Swades: We the People

I recently screened the film Swades: We the People a Ashutosh Gowariker film about a successful native Indian scientist named Mohan Bhargav who moved in his early life to America to work at NASA. Despite his accomplishments his heart is heavy because he left Kaveriamma a mother figure alone in an old age home back in his native country of India. To right his conscience he travels to India as a NRI to visit her and persuade her to come back to America with him. There, he discovers the village in which electricity is fleeting and school attendance is abysmal. He also discovers an “Indian Belle”, Gita, a childhood friend with which he becomes infatuated with her because of her strong spirit and her beauty. He sets himself to improving the lives of the villagers by encouraging the attendance of the school children and by providing hydroelectric power. With these far worthier accomplishments under his belt he reluctantly returns to America where he again cannot find rest after his life changing experiences in India. He returns to live in the village and help the “grassroot” level of people in India and remains there.

                While the movie may on the surface just be about this one man’s life and the village he changed, it holds deeper meaning for the rest of India. One of the major issues this movie brings to light is the continuing problem with the caste system in Indian tradition. The movie makes countless comments about it, for example a family refuses to send their children to school because their family is of a lower caste than the rest of the villagers. Another example is the scene where the village is screening a movie. The villagers sit on the correct side of the projection screen, but when Mohan and Mela Ram go to sit down at the screening Mela Ram sits on the reverse side of the screen presumably because he is of a lower caste. This scene also shows how Mohan tries to break down the barriers of the caste system. During the musical number he lowers the screen and suddenly the villagers of higher caste are suddenly eye to eye and face to face with those of the lower caste. While the caste system is one of India’s local issues that the movie comments on it also remarks on more global issues like education.

                Literacy and education are important issues in improving a society. If there isn’t an emphasis on educating the youth in a society the society will not progress forward. In Swades educating the youth is a large point of emphases in the movie. Gita fights to improve the education of her pupils by trying to start a high school in the village, but the village elders try to take over the school building for other purposes. In the end she is able to save her school by enrolling enough students.