It can’t get any auspicious than this. After 4 days of no internet, I got it back, right on our Independence Day. The problem apparently lay in some cables which might have got snapped due to the ‘Big Splash’. The cable guys at Hathway worked today to repair the cables and set my internet working again :-) Thanks a ton to them.
I had the opportunity to watch Ashutosh Gowariker’s Swades on STAR Gold. Coming soon after the tremendous success of ‘Lagaan’, it must have been difficult process in making a film which would live upto the expectations of the people and Ashutosh has not disappointed. Swades is about Mohan Bhargava (Shahrukh Khan) a Project Manager on Global Precipitation Measurement at NASA. He comes to India to see his nanny in a small village in Uttar Pradesh called Charanpur where he meets his love life Gita (Gayatri Joshi making her debut on the silver screen). The story unfolds when on a trip to a neighbouring village, he sees how people are living under abject poverty and decides to do something about it. He helps in breaking the shackles of age old traditions of caste and creed which are so prevalent in rural India even today. By contructing a small hydel electric project in the village, the protaganist gives the villagers a reason to cheer. Finally his motherland beckons him to come back and the rest is history.
The highlights of the movie are just too many. The narrative itself is very simple and well tackled. The cinematography is excellent and gives one the feeling of being in a rural setting. AR Rahman & Javed Akhtar do it again after Lagaan. The Ramlila song is the highlight for me since it’s written by a non-Hindu and I am too proud about this fact.
Lastly I hope we have a Mohan Bhargava hidden somewhere inside us who can create a revolution and bring happiness to everyone’s hearts. I know that we have become too cynical about the way things have been happening about us but cynicism will only pull us back into that quicksand called hopelessness.
