Mar 27, 2005 08:11 PM
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(Updated Mar 27, 2005 08:11 PM)
Welcome to the Gowariker genre! Indeed, Ashutosh Gowariker is one of the few contemporary film makers who still choose to make films with a social appeal. In this age of crass commercial cinema making, when I came across Lagaan in 2001, I was elated.
I was excited when Pritish Nandy wrote ?Phew! What A Movie?. I always felt that cinema is one of the biggest and best teachers of our times, only if our film makers realized its potential. Even the latest Hollywood movie ?Polar Express? is such an example with great potential to strengthen religious values in children (especially for the Christian families of America). Lagaan and now Swades with their strong social appeal need to be appreciated as a powerful role model for Bollywood.
Swades released in India on last Friday Dec 17th and I was frantically searching for a good review on dozens of Indian news and entertainment sites but somehow did not agree with any of them because I knew I can definitely expect more of Lagaan-ness from Gowariker.
Lagaan had inspired many intellectuals who usually do not write about films to jump in and write reviews and I was searching for similar intellectual reviews of Swades too. I did find Chidanand Rajghatta and Aseem Chhabra but they both spoke on the theme presented in Swades, about NRIs and their dilemma to return to India or not. Neither spoke about the film itself. So, my caution and curiosity continued until I decided to watch it myself after an exhorting call from my brother to watch Swades and also having read lot of comments by readers on Sulekha that it is a ?must see film by all NRIs?.
And now having watched it, I am once again full of exhilaration and optimism about Bollywood. Pritish Nandy had said ?Phew! What A Movie!? about Lagaan. He would say the same about Swades. He had said ?Move over, James Cameron, Ashutosh Gowariker has arrived?then. We should say ?Move over, Chopras, Johars and others (who have looted public money for their profits and wasted this media), Ashutosh Gowariker has arrived.?
And I don?t mean any exaggeration! Here is a movie with a social message but without any jingoistic dialogues or too much preaching or any other sensational devices used by our usual ?patriotic? film makers. This is a fresh breeze in contrast to other recent post-Kargil films. In short, it is a journey by a NRI into his heartland to search for a lost nanny of his childhood which leads him to discover his own self. What starts as a personal search takes on huge shape and transforms a whole community in the process.
I was pleasantly surprised by the new acting Avatar of Shahrukh Khan whom we have seen only in chocolate-romance tales churned out by Chopras and Johars. This is reminiscent of Amitabh Bachchan and Rajesh Khanna doing similar roles in Hrishikesh Mukherjee?s films such as Namakharam.
Finally, we have at least one director who is keeping the tradition alive of such meaningful yet popular movies. Out of hundred of movies churned out by Bollywood every year, only few turn out to be classics with a meaningful yet popular appeal. T
here was a kind of movement in late eighties when many directors such as Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani made serious social films, they could not run well on the box office. In contrast to these so-called ?art films?, Bollywood had another fine genre of film-makers who could blend ?class? appeal with ?mass? appeal.
Who can forget Bimal Roy?s great films such as Sujata (story of a high-caste boy in love with a low-caste girl), Do Beegha Zameen (story of a poor farmer fighting against poverty and oppression).
V Shantaram?s Do Aankhen Baaraha Haatha remains another great milestone in the history of Bollywood, story of six criminals reformed by their jailor.
Another film to be noted here is B R Chopra?s timeless tale Naya Daur in which the protagonist inspires his fellow villagers to unite and construct a road to fight the onslaught of industrialization.
All these movies transcend the dichotomy of Masala films and Art films. They all have good popular music, big stars and yet touch the hearts and minds of viewers. Some of them are powerful critiques of contemporary social problems.
And this is what we can call as the Gowariker genre, films with popular music, big stars and yet serious social message. Like the films of Bimal Roy and Shantaram, Swades raises many questions and thoughts to ponder for Indians in India as well as outside.
*What are they (back in India) and we (outside India) doing for India? In one of the sequences, Geeta exhorts Mohan to know and understand about his own country before embarking upon studying in USA.
*Like Mohan, how many Indians would be able to answer some basic questions about India?s religions, geography, and history? This is a story of not just NRIs (Non returning Indians) but should also be applied to RNIs (Resident Non Indians).
*Another parallel theme of the film is lack of basic amenities in India such as power. One is left wondering, India is one of the biggest producers of engineers in the world but India remains a power-hungry country.
*Similarly, India is one of the biggest producers of Information Technology professionals, but Indians continue to be lacking basic information about their own country. If each engineer can do what Mohan does for Charanpur??! If each IT professional becomes an intellectual giant about his/her country??.!
Will there be any need of returning physically to India? Can Indians outside India imitate what Jewish Diaspora did for Israel and Chinese diaspora did for China?
These are some powerful yet subtle messages from Swades without resorting to any jingoism or preaching. One can undergo a journey with the protagonist and help discover oneself in the process.