Ashutosh Gowariker asks through his hero, if we are present despite all the flaws that we exist, can we want to love? Here, their love has more than one meaning. When Mohan Bhargava decides to take a holiday from his work at NASA and travel to India for two weeks in search of Kaveri Amma, a woman who was more than a mother, who was more than her grandmother, takes her to Charanpur, a small village where people are unique and lightning a guest who lives for only a few hours every day. When he rejoices with Kaveri Amma, he also meets a childhood friend Geeta. What was the attempt to convince Kaveri Amma to go back to America, gradually a glimpse of a country becomes a glimpse at the ground level of a country.
Mohan’s journey takes them to the depth of rural India, and he finds himself in a world whose inherent traditions and lack of modernity manages to attack a raga that affects him beyond measurement. In fact, many times, you can just forget that you are watching a movie set in modern India until you see Mohan using his MacBook. This unconventional relationship is one that is beyond normal; It is not born of carefully observation, but fleeting moments of feeling and deep human relationships, which Mohan finds himself to build because he starts realizing that the soil from his motherland is probably not as bad. You see, Mohan is not necessarily someone who is rejecting irresponsibly to the nation, and there is a real argument behind some opinions.
At the time of its release, Swaddis were never well taken by the audience, but years later, the film was understood before its time. Gowarikar’s film catchs the landscape of rural India in all its major realm. He allows the character to soak his privilege in the crime of his privilege and forces him to find a way to be a part of people, not the problem. Mohan never harasses; He sees people as a human being and never happens to believe the perceptions of caste, a practice that he consistently considins as a thing of the past that should never survive for years in the first place. Their apathy for the past is broken by reality he has been inserted, and in a few weeks in his stay (which he extends later), there are many moments that change the entire thought process of Mohan. He finds himself extremely impressed by the people around him and does not do much with the need for self-fulfillment as he excludes with real closeness. It is not a confused NRI, which is mysterious from its motherland – Mohan is the NRI that finds love in nature, very nature in which he was nurtured.
Gowarikar’s film has melodrama notes, but there is also a real heart that beats across. As Mohan finds love for the Gita, he finds love for his motherland. He finds the nation more than only culture and tradition, among those whom he cannot extract enough from his mind. As an audience member, I remember that for the first time I saw this film, I could not forget this film and it. While Ashutosh Gowarikar’s nap is naive, sometimes it is the kind of honesty that allows you to find faith in the great sense of human relationship. As we celebrate freedom, we should remind ourselves that as a people, it is not necessary to take a big step which is important. In fact, sometimes, even the smallest steps can lead to the biggest change for better. Swedes are a film for people, and as Mohan gets a new love for India, he knows that despite all its flaws, there is an attraction about this nation that believes in you people
Published – August 18, 2025 02:04 pm IST
