Swades !!!!

Saw SWADES yesterday, i was deeply moved by it.

Remember the kids running around in Indian trains doing petty jobs like cleaning, singing, vending or outright begging ? Who would not be moved looking at the sorry picture thses kids make ... Shahrukh getting angry and frustrated in the train was the high point of the movie for me. Believe it or not, I did want to cry out, a few tears rolling helpessly down my cheeks. We cannot be called a nation, leave alone a great one, if we dont wipe illiteracy, unemployment, poverty and child labour from our motherland. Now having lived outside the country for some time, I guess my self-defense mechanism of apathy has grown weaker and such things do bother my conscience now. In India, no one gives a damn about beggars, children wiping cars at signals and shameful things like that. Just the way we are immune to many microorganisms the westerners would succumb to in a week, we are totally immune and insensitive to thses social evils, so much that we just take it as an 'integral' part of India. As much as we claim Kashir to be one with India, these deep rooted evils are also one with India and I am afraid, Indian-ness. We need actions from individuals, not policies from invisible buerocrats.

Okkkkay, another outstanding feature of the movie is the underplayed romantic angle. One rarely sees decent looks and decent clothes going hand in hand. Why do our cinema makers think that audience wants to see explicit obscenity ? Indian girls and Indian clothes are an irresistible combination, I havnt found anyone denying this yet, and I would love to see more characters like the one Gayatri Joshi played. Thats the lovable and realistic face of the fairer sex.

Go on, see Swades and make it a superhit ! Let doing something for the country become the latest fashion and passion among NRIs and Indian city dwellers.