Ashutosh Gowariker’s Swades contains two homecomings. One is of its lead character, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration engineer who chucks up a cushy job for life in a village. The other is of the lead actor, Shah Rukh Khan.
In his journey to superstardom, which began with television, Khan has often privileged performativeness over performance. Flamboyance, coolness and stylishness come effortlessly to this mega-watt charmer. In Swades, Khan is required to be buttoned-up and dialled down – and he delivers in full measure.
Swades, which is available on Netflix, turns 20 this year. The country that it celebrates as well as reproaches turns 77 on August 15. No list of films commemorating Indian independence from colonisation is complete without Swades. Despite its critique of the unfulfilled promises of the freedom movement, the movie is as patriotic as they come.
Media reports have pointed out that Swades’s hero, Mohan Bhargav, had been previously played by Gowariker himself in the television serial Yule Love Stories in the mid-1990s. Gowariker and co-story writer MG Sathya repurposed the character for Swades, adding layers inspired by real-life activists working in rural areas.
Swades examines the tension between an idealistic desire to serve and post-Independent reality. The orphaned Mohan (Khan) visits India to look up his nanny Kaveri (Kishori Ballal). Mohan tracks down Kaveri in Charanpur and hopes to take her back to the United States with him.
A series of incidents complicates Mohan’s plan. Kaveri doesn’t want to leave Charanpur. Mohan falls for Geeta (Gayatri Joshi), the principled school teacher. Then there are the affectionate people of Charanpur, from the postman who is also a wrestler (Rajesh Vivek) to the proto-entrepreneur who wants to make it big in America (Daya Shankar Pandey).
There are also hidebound characters, who are casteist, who don’t think girls deserve an education, and who are unperturbed by the lack of basic amenities such as electricity. Mohan’s Nehruvian-style discovery of India is riddled with obstacles, which are surmounted easily enough to the tune of AR Rahman’s stupendous soundtrack.
Rahman’s songs, coupled with Khan’s unimpeachable performance, are among the highlights of Swades. The 195-minute movie appeared old-fashioned even at the time of its release, especially in its 1950s-style treatment of deep-seated inequities. Were it not for Khan in the lead role, the simplistic return-to-roots plea might not have had its impact.
Gowariker’s astute casting choice pays rich dividends. Khan is restrained at all times, whether arguing with fossilised panchayat members or romancing Geeta (it’s a miracle that she resists him for as long as she does). A host of charming secondary actors complements Khan’s low-grade but unmistakeable magnetism.
The stand-out sequences revolve around Mohan’s encounters with the Indians he has left behind. Mohan’s travels on crowded boats and trains bring out his assimilation with as well his distance from his fellow citizens. These scenes have more power than other corny moments, such as when an elderly woman says “Bijli!” after electricity finally comes to her hut.
Gowariker puts Khan’s iconic come-into-my-arms gesture to brilliant use in the song Yeh Tara Who Tara. Khan’s expansive persona seamlessly segues into Mohan’s mission to unite villagers divided on caste lines. The song’s setting – an open-air screening of Yaadon Ki Baraat (1973) – is apposite. Cinema has the power to create change, Gowariker earnestly says.
Mohan’s transformation is conveyed entirely through another song. Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera, apart from being one of AR Rahman’s finest compositions, is the kind of tear-jerking, guilt-inducing tune that might briefly encourage non-resident Indians to burn their American passports.
Amidst the unconvincing speechifying, another purely cinematic moment lingers in memory: Mohan dipping his feet into the water body he helped create. He has finally come home, as has the actor who plays him with remarkable control and conviction.
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