The Hindu Business Line : Caught behind?

Swades was a film that was eagerly awaited by the masses as well as the more discerning cinema goers, but it has failed to live up to expectations at the box office. The Ashutosh Gowariker magic that took Lagaan all the way to the Oscars three years ago, seems to have not worked this time.

It has won rave reviews for performances, though. Shah Rukh Khan as Mohan Bhargav shows why he is called `King Khan', newcomer Gayatri Joshi, just like Gracy Singh in Lagaan, is perfect for the role, the music is catchy and Swades is shorter a film (by 28 minutes) compared to Lagaan. All's well... and yet something is missing.

However, the director is unruffled. "This is a different film and hasn't got its audience yet. It is a slow starter, but definitely not a loser," says Gowariker. The film, in fact, picked up in the US after steadying in the UK. And back home, in centres like Bihar, where Shah Rukh Khan does not have a big market, the demand for prints went up. "Post second-week there was a demand for eight more prints in Bihar and I take it as a positive note," he adds.

It's his second consecutive movie on a rural theme after Lagaan. Swades was released after a three-year wait. "The rural setting is a big coincidence. As far as the wait is concerned, I tasted success after two big flops and thought of enjoying it. Hence I followed Lagaan wherever it took me," he replies.

Many have called the movie a modern-day Krishi Darshan or a three-hour-long Bollywood-style documentary. Gowariker disagrees. "It has a sincere message in it; a heartfelt emotion that needs time to be created on screen. I want my audience to discover Charanpur with Mohan Bhargav and go on the journey with him," says Gowariker. The movie talks not only about the brain-drain from cities, but also "from the grassroots. I just wanted to share my emotions with the audiences... if opportunities aren't there, they need to be created. I want my audience to think after they come out of the hall as to what best they can do," adds Gowariker.

A big challenge for any filmmaker to take on such a theme, even as expectations pile up with a hit like Lagaan to your credit. However, Gowariker thinks otherwise. "I said `why not'; as the director of Lagaan, take this project on as it would find an audience otherwise hard to find. Believe me, post-Lagaan, making Swades was a cakewalk!"

Gowariker creating a film like Swades is no surprise, but the absence of Aamir Khan in the film is. Casting Shah Rukh as Mohan Bhargav was something that even took "Aamir, at one point, by surprise. We had a hearty chat and he agreed to my vision of Mohan Bhargav. For people to see someone they have seen dancing on trains or coming home in a helicopter in such a role would be quite unpredictable. This is what I wanted to show and Shah Rukh only followed what I had to say on the sets. He'd say: `You know Mohan better'," he says.

With this film, the director has also turned producer by launching his production company, Ashutosh Gowariker Production Pvt Ltd (AGPPL). "I firmly believe that cinema needs to be entertaining but, at the same time, it must have a message. I don't mind being dubbed a `rural' filmmaker. As long as my films have a message to convey, I'll make them. However, at the moment, I am oscillating between two scripts that I have," he says.

Irrespective of the film's box-office result, if "heartfelt emotion" is what he made Swades for, then Ashutosh Gowariker certainly is a winner.

Picture by Sandeep Saxena

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