Ashutosh Gowariker’s Swades: Shah Rukh Khan film is the patriotic movie we deserve, not jingoic propaganda pieces

It has been 18 years since Shah Rukh Khan‘s Mohan Bhargava drank the water from an earthen mug to its very last drop, as if emptying it will ensure that the child’s effort to sell the water was not in vain. The script of Swades reads at this point in the narrative, “Tears flow from Mohan’s eyes, with feelings of helplessness, frustration, anger, and sorrow.” He could not help the child who is caught in a cycle of poverty and oppression. He is forced to sell this basic necessity of life for his survival, and most likely has no access to clean drinking water for his personal consumption. The four adjectives previously mentioned in the screenplay come to mind, and then one looks at the sequence to compare what the actor has done with it. Khan, shedding his fan favourite romantic avatar, keeps Mohan Bhargava real and understated — a man dealing with the truths of his country and its people, and his own durbed conscience in Ashutosh Gowariker’s Swades (2004).

His hair neatly parted to the side, often caught smoking a cigarette thoughtfully, Shah Rukh was seen playing a drastically different kind of urbane man (a NASA engineer) in the quietly rousing movie. Of course, the audience did not lap it up, because it was the early noughties, and this time, King Khan had pretty much cemented his status as The King Khan. The arte in Shah Rukh had perhaps prompted him to break the monotony of those charming albeit predictable romances. He was looking for something different, his fandom, however, was not. Years later, the Gowariker film has successfully achieved the status of a modern classic.
In fact, Gowariker’s treatment of the story, AR Rahman’s music and the late KP Saxena’s dialogues are all elements from the film the present day directors would do well to note. Rahman’s soulful, memorable soundtrack was not just there for music or entertainment’s sake (although it did that job well too); it was a pleasant, meaningful companion of the narrative. Be it the title track (sung the composer himself), “Yun Hi Chala Chal Raahi” or “Yeh Taara Woh Taara,” each song conveyed the emotions of its characters, gave us a peek of what was going in their mind or aided in the storytelling process saying it musically.

Saxena’s dialogues are still topical and immensely quotable. Be it when Mohan reminds the villagers of how India is not ‘mahaan’ or when Gayatri Joshi’s character Geeta dares to question her one suitor about his family’s issues with her willingness to work post marriage — “Kya shaadi ke baad ghar aur bachche aadmi ke utne nahi jitne aurat ke? Toh dono mein se ek zyada balidaan kyu de?” (Doesn’t both, the house as well as the children, belong to man and woman? Then why does the society expect females to make all the sacrifice, why cannot it be a partnership instead?).

We are at a juncture in the nation’s hory where spaces of freedom for the minority are continually threatened, where patriarchy still has its chokehold on the citizens, where we are still referred to as a ‘developing’ nation despite being independent for more than seven decades. This, then, makes Swades, a woefully relevant movie. You, of course, cannot look towards the film to seek answers, but it does raise pertinent questions about India we have on our hands, and the India our revolutionary leaders had hoped it would become. In fact, Swades’ lead star and country’s megastar sometimes seems to hold a mirror to us, inadvertently, in order to show us how far we have ‘progressed’ as Indians (read doubting a gesture made in grace and faith at a beloved singer’s funeral, for instance.)
Ashutosh’s film is a far cry from the jingoic movies made of late in the name of patriotism. Shorn of nationalism, Swades embodied pure intentions of the team. This is the genre which our producers, writers and directors should be willing to explore more, and if that is not their cup of tea (pun intended), then at least they should resolve not to make lazy movies full to the brim with nationalic propaganda, and throw it at us in the name of cinema. We deserve better.