Swades (2004)

स्वादेस

Bollywood's no. 1 heartthrob is a forty-something actor named Shah Rukh Khan.  Millions swoon over him, millions want to be him; he's larger than life and possibly the biggest star in the world.  And I'm totally immune to his charm.  I respect him tremendously, but his magic just doesn't work on me, and he hasn't grown on me with exposure. 

Still, Shah Rukh is the one they call "King Khan;" he is at the top of the pack among Bollywood's leading men, and he's passable enough, if a little bit slick and wholesome, in Swades ("Our Country"), a sweet film with a feel-good patriotic moral.  Shah Rukh plays Mohan, a NASA engineer who returns to his native India to reconnect with the family servant who had helped to raise him.  There, he falls in love, builds an impromptu hydroelectric power plant for his nanny's village, and comes to realize that his motherland needs his smarts and resourcefulness more than NASA does.  He is forced to face his presumptions head-on, such as his presumptions about the superiority of his expatriate life to village life in India - but he also exerts an influence on villagers who are otherwise complacent in such matters as caste injustice.  The message is one of balance, a give-and-take between tradition and modernity that is very satisfying.

It is difficult for me to do justice to Swades in this review.  The reason is that I saw it very early in my filmi adventure.  It was the first Shah Rukh Khan film I ever saw, and I spent most of its length thinking "So, that's Shah Rukh Khan!  That's the guy.  There he is!"  Most people are of the opinion that Swades is among the least Shah Rukh Khan-ish of his performances, the most natural and the least stylized.  But I didn't have the perspective to appreciate it; the superstar overwhelmed the role, even though of all his films this may be the one in which the superstar is the most suppressed in favor of the actor.  I did enjoy the film at the time, but I feel I need to see it again now, nearly 100 Indian movies later, before applying any real critical thinking to it. 

The music is quite good - grand Bollywood set pieces showcase Shah Rukh's alleged blow-dried charm, and there are some fun toe-tappers in the A.R. Rahman score, notably "Yeh tara woh tara" ("This star, that star") a sweet song in which Mohan teaches astronomy and tolerance to a passel of adorable children and shocks the village elders by breaking caste barriers, all while dancing impeccably. 

I do recommend Swades for newcomers, especially if you have already seen Lagaan and want to see another exemplar of the slickest of modern Bollywood 's star vehicles.  And who knows - perhaps you don't have the rare Shah Rukh immunity gene that I seem to carry. Most people don't! 

Comments

[Shweta]

Love your reviews- and yes, I carry the "rare Shah Rukh immunity gene" as well

[carla]

Thanks, Shweta - I'm glad you enjoyed the reviews! I hope you will stop by again.