Swades - Movie Review

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Article Updated 18 December, 2004 02:26:09 AM IST

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'Swades'

'Morality Overflowing'

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Credits
Producer/s:	Ashutosh Gowariker and UTV
Director:	Ashutosh Gowariker
Cast:	Shah Rukh Khan, Gayatri Joshi, Kishori Bilal, Mohan, Raja Awasthi, Smit Sheth, Vishwa S. Badola, Rajesh Balwani, Lekh Tandon
Music:	A.R. Rahman
Lyrics:	Javed Akhtar

The fact that Ashutosh Gowariker's, 'Lagaan' turned out to be one of the biggest hits of 2001 and also won an Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Language Film category made people await the release of 'Swades' with bated breath. Would the director be able to repeat his success story? This film is the real acid test for him. So has he made it or not?

Well, not quite. Unlike 'Lagaan', this is not a commercial film. To begin with 'Swades' is painfully long. But to give credit to the director one has to add that a more competent editor could have made a brilliant film out of this one. This means at least 40 minutes of the film needs to be snipped off! Although set in a rural area, the director has managed to stay away from cheap titillating sequences involving village belles swaying their hips in the fields. But we have to add that the film has not been well researched and there is a lack of attention to details. It makes us wonder if this is the same director who gave us 'Lagaan'!

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