Notes on tech

I'm talking about Swades the movie that I saw on Friday night. Its a fairly minimalistic movie as compared to the other Bollywood products. Its a welcome change. Contrary to what the movie reviews say, I think the movie's theme revolves around mobilizing people and channneling their energies towards a common goal. This is the essence of Gowarikar's Swades.

People who say that its about an NRI's dilemna of returning back to India, are mistaken. Be it Lagaan or Swades, the protagonist of the movie is a peoples man (or atleast knows how to be one). He can see the enemy (the lack of electricity in Swades, the British ruler in Lagaan) and he knows his way out of the mess. He works at grass root level. He is capable of unifying people around him to achieve the goal. Be it Bhuvan in Lagaan or Mohan in Swades, both have never ever attempted something that they are trying to do. In Swades, Mohan knows how to build satellites but has never generated electricity from a hydro plant. Both protagonists have enthusiasm and will power. They know they cannot do it alone and know how to infect people with their enthusiasm. Both become larger than life because they know how to mobilize the latent capabilities and energies of people around them and reach the goal as a team.

Gowarikar knows how to bring out the real acting talent of Shah Rukh Khan. The songs are earthy and hummable. At times the movie does seem a bit lengthy. It seems that the director is hell bent on preaching certain moralistic values. But all in all, I liked the movie cause it reinforces my belief that a lot of latent capabilities within the 70% of India's population that lives in the villages. We just need a Mohan Bhargav to come up with an idea and execute on it.