I saw
Swadesh on Sunday but didn't get the time to write anything about the movie. I think I was not doing justice to the movie by not writing anything about it.
Swadesh is different. Its not like some movie where a hero come from US and finds the village to be like countryside of NewZealand or misty Ireland. (Recall MAIN PREM KI DIWANI HOON from our own Sooraj Barjatya)
When Mohan Bhargav (ShahRukh Khan) lands in the old age home in NewDelhi to find his nanny Kaveri Amma, the old are singing a bhajan and that too without music. This is how bhajans are sung in India and not with Bally Sagoo and his remix. (Recall KUCH KUCH HOTA HAI - Raghupati Raghav Raja Raam)
I went to my home town Kharagpur from 10th to 14th of December and was frustrated to see the roads there. The roads were like 20 ft wide maximum and have been like that since I was born. they have not widened at all, with cycle rickshaws, bikes, cars, trucks, buses all plying on them and avoiding the pot holes which have omnipresent since stoneage.
You can see the IT boom even in a small town in India like Khapagpur; Internet cafes, 5 mobile service providers and computer in all my cousins homes. But what about basic amminities? There is power cut everyday in the town, municipality is still not able to provide water to all the houses in the town, no sanitation, kids still sleep near the rail tracks, shit on rail tracks, there is no transport facility although the population has increased at a great pace. In all the years I have lived there, not even a single big factory has comeup. Where does the youth get employed? What do they do after gradutaing?
Well Swadesh made me think atleast.
There was this lady sarpanch she says to Kaveri Amma "ARRE BARAF KA MUSTAKBIL YEHI HAI KI USKO PANI MEIN HI PIGHAL JANA HAI" (Ice knows that it has to melt and mix with the water) Mera kustakbil kya hai uuparwala jane, par aapne sheher ke liye kuch toh karna hai. Jis sheher mein aap pale badhe ho uski khushboo aap mein bas jati hai.
No movie had so much impact on me as Swadesh.
Coming back to the movie. Its right paced because Mohan Bhargav cannot just realize one morning that "OK I want to live in India-I want to do somthing for the community". Ashutosh Gawarikar has given right amount of time to Mohan Bhargav to realize that. And Gita (Gayatri Joshi) doesn't even know she is falling in love with this guy. And in the end of the movie when Mohan Bhargav tells Mela Raam that he will send the sponsorship papers as soon as he reaches US, Mela Raam replies that his desh is India and he doesnt feel like going to US anymore (Mela Raam wanted to open a Dhaba in US) . He says, "Its like keeping diya in your own house and giving light to the neighbour where as there is darkness in your own house" Think of it like this: Guy has brains and works for Microsoft or Cisco or NASA in USA where as he can work for Infosys or Ranbaxy or DRDO in India. Very-very well written dialogs.
The songs of Swadesh are too cool. And Thankgod Thankgod there is no song where SRK is dancing and models from around the world with blond hair are dancing on "BALLE BALLE SAY SHAVA SHAVA" ( Thats possible in all movies of Karan Johar, even the Gora kids of 1st grade in London can sing, Jana gana Mana, utter non-sense) Ok Mr.Karan Johar you love India but show some reality in your movies.
The song "YEH RASTA HAI, HAI KEH RAHA" just runs through, its very soothing to the ears. The song "YEH TARA WOH TARA" is just too good. It tells us that each person has to do specific tasks in the life (Lohar, Kisaan, Kumhar) and if he doesn't do that life doesn't move ahead. Tries to tell that the uppercast and lower cast are not needed in the society.
Swadesh is a must see for We... The People of India....
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