He is the one who gave us the most astonishing and unique motion picture of the 21st century, made in Hindi mainstream cinema, till today. Lagaan came up as a fresh breath of oxygen and revived the silver screen with its sheer cinematic beauty. And now Ashutosh Gowariker is up again with Swades.

And yes he beholds all promises. This intelligent and enlightening story is as unique and as fresh as Lagaan, evoking real ( n not Neo) patriotism. Its about NASA's project manager Mohan Bhargav, played by Shahrukh Khan, who's a NRI and his Bhaarat-Darshan.His journey into the heart of rural India, the unprivileged Bhaarat of shattered dreams and grieves,which makes him to walk on Bhuvan's footprints and to light the bulbs of new hopes. And the way he does that,.. makes every frame a gem here.

Add on to this the perfect casting ( you find your granny in the voice of Fatimaa bee), some of the most beautiful music (including the background score) of his career so far, by the genius A.R. Rahman and lyrics by Javed Akhtar who pens immortal lines as 'Man Se Raavan Jo Nikale, Raam Usi Ke Man Me Hai', 'Yun To Saare Sukh Hai Barse, Par Door Tu Hai Apne Ghar Se' and 'Ye Tara Wo Tara... ' in which stars are used again as a metaphor to denote individuals among the masses, the charming face of Gayatri Joshi and stellar display of his histrionics by Shahrukh Khan which signals that the superstar has actually become an actor. Technically too, the movie is very sound and a quality product. The only disappointment,though,is the picturization of the song Pal Pal Hai Bhaari,which has been childishly choreographed by Saroj Khan. Nevertheless, Swades is as important for Shahrukh as Lagaan was for Amir.It gives him the much needed diversity and an opportunity to break the myth that he can't do any better.His visual presence has got the intensity of a fusion reaction, here. Put aside all his earlier films and watch Swades.It has given him a new horizon.

The way in which it's different from Lagaan is that Lagaan was a feel-good film and gave us pour entertainment whereas Swades points out at what's going wrong. Off course, there is at it's best optimism to sweeten the pain but due to this difference,regular audience may find it preachy, though this movie will count among the best Hindi movies on rural background with the likes of Lagaan, Do Bigha Jameen, Mother India, Naya Daur, Teesari Kasam etc.

Its a world heritage for its literary style in which it addresses the dilemma of the youth of the most of the third world countries and showcases the noblest idea of what best a man can do to his land. The story unfolds in a very subtle and simple manner yet we feel a current being flowing under the skin. Gowariker uses very basic methodology for his screenplay, yet there is no dearth of similes, hidden meanings and charismatic use of metaphors on the celluloid.

For example, observe that how poetically the commodity 'water' is used in the narration. Mohan carries his packaged water bottles with him and bathes in his caravan for the first half. Then we see vast waters again where he sits in a boat while his lady love is thinking about him dancing around the village lake. Then in one of the magical scenes of all time, on his return journey, his mind being bombarded with thoughts questioning his own existence and that of a land which he once called his country, he actually drinks regular water from a 'kulhad' watching perplexedly at the child selling it (did you say.. "my eyes had water in them,too"?)!

Now, imagine how mahatma Gandhi was thrown of that train in Africa that made him realizes a thing or two about himself and his whole life.. Bingo! They are parallel! All thanks to the book 'Bapu Kuti' by Rajnee Bakhshi whose, in fact, real life instances have made for the actual inspiration behind this motion picture. Moving ahead with water though, then we see Mohan having an 'indianised' bath inside Geeta's house, later Mohan generates Hydroelectricity for the village folks, and in the process, he has to dive in that collector-pond, fight some dead plant root with both hands and emerge out wet! Then there is this shot where he soaks his feet in the lake, offers water to the dying daadaji and ultimately for the last shot, again uses water to get rid of the mud. You see a graph in it? This was him splashing back into his roots! Mohan got drenched in the Indian flavor layer by layer.

These parallels which can be found here are endless as they were in Lagaan,and this brilliance in the screenplay, calls for a comparison of Gowariker with filmmakers of the Golden-Era like Raj Kapoor, Satyajit Ray, Gurudutt, Vhi Shantaram and Mehboob. He simply doesn't belong to our times as he is someone who can think big, original, Indian and make films which can be as good as those of the old times and even Hollywood (yes.. amazingly, he doesn't fell short on any technical aspect of film making either! Rather, he is superb at it..)!! Swades, though it might not work at the Box-Office ('Business' can be the term for a film but here, we have a piece of art!) is a successful film because those for whom this movie was meant have got it's message. It's is a film on India, by an Indian and for an intelligent Indian but it will cater to all who care for the actual meaning and the philosophy behind a very commonly used word-'patriotism'!!