Swades- We- The People

An Online Journal for Indian Cinema

Swades- We- The People

"I don't believe India is the greatest country, but I believe we have the potential to be one" Action over Rhetoric:

Directed by Ashutosh Gowariker and starring Shah Rukh Khan in his most understated, brilliant avatar, Swades is not a film about a man who saves a village. It is a film about a man who realizes that the village doesn’t need a savior—it needs electricity. And more than that, it needs its own people to care. Swades- We- the People

Swades dismantles the binary of “rural vs. urban” and “India vs. abroad.” It says that the problem is not the lack of resources; it is the lack of will —specifically, the will of those who have left. The film is a mirror held up to every Indian who has ever said, “I will do something for my country… one day.” "I don't believe India is the greatest country,