5 days Ago
Swades With Swades (2004), Ashutosh Gowariker set out to address a number of social issues - illiteracy, child labour , tribal welfare, girl child education, casteism, and more. Through the film, he wanted to say - nationalism is about what you can do for the upliftment of your country. He shares,"All of that needed to be brought in through very simple parallel tracks to create the whole of how Mohan Bhargav undergoes that change.
" As Swades marks 20 years, Gowariker looks at the film with mixed emotions. He feels that on one hand, there’s dissatisfaction - it didn’t perform as well at the box office as he’d hoped. But on the other, there’s immense gratitude.
“At least the film has reached people, and even the next generation is watching it now,” he says. In an interview, he shared the journey of Swades and the character of Mohan Bhargava played by Shah Rukh Khan . How Swades came into being Swades was a TV serial episode that Ashutosh Gowariker had acted in, in 1996, and that episode stayed in his mind.
He took the rights of the story from M.G. Sathya and told him that it has potential for a film.
Ashutosh Gowariker recalls,"I thought, this should be made as a feature, and I want to do it as a feature. I brought him on board, and he is also my co-writer on Swades. It was also written by Vinod Rangnathan and Anand Subramaniyam.
I played Mohan Bhargav in the show, and I connected with it very strongly.The episode and acting stayed in my mind. After I did Lagaan, though Jodhaa Akbaras a concept was in my head, I wanted to express the state of the country that I felt at that point, in terms of Mera Bharat Mahaan and all those things.
That's why I expanded that episode into a screenplay.The nationalism theme was something that I brought into the film Swades. Nationalism as a theme needs to be inculcated in each one of us because we feel patriotic very, very easily, especially when it is about a nation versus another nation.
For example, if it's a cricket match - or, sadly, if it's a war. But I thought nationalism is the feeling of what you can do for the upliftment of your country. It is something that needed to be expressed.
That's what I wanted to bring in Swades. 116400625 'I look back at the film with these two mixed emotions' Ashutosh Gowariker recalls,"At that time, when Swades was released, I was thinking it would get a better box office reception, but it did not. Obviously, people's expectations about what I was doing after Lagaan or what Shah Rukh was doing as an actor in this kind of a character - it shocked a lot of people.
So, it did not connect so much then, box-office-wise. But over the years, when it came to satellite, when it came out on DVD, it started connecting with people. The admiration for the film grew.
I'm full of gratitude that even today the film is liked so much and is being seen by the next generations also. Looking back at Swades, I just have two emotions in me - when you have a box office success, it means that maximum people are able to see it. But despite that, even today, the number of people who are watching Swades on OTT makes me feel that, somewhere, the film has finally reached.
So, I look back at the film with dissatisfaction - in terms of what it should have done at the box office. But there is a certain satisfaction that at least the film has reached everyone. I look back at the film with these two mixed emotions.
" 'Every character contributes to a change that Mohan Bhargav must go through' Swades has memorable characters, whether it is Mela Ram saying, "Apni chaukhat ka diya, giving light to neighbour's house," or the sadhu who tells Mohan, "Raaste galat nahi hote, log galat hote hain." How did Ashutosh find these characters? He shares,"I thought that every character who was created had to contribute to Mohan Bhargav's journey. Everyone had to contribute in some way to his experience of village life, including the panchayat.
The five panchayat members, in very different ways, connect with him. They make him change in many ways - one person asks him about his caste, another asks, 'Why are you interfering in village life? Since you have come to the village, you see the village life and leave. Don't try to change things here.
' Then there is Fatima Bi, who says that ultimately, he has to live in India. And there is the classic K.P.
Saxena line, 'Apne hi paani mein pighal jana barf ka muqaddar hota hai.' It is a great metaphor that he used. So, every character, including Chiku, contributes to a change that Mohan Bhargav must go through, which is why, when we expanded it into a film, all these characters became very, very important.
" 'When there is important philosophy to be quoted (in a dialogue) that summarizes a huge idea into a simple line, I like to employ people from literature' When Ashutosh Gowariker writes dialogues, he writes in English. He says that he doesn't write Hindi dialogues unless they are elementary and basic. "When there is important philosophy to be quoted that summarizes a huge idea into a simple line, I like to employ people from literature.
Padma Shri K.P. Saxena Saheb, who is no longer with us, was a satirist and writer from Lucknow.
He contributed to all three of our films - Lagaan, Swades, and Jodhaa Akbar. He would bring in these little nuggets that beautifully conveyed what I was trying to express on screen." Filming Swades in NASA and creating Charanpur with four villages in Maharashtra Ashutosh Gowariker's brief to his production designer, Nitin Desai (who is also no longer with us), was that they needed to create a village that was not a fairytale village but utopian and dystopian at the same time.
He says, "After dystopia, Mohan Bhargav will make it utopian. So, we needed to create a Charanpur for that, and we combined four villages to create Charanpur in Wai (an hour away from Pune) in Maharashtra."The first introduction scene of Mohan Bhargav features all NASA officers.
Ashutosh shares, "I requested them that, since we are doing a scene at NASA, I don't want to call extras. The NASA officers can just come and participate. They all enjoyed it because they had never visited a film set or film shoot before.
I look at NASA with great fondness because no other film has been shot at NASA except Apollo 13, which is about the launch. When I approached them for Swades, it was a shot in the dark. I was hoping that they would read it and give it a chance.
They read it, evaluated it, and gave us permission for where we could shoot and where we couldn't, and that's how it happened." There were a lot of nuanced things that only Bhanu Athaiya could design Ashutosh and Bhanu Athaiya worked together during Lagaan, so, she was his first choice. He explains,"My only doubt was if she would say yes.
She had enjoyed the Lagaan experience, and Swades was something that was more contemporary - a village, but still contemporary. Mohan Bhargav had to look very simple when he comes to India and very formal when he is at NASA. So, there were different looks that we had to create.
We had to give him a half-sleeve shirt and simple jeans. Even Geeta is someone who believes in simplicity. Now that she has embraced village life, there are still certain elements of city life that she has brought with her.
So, there were a lot of nuanced things that only Bhanu Athaiya could design." The trio of Ashutosh Gowariker, Javed Akhtar and AR Rahman came back for Swades after Lagaan Ashutosh shares,"After Lagaan, the experience of working together - the three of us, Javed Saheb, Rahman, and me - was so exciting that when we came to Swades, it was the complete opposite of what we had done in Lagaan. Swades was more of an internal film, and the lyrics also needed to reflect one's heart and what was going on in one's mind.
So, whether it was Ye Jo Des Hai Tera, Mann Se Raavan Jo Nikaale, or Yun Hi Chala Chal, the sadhu was trying to tell Mohan to go on the path, go into the unknown, and not be afraid of failure or defeat - all of this had to be expressed with the right blend of composition and words. I think both Javed Saheb and Rahman were brilliant for that." I am proud to have worked on a movie that was life changing: AR Rahman “There are certain movies which are beyond just movies, they are life changing and penetrate to the consciousness of communities and a nation itself.
Swades is one such film. I remember when it released, the film had a profound impact on many Indians living abroad, it made them remember their land. In Tamil, the one song, unthan desathin kural, influenced a lot of people and made them remember Tamil Nadu and even Sri Lanka.
I was told that many NRI’s came back to India, after seeing the movie to start businesses in India . I am proud to have worked on a movie that was life changing and I loved the process of making the songs with Ashutosh, Javed Akhtar Saab, all the singers, musicians and of course the great cast ; Shah Rukh and Gayatri.”.
