Swades

The Indian film Swades is a Bollywood film that contained a beautiful story that was hampered by the melodrama and cheesy acting. Also, most of the songs felt out of place in the film and damaged what I felt could have been a great film. Not to say Swades was all bad though. The lower caste weaver-turn-farmer's heart wrenching story about how the villagers won't even buy his meager offering of crops almost brought tears to my eyes. The man who could not send his children to school, due to his family being ostracized from the village, also made me empathize with the message of the film.
Sadly though, Mohan's efforts to end the suffering by changing certain cultural notions comes of as cheesy. Removing weeds from a water pipe does not require the overly-dramatic music that was playing, nor did Mohan need to overact during certain scenes in the film. At times, subtlety would have made much more of an impact on the audience than a soliloquy. This overacting extends to Gita as well. I could not honestly think she loved Mohan with how she displayed her affection. She seemed distant from Mohan. Luckily, Kavieramma's acting was spot-on, as I really felt like she was a motherly/grand-motherly figure. Unfortunately though, her realism can not save the overall cheesy acting of Mohan and Gita.
For the most part, I am picking out small details that I felt hurt the overall message of the film. The secondary characters (the farmer and the outcast family) really brought it all together. Even the post-master who was sort of a oafish had certain qualities that made him a good character. Overall, I think Swades is a good film to introduce those to Bollywood cinema. It weaves a good tale with Bollywood song and melodrama.
-Julian