Swades: We, the People (2004)

User Rating:

8.4/10   

Director:

Ashutosh Gowariker

Writers:

M.G. Sathya (story) and
Ashutosh Gowariker (story) ...

Release Date:

17 December 2004 (India)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

We, the people

Plot:

A successful Indian scientist returns to an Indian village to take his nanny to America with him and in the process rediscovers his roots.

Plot Keywords:

India | Village | NASA | Childhood Nanny | Postmaster

Awards:

12 wins & 22 nominations

Cast

Shahrukh Khan	...	Mohan Bhargav
Gayatri Joshi	...	Gita
Kishori Balal	...	Kaveri amma
Smith Seth	...	Chiku (as Master Smith Seth)
Lekh Tandon
Rajesh Vivek	...	Nivaran Dayal Shrivastav
Daya Shankar Pandey	...	Mela Ram
Farrukh Jaffar	...	Fatima Bi
Vishnudutt Gaur
Raja Awasthi
Vishwa S. Badola		(as Visshwa S. Badola)
Bhim Vakani
Rahul Vohra	...	Vinod (as Rahul Vora)
Rajesh Balwani
Bachan Pachehra		(as Bachan Pachera)

Also Known As:

Our Country (International: English title) (USA)
Desam (India: Tamil title) (dubbed version)

Runtime:

India:210 min | USA:189 min

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi | English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | Dolby SR | Mono

Certification:

Australia:G | USA:Not Rated | Germany:o.Al. | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Goddard Space Flight Center - Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA

Company:

Ashutosh Gowariker Productions Pvt. Ltd.

Trivia:

The mahurat (start-of-filming prayer) was done on 2 January 2004 and was given by Aamir Khan.

Movie Connections:

Features Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973)

Soundtrack:

Dekho Na

coming of age

Thank god for swades. Its been ever so often that as Indians we have lamblasted the mushy, one track nonsensical movies that were being churned out by bollywood and yearned for something slightly honest and celebral. And now it seems that the moment has arrived. Swades has finally reached the next level of Indian movie-making with the help of ashutosh, srk and rahman where the execution, the concept and the treatment of the film is at least (i can safely assume) close to world standards. There is no point comparing lagaan (the directors 1st movie) to this movie as his earlier venture was purely fiction with no semblance of realism in it. However this movie has so many ingredients of being a pathbreaker for Indian cinema that its almost scary. The feelings and expectations of an nri set aside, it tells the story of middle and upper class India losing touch with the harsh realities of the sufferings of the less fortunate ones all around us (and the fact that we can do very little to change the ongoing scenario is even more glaring and painful). Besides this the movie also deals with the desires and priorities of humans inspite of the trials and tribulations of daily living.

The maturity of the script, the actors and the score makes it a journey of epic proportions without it looking epic at all. The normalcy of the movie is something which might (and hopefully will) change the way cinema is seen and made in India in the future. One can only hope.