This is one of those kinds which were made in the decades of the 60s and 70s. Simplicity at its core may be the best way to describe this celluloid fare. The characters ooze innocence and simplicity like never before and a few solid names in the star cast draw you to this flick.
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The subject is rare and the film is not just any other movie as churned out by Bollywood regularly. Swami falls in virgin territory with lot of freshness in script and presentation.
There may not be much of a story however, and if the multiplexes charge as they usually do, then there may not be much of an audience to watch this.
Swami is a story about an Indian middle class family comprising of a father, mother and a son. There are songs being played in the background. The storyline lacks masala or that essential garnish, the visuals are hardly worth a mention and there is no attempt to embellish the set. Added to this the very absence of sub-plots makes Swami stray from a traditional Bollywood fare. So all in all Swami is for a small section of the population which has the interest to sit through this genre of cinema.
For most of the movie audience in India, this fare may be similar to boiled food bereft of spices and distasteful to the taste buds. However, the one plus point is that the movie heralds a very sensitive storyteller in Ganesh Acharya. Emotions for which Bollywood is famous, are present here aplenty and showcased pretty well.
Swami played by Manoj Bajpai with his Radha ( Juhi Chawla makes a comeback in a different role ) and their son [Siddharth] move to Mumbai after selling their ancestral home in their village. In a bid to impart decent education to their son, they admit himein a school patronized by affluent families. It is a smooth sailing here onwards till the time when Radha is diagnosed with a serious fatal disease. Swami tries to raise funds for her treatment and recuperation by working overtime but Radha sacrifices everything to buy Swami the chair he had dearly desired. Radha dies with just one wish made known to Swami that their son should settle down in the USA someday.
Does Radha’s wish come true? How Swami fulfills her desire is the rest of the story.
While the first part is quite gripping, given a seasoned star cast in Manoj Bajpai and Juhi Chawla, the child actor Siddharth captures all. There are a number of sequences or should I say scenes which tug at your heart strings and tear ducts.
Post intermission, stagnation sets in and with the introduction of new characters the storyline sags. There is a lack of dramatic scenes and the tautness is lost. Ganesh Acharya has handled the emotional content well but the movie will need a strong word of mouth publicity to continue drawing crowds.
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Music is pathetic. All the songs are slow, but still zero melody.