Swades (2004)
"Swades: We, the People" (original title)

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

Director:

Ashutosh Gowariker

Writers:

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

Stars:

Shah Rukh Khan, Gayatri Joshi, Kishori Balal

12 wins & 23 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Shah Rukh Khan	...	Mohan Bhargav
Gayatri Joshi	...	Gita
Kishori Balal	...	Kaveri amma
Smith Seth	...	Chiku (as Master Smith Seth)
Lekh Tandon	...	Dadaji - Freedom Fighter
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)

Storyline

Set in modern day India, Swades is a film that tackles the issues that development throws up on a grass root level. It is to this India, which is colorful, heterogeneous and complex that Mohan Bhargava (Shah Rukh Khan), a bright young scientist working as a project manager in NASA, returns to on a quest to find his childhood nanny. The film uses the contrast between the highly developed world of NASA, which has been at the forefront of advances in space research, and this world back home in India, which is at the crossroads of development. Mohan's simple quest becomes the journey that every one of us goes through in search of that metaphysical and elusive place called "home".

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Plot Keywords:

india | village | nasa | postmaster | childhood nanny | 

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Taglines:

We, the people

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi English

Release Date:

17 December 2004 (India)

Also Known As:

Swades

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

£96,842 (UK) (17 December 2004)

Gross:

$1,223,240 (USA) (4 February 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ashutosh Gowariker Productions Pvt. Ltd., Dillywood, UTV Motion Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

210 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital Dolby SR Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Aamir Khan:  among the child artists shown in the movie Yadon Ki Baraat.

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Goofs

In the book store where Mohan meets Geeta for the first time, while billing he mistakenly checks the price for Hindi book "Bal Bharti" and bills for Mathematics.

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Quotes

Mela Ram: Apni chaukhat ka diya, giving light to neighbor's house

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Connections

Referenced in Golmaal: Fun Unlimited (2006)

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Soundtracks

"Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera"
Sung by A.R. Rahman
Lyrics by Javed Akhtar
Composed by A.R. Rahman

User Reviews

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.