after what their heart tells them rather than ringing cash registers..

hanjohnnydepp Never mis... a must watch Movie...finest performance ever in Shahrukh Khan film career...

classicsoncall I'm beginning to learn that it's not unusual for Indian movies to approach and even surpass three hours in length. The surprising thing about "Swades" for me was that the story began in the United States, and then transitioned to the small Indian village of Charanpur by way of the principal character, Mohan Bhargava (Shah Rukh Khan), having a desire to reconnect with the nanny who raised him. Mohan has an awakening I guess one would say, as he observes the poverty in his travels through the countryside, and an unwillingness of most of it's citizens to challenge a caste system that keeps everyone within their own social class. I don't know if this was a bold statement for director Ashutosh Gowariker to make, especially in the way he contrasted the way of life in India with Mohan's description of life in the U.S. For all of it's own troubles, Mohan painted a picture of liberty and opportunity for one to follow his dreams in America, and tried to instill some of that kind of pride in being a citizen of a small community. There was repeated emphasis in the picture about self respect, independence and self reliance, probably none more effective than when the lovely school teacher Gita (Gayatri Joshi) declined a marriage proposal because of the devotion to her vocation. I must say, as a screen couple, Shah Rukh Khan and Gayatri Joshi are every bit as charismatic as Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof". One of the intriguing things about the story is that you're never sure how the romance between the attractive couple will play out. When Gita longingly wishes for Mohan to turn around as he drives away to catch his plane back to the States, one can't help but feel a bit conflicted over their relationship.I look back upon the history of cinema in this country and think about the impact films have had on things like improving race relations, equality for women, and upward mobility for individuals born into unfortunate circumstances. "Swades" feels like a film that might do something similar for the Indian sub-continent, if it can successfully translate thought and ideas into action for ordinary citizens to challenge the status quo and stand up for themselves. The picture closes on just that kind of note, and one does get a sense that "the tides have begun to change direction".

ashprofessionalways Early on we find Mohan addressing the press in NASA about cities his initiative would have an impact on. He goes about, " San Francisco, Latin Mexico, New Delhi..." , dispassionately. Delhi doesn't resonate ethnic familiarity. It's another piece of geography. A mere statistic. He's as Indian as a Mira Nair movie. The very mention of India in a press conference- after returning from a trip there - towards the film's closure, unsettles him. It's no mere "another" country anymore. It's his; he its. It's the pin that made contact with his carefully cultivated American bubble. Swades is book-ended by these two press conferences. It's the story of a man's search for his mother, that ends in his motherland. It traces an individual's metamorphosis from being a condescending first world citizen to someone crushed by the stench of third world reality, which was easier to digest as editorial observations over English breakfast.Where do I start? Do I talk about the audacity of the role reversal employed, where the leading lady is chivalrously let to tie dhoti to an almost emasculated hero; who's regarded as a deity of fluffy romance in the country's heartlands. Or do I talk about the spectacle, simple thoughts are translated into on screen like the "Yeh Tara, Woh Tara" song sequence. Just a few nimble limb movements here, a few facial sparkles there. A song with stars as metaphors under a night sky sprinkled with glittering stars, rendered by a nimbus star in an ominous form. It's as transcendental as poetry gets on the big screen.Neither the obscene budgets nor the more obscene promotions(hawking) of these days were there to flex, but he was nonchalantly wearing his superstardom like a good perfume. His charm was organic, not labored. If Khan's the film's face and heart, Rahman's music is the pulse and soul. Rarely do we get a musical score that follows the story like a solicitous shadow, never once intending to precede or side step for attention. It grows with the protagonist; melting with him; simmering with him; hoping with him and hurting with him. It fashions the western finesse to the eastern sensibilities of the film's milieu. Swades is a fine example of what happens in a legitimate marriage between the song and dance trope and narrative dexterity.And a special mention, actually a very special mention to Gayatri Joshi. The deadpan way in which she competes with SRK's calculator, her implosive consent to his boisterous overtures, her outbursts of child ego while being possessive of Kaveriamma or the dollops of grace she adds to the chiffon saris. She brings so much dignity to Geeta, doing more to the role than it does to her. Not often do we get an actress who makes us feel guilty in a wet dream.Mohan's starting to scratch beyond the surface of paper patriotism, when Kaveriamma sends him to collect rent arrears from a farmer. To him it's just an expedition, another rustic journey to a rudimentary hamlet . But she knows more. She knows it would make him go off the deep end on a journey of self discovery. On his way there he travels on a boat, standing with a glint of amusement in his eyes, distant from the other modest passengers. He doesn't disrespect them. He just doesn't belong.He meets the farmer, through him meets with every ugly truth inundating a nation- poverty, casteism, apathy - he only knew of at an ethnicity and number-of-rivers basis till now.He came to India with first world problems like guilt from not being able to stay in touch with his foster mother. His project in NASA addressing the issue of global water scarcity that hitherto swelled his chest slowly fades away to in-prominence as he gazes skywards, from the ground reality of a third world peasant's backyard. A young boy sprinting helter skelter, to sell water for 25 paise adds further salt to his wounded soul. On his way back, he returns a different man on the same boat. He's humbled by the guilt of ignorance about a country he claimed to be a part of; humbled by the knowledge that the "humble" lives led in its heartlands was in fact euphemism to the collective sufferings. Legs folded, he's seated among the other modest beings on the boat. The distance between them had crumbled. In fact it now feels like a crime. "They" becomes "we", as he becomes Indian.