Swades: let us begin with the most basic question: did you like it or not? i loved it!!!!!!!!!!! i wanted to go out and hug Ashutosh for giving India the best year end gift! i wish i had directed the film(probably shorter) firstly, SRK acts! he looks the part dresses the part and enjoys the part and he gives Aamir a run for his money. SRK has finally silenced his critics! two thumbs up!

Gayatri Joshi is gorgeous and holds her ground as an actor. the dhoti sequence is the most romantic one i have seen in years! (did someone smirk?)people!!!!!!!! there are gorgeous women who are city bred working with NGO's in villages who do dress up and put on lipstick. Rama! why doesthis role have to be played if only you look like Smita Patil or Deepti naval. yes! the characters are cliché's...so? we have them everywhere (take a look around). though Abdul Kalam hair cuts i have not seen around. (Ashutosh, how could you???) story predictable? i do not think so. it was well researched and fairly well executed.

the look? Hmmm, Bhanu Athiya does a good job. the clothes look authentically Indian (though they do not subscribe to a set region) but then remember that this is a pan-India mainstream film!!!!!?!on a recent visit to interior Karnataka and Tamilnadu most of the younger women/girls were in Salwar Kameezes...huh? did i think i was in Punjab? Puhleez! same comment for the village. it did not bother me at all. the Maharashtra's straight horned cows could have been avoided. story/screenplay/style: i liked the whole NRI(return of brain-drain)having call of the motherland bit. and then loved the way Ashutosh calls him Mohan. ah ha! there was a Mohan (the bald one!)a few decades ago who came back from across the seas and went on a journey into Indian hinterland met landless laborer and the poor and a changeover happened! do you guys remember that Mohan?

screenplay:hmmm...bit too long. the Dusshera Bhajan is wonderful music but sitting on hard cinema seats suddenly made me remember that my ass hurts,Ashutosh lost his audience big time here. he did loose a lot of them right in the beginning when too much English happened at NASA. style of film making: you know what, i liked the slow pace a lot. i liked the fact it was not overtly dramatic. does cinema have to be dramatic always? though i thought electricity sequence was dramatic, the 25 paisa water was. the journey was. the fact he gives up his us citizenship. grow up people! the formula is dead! camera work: Mahesh Aney approaches the frame wonderfully. liked the framing. (no usaffir!!!!!!!!!) straight and simple. the lighting lacked! too ainstream. was he playing safe? Hmmm...was it the directors call? was the producer playing safe? Hmmm...this needed to be addressed.

Hahn! then comes the music. Rahman, you are god! really! the songs are stunning!'Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera' will haunt people for a long time. but his triumph was in the background arrangement. it was wonderful. understated. beautiful. now i must tell you what i really liked. ha ha ha after a long time i liked the whole socialist approach. the kind of films which were made earlier. 'Naya Daur' do you remember that one? this kind of cinema died years ago. Mr. Gowariker you are a brave man, take a bow! i remembered the cinema from Russia/Cuba/Yugoslavia/etc. thank you for not giving me heaving bosoms,cleavage and g-strings, mustard fields and chiffon Saree's and item numbers. the 'Yeh Tara' song was awesome! beautiful. loved the choreography. completely natural. ah! i really wish the film is a hit(more like this will get made then). people, do go out and see it. will it win an Oscar? Hmmm..no. but then when was it the last word on film-making? p.s. there is an item number: SRK bathes twice. bare-chested. i am told the women in the audience...Hmmm...that is another story! :)