Swades - Taran’s expert review
An SRK film is keenly awaited. And if the super-star teams up with a celebrated director whose previous film was nominated for the Academy Awards, the expectations are gargantuan, enormous, colossal.
So when a dynamic combo - SRK and Ashutosh Gowariker - join hands, you expect the film to be, if not better, at least at par with LAGAAN. After all, comparisons with LAGAAN are inevitable!
Unfortunately, SWADES disappoints big time. The story of SWADES would’ve been ideal for a documentary, but for a feature film with a running time of 3 hour plus and starring the country’s biggest star, it just doesn’t work.
Yes, SWADES has a few interesting moments. But a handful of deftly executed sequences aren’t enough. It had to be one exciting joyride, with the 3 hour plus narrative grabbing your attention from the word ‘Go’.
To put it bluntly, SWADES is high on hype, low on substance and extremely low on entertainment. Ashutosh Gowariker has missed the bus this time!
Set in modern day India, SWADES tackles the issue facing the citizens of this nation at grassroots level. The India of SWADES is colorful, heterogeneous and complex and it is to this environment that Mohan Bhargava [Shah Rukh Khan], a bright young scientist working as project manager in NASA, returns to, on a quest to find his childhood nanny.
What begins as a simple mission prompted by nostalgia and affection turns into a journey to the heartland of rural India, both literally and metaphorically.
Mohan finds his nanny, Kaveriamma [Kishori Ballal], the symbol of motherhood, in a village called Charanpur with an admirable young woman Gita [Gayatri Joshi] and her younger brother Chikku [Master Smit Sheth].
Mohan begins to interact with the Panchayat, which has at the helm the dogmatic but the just village chief. Along the way he encounters the quirky but endearing Mela Ram [Dayashanker Pandey], who sees Mohan as his ticket to the chain of restaurants he will start on the American freeways.
Mohan befriends the local postmaster Nivaran [Rajesh Vivek], stuck to his old-fashioned ways, and the village children, whose future is inextricably linked with that of the country. Soon, Mohan finally realizes that it is his scientific temperament as well as his understanding of societal complexities that can drive the villagers to participate in a movement to better their lives.
One of the reasons why SWADES does not hold is because of its waferthin storyline [the story idea - bringing electricity to the village - is reminiscent of the recent MUMBAI SE AAYA MERA DOST]. Frankly, the story of SWADES progresses well till SRK arrives in the village in search of his nanny. But after the initial 30 minutes, the story stagnates. There’s not much happening in the narrative and the flashpoint between SRK and Gayatri [he wants Kaveriamma to accompany him to the U.S., she wants Kaveriamma to stay back] is not something that would make the viewer long for the second half.
The post-interval portions are one strenuous ride, with not much being offered in terms of content. And the incidents in the narrative - SRK visiting a faraway village to recover money from a farmer and learning of his miseries, later bringing in electricity to the village, then his decision of returning to the U.S. - are not the type that would involve you completely. Besides, the number of songs in the post-interval portions only slackens the pace of the goings-on. The film could’ve easily done without a song or two in this half.
You anxiously await the climax of SWADES [partly because LAGAAN had an exhilarating finale] with bated breath, but again, the culmination to the story is sans anything exciting. It’s tame and dull!
Director Ashutosh Gowariker may have chosen a subject he was fascinated by, but expecting the audience to be as fascinated by the subject is asking for too much. The story is not as absorbing - it doesn’t have the meat to last for 3 long hours - and even the narrative unfolds at a sluggish and lethargic pace. In fact, the narrative gets so boring and cumbersome after a point that you seriously wonder whether the editor [Ballu Saluja] had gone on a holiday or perhaps, he was so fascinated by the director’s work that he didn’t feel like trimming/deleting the unwanted portions.
Gowariker’s screenplay also does not have enough moments that would instantly catch the attention of the masses. For a majority of cinegoers, especially the hoi polloi, the film holds scant appeal. Gowariker’s intentions of depicting the problems of rural India may be noble, but it’s not too great an idea of entertainment, specifically for that viewer who is thirsting for entertainment and believes in sunshine/feel-good/escapist cinema. Besides, the length only acts as a deterrent.
Even the much-hyped NASA sequences aren’t something an ordinary viewer would be ecstatic to watch.
To his credit, Gowariker has drawn fine performances from the cast. And a few sequences do have the masterly strokes of an efficient technician. But that’s about it!
A.R. Rahman’s music may sound soothing when you hear it, but when viewed with the story, most of the songs are of the ‘fast forward’ variety. Clearly, there’s not one track you carry home after the screening has concluded. In fact, it would be in the best interests of the film to delete a few songs in the second half, for that would perk up the goings-on to an extent. It would prove to be a good exercise in some damage control at least!
Cinematography [Mahesh Aney] is excellent. The rural look has been captured beautifully. Dialogues [K.P. Saxena] are outstanding, but they tend to get into a sermonizing mode after a point.
Shah Rukh Khan is extremely likeable. He stands firm on his feet in dramatic sequences, confirming yet again that he’s not merely a super-star, but a super actor as well. Gayatri Joshi makes a confident debut, though she can go easy on her expressions at times. Yet, considering that this happens to be her maiden big screen appearance as also the fact that she’s paired with the country’s biggest star, Gayatri manages to make her presence felt.
The film has a number of characters, but if one were to choose those who displayed their skills effectively, it would be in this order: Kishori Ballal, Rajesh Vivek and Dayashanker Pandey. Makrand Deshpande gets one song and scene, that’s all.
On the whole, SWADES disappoints. At the box-office, the film may appeal to a handful of critics [await the 5-star ratings!] and those who believe in this form of cinema, but for a majority of viewers, SWADES will be remembered as a good opportunity gone waste. Businesswise, not much to look forward to in swades as well as videsh.
Jem was a much superior film than DON IMO! 
Thanks Akshay! 
Thanks folks. Hopefully things will work out for all. 
Excellent stuff on the Joker and Ledger's performance... 
"Jesse: did you ever post a review of the music of Sakkarakatti? I might have missed it…"
No Q, I never ...
Thanks rockstar, this is along the lines of what I was expecting from this movie.
Re: "Singh is king tries to ...
*** rating
another review on the predictable line.
good thing is that reviews are better than those of Tashan.
this should be enough. 
will add : in one of sequence akki do appologise for his improper conduct of being a sikh and gives ...
Comment by jingchak on 26 February 2008:
and the reason for this post was.. take a look at a review on this review — this is from mouthshut btw..
>>
And recently he has posted another article as ?Dear Asutosh? in the site. In the article he says that Asutosh called him on last Sunday and accepted his review. I think Taran realized that his negative review has gained a bad name for him and to please his readers and other film personalities whom he call his close friends, he has written an open letter to Asutosh praising Asutosh for accepting his mistake to him. Eventhen he didn’t accept that he has done a mistake in writing a negative review on the movie but he is proud about that Asutosh himself has accepted his review. Who knows whether Asutosh really called him or not?
The film critics have a very important role to play in shaping up the film industry. With the advent of IT and internet, the fast reaching reviews from the sites get more attention than the reviews from any newspapers and magazines. When a reviewer knows that the review he is posting is going to be the first review on the movie in the media he should be cautious and keen in putting right analysis on the movie so that it neither encourages a bad effort nor it discourages a good effort. He should be working as an isolated body without any influence of any prejudices.
He should watch the movie with an open mind and come up with what he liked and what he didn?t and what is good and bad honestly. He should not categorize the movie as commercial movie, documentary or an art film. Be it any, a movie a movie and it is only the people who has to judge the movie and make it a success or a flop. He should not say that movie will be a flop in the very first review and for that matter he shouldn?t find faults in a good movie and exaggerate it far and wide. He can predict the success / failure but he is not the person to declare the success/ failure of the movie.
But this man the most read reviewer ?Taran Adarsh? does everything what a true critic should not do. Indiafm.com is a complete portal on bollywood and you get information about anything and everything about bollywood at one stop but the biggest black mark of the site is the reviews by Taran Adarsh and that makes the situation even worse as most of them visit this site just to read reviews than anything else.
Some of the lines that I would like to quote from his ?Swades? review
?SWADES disappoints big time. The story of SWADES would’ve been ideal for a documentary?
?SWADES is high on hype, low on substance and extremely low on entertainment?
How foolish to say that the movie is low on substance. It is the substance which drives the whole movie even with a wafer thin plot. I know people who are watching the movie more than once and who will watch more than once which is extremely low in entertainment. And even in my case, I have already seen it twice and won?t regret watching it again.
?And the incidents in the narrative - SRK visiting a faraway village to recover money from a farmer and learning of his miseries, later bringing in electricity to the village, then his decision of returning to the U.S. - are not the type that would involve you completely.?
Which we all Mouthshut members and almost every other citizens and critics in India felt as the most touching core scenes of the movie are not good according to this great critic.
?You anxiously await the climax of SWADES [partly because LAGAAN had an exhilarating finale] with bated breath, but again, the culmination to the story is sans anything exciting. It’s tame and dull.?
What better climax does he expect from the movie? Does he want Shah Rukh to play cricket with NASA workers to grant him the resignation? It is simply idiotic saying the climax is dull and tame. We can?t expect the same kind of tension building and nail biting moments in every movie. It all depends on the subject and the theme of the movie. Can we think of any better end to the movie?
?Gowariker’s intentions of depicting the problems of rural India may be noble, but it’s not too great an idea of entertainment, specifically for that viewer who is thirsting for entertainment and believes in sunshine/feel-good/escapist cinema.?
Watch out Hindi film goers he is degrading the taste of yours? He is saying the Indian audience has a cheap taste and likes only escapist cinema. Every movie cannot entertain you on the same level; this movie is beyond all those entertaining elements. It has ample amount of emotions in it and makes one think, it makes your heart heavy when you leave the cinema halls especially the NRI?s, the movie is a spark of awakening.
?Clearly, there’s not one track you carry home after the screening has concluded?
People are haunted by the visuals of the song ?Yeh jo desh? song and the Shehnai piece lingers in our mind even after leaving the hall. What a scrap comment on the music?
At the box-office, the film may appeal to a handful of critics [await the 5-star ratings!] and those who believe in this form of cinema, but for a majority of viewers, SWADES will be remembered as a good opportunity gone waste. Rating * ½ .
He himself knows that other critics will give 5 star to this movie but then why should he write degrading statements about the quality of the movie just for the matter that it is not as entertaining as Lagaan and has no usual commercial elements. He should have written a review praising the quality of the movie and should have questioned about whether this kind of realistic movies based on social issues will click with the audience as other critics have done.
His only point of writing review is business and he is never concerned about the quality of the movie. I think Asutosh should have made a call to Taran before he has written the review and should have given some money so that he could have given a positive review with 5 star rating. See how pathetic the situation in India is, to make media appreciate something which is already good as good we must give them money. Definitely many of the likes are misusing the freedom of speech in India.
I give 1 Star out of 5 for his review.
Just a week before he gave ?Musafir? 4 stars. Just see what kind of movies he is encouraging
Comment by rks on 26 February 2008:
“Which we all Mouthshut members and almost every other citizens and critics in India felt as the most touching core scenes of the movie are not good according to this great critic. ”
Even I have problem with that scene. I am not convinced that a person who has lived in that area doesn’t know about that kind of situation.
Comment by akshay shah on 26 February 2008:
Yeah Adarsh is a MORON! His cinematic knowledge is quiet scary at times..
Comment by flora on 26 February 2008:
Taran may be a moron but swades was never going to work at box office and dont say that box office doesnt matter.