''Swades: We, the People'' () is a 2004 Indian

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

-language

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

co-written, directed and produced by Ashutosh Gowariker. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan, Gayatri Joshi and Kishori Ballal while Daya Shankar Pandey,

Rajesh Vivek Rajesh Vivek Upadhyay (31 January 1949 – 14 January 2016) was an Indian actor. He is best known to Hindi film audiences for his role as the astrologer Guran in ''Lagaan'' (2001) and as the postmaster Nivaran in '' Swades'' (2004). He had ...

Lekh Tandon Lekh Tandon (13 February 1929 – 15 October 2017) was an Indian filmmaker and actor. He had directed numerous Bollywood movies and Indian TV Serials. He gained national fame due to success of his directorial ventures Professor (1962 film), Prin ...

appear in supporting roles. The plot was based on two episodes of the series ''Vaapsi'' on Zee TV's ''Yule Love Stories'' (1994–95) which had Gowariker playing the role of ''Mohan Bhargav''. The story of the lead role setting up a micro hydroelectric project to generate electricity was reported to be inspired by the 2003 Kannada film ''

Chigurida Kanasu ''Chigurida Kanasu'' () is a 2003 Indian Kannada-language film directed by T. S. Nagabharana and starring Shiva Rajkumar, Anant Nag, Vidhya Venkatesh, Rekha Unnikrishnan and Avinash. It is based on the 1951 novel of the same name by legendary Ka ...

'' which was based on the novel of the same name by

Jnanapith award The Jnanpith Award is the oldest and the highest Indian literary award presented annually by the Bharatiya Jnanpith to an author for their "outstanding contribution towards literature". Instituted in 1961, the award is bestowed only on Indian w ...

ee K. Shivaram Karanth and ''Bapu Kuti'' by Rajni Bakshi. The music and background score was composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics penned by Javed Akhtar. ''Swades'' was theatrically released on 17 December 2004, and it opened to rave reviews from critics, with praise for the performances of Khan, Joshi and Ballal, and the story, screenplay, and soundtrack. However, it emerged as a commercial failure at the box office, At the 50th Filmfare Awards, ''Swades'' received 8 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director (Gowarikar) and Best Music Director (Rahman), and won

Best Actor Best Actor is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actors in a film, television series, television film or play. The term most often refers to th ...

(Khan) and Best Background Score (Rahman). It was dubbed in Tamil as ''Desam'' and released on 26 January 2005, coinciding with

Indian Republic Day Republic Day is a public holiday in India where the country marks and celebrates the date on which the Constitution of India came into effect on 26 January 1950. This replaced the Government of India Act 1935 as the governing document of Indi ...

. Despite its commercial failure, ''Swades'' is regarded ahead of its time and is now considered a

cult classic A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

Hindi cinema Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

and one of the best films in Shah Rukh Khan's filmography. Shahrukh's performance in this film is regarded as among the best performances of his career. The film is owned by

Red Chillies Entertainment Red Chillies Entertainment is an Indian visual effects, production and distribution company established by actor Shah Rukh Khan and his wife Gauri Khan in 2002. It was transformed from the defunct Dreamz Unlimited. Based in Mumbai, the stu ...

Plot

Mohan Bhargava is a non-resident Indian who works as a Project Manager on the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) program at

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...

in the United States. Mohan came to U. S. for college studies and kept on living there after his parents in India died in a car accident. He keeps worrying about Kaveri Amma, a nanny at his home in

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

who looked after him during his childhood days. After his parents' death, Kaveri Amma went to live in an old age home in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders wi ...

and eventually lost contact with Mohan. Mohan wishes to go to India and bring Kaveri Amma back with him to the U. S. Due to the recent success of Phase I of his project, he takes a few weeks off and travels to India. He goes to the old age home but learns that Kaveri Amma no longer lives there and went to a village named Charanpur a year ago. Mohan then decides to travel to Charanpur, in

. Mohan decides to rent a

recreational vehicle A recreational vehicle, often abbreviated as RV, is a motor vehicle or trailer that includes living quarters designed for accommodation. Types of RVs include motorhomes, campervans, coaches, caravans (also known as travel trailers and camp ...

to reach the village fearing that he might not get the required facilities there. Upon reaching Charanpur, he meets Kaveri Amma and learns how his childhood friend Geeta (whom he called "Gitli" in his childhood) brought Kaveri Amma to stay with her after Mohan's parents died. Geeta runs a school in Charanpur and works hard to improve the living conditions of the villagers through education. However, the village is divided largely by caste and religious beliefs. Geeta does not like Mohan's arrival as she thinks that he will take Kaveri Amma back with him to the U. S., leaving her and her younger brother Nandan "Chiku" alone. Kaveri Amma tells Mohan that she needs to get Geeta married first and that it is her responsibility. Geeta believes in women empowerment and gender equality. This attracts Mohan towards Geeta and he too tries to help her by campaigning for education among backward communities and also girls. Mohan befriends villagers Nivaaran and Melaram, and they support him in his campaign. Mohan also wins the attention of Dadaji, a kind village chief. Slowly love blossoms between Mohan and Geeta. Kaveri Amma asks Mohan to visit a nearby village named Kodi, and collect money from a man named Haridas who owes it to Geeta. The story gives a journey to Mohan very similar to what happened to

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, Anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure ...

after he came back from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

. Mohan visits Kodi and feels pity seeing Haridas' poor condition, which is such that he is unable to provide his family with meals every day. Haridas tells Mohan that since his caste profession of a weaver wasn't earning him any money, he shifted to tenant farming. But this change in profession led to his ostracization from the village and the villagers even denied him water for his crops. Mohan understands the pathetic situation and realises that many villages in India are still like Kodi. He returns to Charanpur with a heavy heart and decides to do something for the welfare of the village. Mohan extends his leave by three more weeks. He learns that electricity inconsistency and frequent power cuts are a big problem in Charanpur. He decides to set up a small hydroelectric power generation facility from a nearby water source. Mohan purchases all the equipment needed from his own funds and oversees the building of the power generation unit. The unit works and the village gets sufficient, consistent power from it. Dadaji's health deteriorates and he passes away. Mohan is repeatedly called by

officials as the GPM project he was working on is reaching important stages and he has to return to the U. S. soon. Kaveri Amma tells him that she prefers to stay in Charanpur as it will be difficult for her to adapt to a new country at her age. Geeta also tells him that she will not settle down in another country and she would prefer it if Mohan stay in India with her and Kaveri Amma. Mohan returns to the U. S. with a heavy heart to complete the project. However, in the U. S., he has flashbacks of his time in India and wishes to return. After the successful completion of his project, he leaves U. S. and returns to India with intentions of working at the

Vikram Sarabhai Space Center The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) is a major space research centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), focusing on rocket and space vehicles for India's satellite programme. It is located in Thiruvananthapuram, in the India ...

, from where he can also work with

. The film ends by showing Mohan staying in the village and wrestling with his friend Nivaaran near a temple.

Cast

* Shah Rukh Khan as Mohan Bhargava * Gayatri Joshi as Geeta "Gitli" (Chiku's elder sister and Mohan's childhood friend/love interest) * Kishori Ballal as Kaveri Amma (Mohan's nanny) *

as Nivaaran Dayal Srivastava (Postman at Charanpur) *

as Dadaji * Daya Shankar Pandey as Mela Ram (A eatery owner at Charanpur) * Smith Sheth as Nandan "Chiku" (Geeta's younger brother) * Bachan Pachehra as Haridas * Vishnu Dutt Gaur as Mr. Vishnu Dutt (Charanpur Panchayat Member) *

Farrukh Jaffar Farrukh Jaffar (1933 – 15 October 2021) was an Indian actress and radio presenter in Bollywood. Having begun her career with Vividh Bharti in 1963, she made a transition into acting with a supporting role in the 1981 film '' Umrao Jaan''. Ja ...

as Panch Fatima Bi * Visshwa Badola as Panch Munishwar * Bhim Vakani as Panch Narayan * Dilip Ambekar as Panch Hariya * Raja Awasthi as Panch Gungadin * Rahul Vohra as Vinod Raaz * Rajesh Balwani as Rahul Sinha * Peter Rawley as John Stockton * Mayuri Bagade as Book Store Girl * Makrand Deshpande as traveller who shows Mohan the way to Charanpur

Production

Motivation

''Swades'' is inspired by the story of Aravinda Pillalamarri and Ravi Kuchimanchi, the NRI couple who returned to India and developed a pedal power generator to light remote, off-the-grid village schools. Gowariker spent considerable time with Aravinda and Ravi, both dedicated

Association for India's Development The Association for India's Development, Inc. (AID) is a secular charity organization based in the United States which promotes "sustainable, equitable and just development". AID has won several awards for its work, including the 'Global Impact Aw ...

(AID) volunteers. He supposedly visited Bilgaon, an

Adivasi The Adivasi refers to inhabitants of Indian subcontinent, generally tribal people. The term is a Sanskrit word coined in the 1930s by political activists to give the tribal people an indigenous identity by claiming an indigenous origin. The te ...

village in the Narmada valley, which is the backdrop of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) movement. The people of Bilgaon are credited with doing 200 person-days of ''shramdaan'' (community service) to make their village energy self-sufficient. The Bilgaon project is recognised as a model for replication by the

Government of Maharashtra The Government of Maharashtra is the state governing authority for the states of india, state of Maharashtra, India. It is a democratically elected State governments of India, government with 288 Member of the Legislative Assembly (India), MLAs ...

Themes

's great-grandson, Tushar Gandhi, noted the theme of

Gandhism Gandhism is a body of ideas that describes the inspiration, vision, and the life work of M.K. Gandhi. It is particularly associated with his contributions to the idea of nonviolent resistance, sometimes also called civil resistance. The term ...

in the film. The name of the main character portrayed by Shah Rukh Khan is Mohan, which was Gandhi's birth name (Mohandas or "Mohan"). The film opens with the quotation: Gowariker tries to address the lack of scientific temperament and widespread ignorance among the rural folks through the energetic number "Ye Tara Wo Tara", where Mohan is seen encouraging the children to experience the fascinating world of stars through his telescope. In a symbolic manner, the song rejects the defunct divisions of caste and class and at the same time, through its protagonist, tries to instill in the audience an appreciation of curiosity and observation.

Casting and filming

Gowariker initially offered Mohan's role to Aamir Khan (who worked in Gowariker's ''

Lagaan ''Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India'' () is a 2001 Indian Hindi-language sports drama film written and directed by Ashutosh Gowariker. The film was produced by Aamir Khan, who stars alongside debutant Gracy Singh and British actors Rachel ...

'' (2001)), but he rejected it because he found the story to be weak. Mohan's role was then offered to Hrithik Roshan, who refused after reading the script. Gowariker then offered Mohan's role to Shah Rukh, who finally accepted it after listening to the story and he started crying during the story's narration. Bhanu Athaiya, an Oscar winner for '' Gandhi'' (1982), was the costume designer for the film. ''Swades'' was the first Indian film to be shot inside the

headquarters and inside the NASA research center at the Launch Pad 39A of the

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 196 ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

. The rainfall monitoring satellite known as the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) in the film is an actual

mission and was launched in 2014. A major part of the film was shot in

Menawali Menavli is a village about three kilometres from Wai in the Satara district. The village's claim to fame is due to the palace (wada) built by Nana Fadnavis, 18th century Maratha statesman and the regent of Peshwa Madhavrao II. Fadnavis Wada Th ...

, Maharashtra.

Reception

Critical reception

The film received critical acclaim and went on to become a cult classic, and Khan's performance as Mohan Bhargava is considered one of his best to date. Subhash K. Jha of ''Indiatimes Movies'' gave the film 4.5 stars out of 5 and said, "''Swades'' is a unique experiment with grassroots realism. It is so politically correct in its propagandist message that initially you wonder if the

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

funded the director's dream." Mayank Shekhar from '' MiD DAY'' gave it 4 stars, stating, "I cannot think of a better film for the longest that deserved a stronger recommendation for both touring cinemas of India's villages, and plush multiplexes of

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

Jitesh Pillai Jitesh Pillaai is an Indian journalist editor of ''Filmfare'' magazine. He is also the host of the famously Filmfare tv show. References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Indian newspaper journalists Indian magazine e ...

of the '' Sunday Times of India'' gave the film 4 stars and said "After ''Lagaan'', what? The answer's blowing in the wind. ''Swades''! Here's the verdict: This is a gutsy and outstanding film. Welcome back to real, solid film-making." He added, "''Swades'' is undoubtedly the No. 1 movie of the year." Shradha Sukumaran of ''Mid-Day'' gave it 3.5 stars and said, "At the end of it, ''Swades'' is a far braver film than ''Lagaan''. It could have hit the high note – if it hadn't tried so hard." Avijit Ghosh wrote in '' The Telegraph'', "With its gentle humour, the film acts as an entertaining vehicle for social change. And hopefully, it will do more for positive nationalism than the Union government's Directorate of Audio Visual Publicity (DAVP) ads ever will." The film was reported to be inspired by two episodes of the series titled ''Vaapsi'' on Zee TV's ''Yule Love Stories'' (1993–95). The story of the lead role setting up a micro hydro electric project to generate electricity was reported to be inspired by the Kannada novel ''

'' by K. Shivaram Karanth and ''Bapu Kuti'' by Rajni Bakshi.

Box office

''Swades'' earned net box office in India. In the overseas market, the film made $2,790,000. It had a lifetime worldwide gross of . The film topped the

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of ...

box office on its opening weekend. The movie was declared a flop domestically and a hit overseas, earning ₹34.26 crore worldwide on a budget of ₹21 crore.

Soundtrack

The song "Dekho Naa" is a modified version of the song "Kichchu Tha" from the film, '' Baba'' (2002). On 27 March 2021, members of

United States Navy Band The United States Navy Band, based at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., has served as the official musical organization of the U.S. Navy since 1925. The U.S. Navy Band serves the ceremonial needs at the seat of government, performi ...

sang "Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera" for Taranjit Singh Sandhu, the Ambassador of India to the United States and

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

Chief of Naval Operations at a special dinner event. The video of the band members singing surfaced on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

and received praise and nostalgia from

Shahrukh Khan Shah Rukh Khan (; born 2 November 1965), also known by the initialism SRK, is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who works in Hindi films. Referred to in the media as the " Baadshah of Bollywood", "King of Bollywood ...

, A. R. Rahman and netizens alike.

Tamil version

The Tamil soundtrack under the title ''Desam'' was composed by A.R. Rahman. All Lyrics were written by Vaali. According to the Indian trade website

Box Office India Box Office India is an Indian film website. Its traffic ranking in India is 83,665 . A new Box Office India website went live on 20 January 2014. About Box Office India was launched on 10 June 2003. Its uses Whois privacy to anonymize its ...

, with around 13,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the eleventh highest-selling of the year.

Awards

; National Film Awards * Best Male Playback Singer – Udit Narayan for "Yeh Taara Woh Taara" *

Best Cinematography This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

– Mahesh Aney ; ;

Global Indian Film Awards Global Indian Film Awards (GIFA) was an awards ceremony held between 2005 and 2007, conceptualized to acknowledge excellence in the Indian Film industry and honour artists in 28 categories across various genres, from acting to film making. It is ...

– Shahrukh Khan * Best Newcomer – Gayatri Joshi ;

Zee Cine Awards The Zee Cine Award (ZCA) is an Indian awards ceremony for the Hindi film industry. They were instituted in November 1997 to award "Excellence in cinema - the democratic way". They were first held in Mumbai until 2004, when the ZCA went internat ...

* Best Director (Critics) – Ashutosh Gowariker * Best Female Debut – Gayatri Joshi * Best Story – Ashutosh Gowariker *Best Sound Re-recording – Hitendra Ghosh ; Star Screen Awards * Most Promising Female Newcomer – Gayatri Joshi ; Stardust Awards *

Dream Director The ''Dream Director'' was a touring installation by artist Luke Jerram, which continued the artist's exploration of creating art inside people's heads ("on the edges of perception") rather than in the physical world. It was first staged in Brist ...

– Ashutosh Gowariker ; Bollywood Movie Awards * Best Female Debut – Gayatri Joshi ;Film Café Awards * Best Actor – Shahrukh Khan ; 50th Filmfare Awards: Won *

– Shah Rukh Khan * Best Background Score – A. R. Rahman Nominated * Best Film – Ashutosh Gowariker * Best Director – Ashutosh Gowariker * Best Music Director – A. R. Rahman * Best Lyricist – Javed Akhtar for "Yeh Taara Woh Taara" * Best Male Playback Singer –

Udit Narayan Udit is an Indian masculine given name that may refer to: * Udit Narayan, Bollywood playback singer *Udit Narayan (politician) (born 1960), Fijian politician of Indian descent *Udit Narayan Singh (1770–1835), Indian monarch * Udit Patel (born 19 ...

and Master Vignesh for "Yeh Taara Woh Taara" * Best Female Playback Singer – Alka Yagnik for "Saawariya"

Legacy

Khan again played a scientist named Mohan Bhargav in the 2022 film '' Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva'', which was directed by Ayan Mukerji, who co-wrote Swades.

Notes

External links

* * *
Official site

Reviews

BBC review
– '' BBC''
Times of India review
– ''

Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'' {{A. R. Rahman 2004 films Films directed by Ashutosh Gowariker 2000s Hindi-language films 2004 drama films Indian films based on actual events Hindi-language films based on actual events Films about social issues in India Films whose cinematographer won the Best Cinematography National Film Award Films scored by A. R. Rahman Indian drama films UTV Motion Pictures films Hindi-language drama films Films set in Uttar Pradesh