'I like to sell a dream.'
'I like to tell stories. I'm a very good storyteller.'
'I can convert the most boring topic into a riveting tale.'
Ashutosh Gowariker's Swades released on December 17, 2004.
As Mohan Bhargava, Shah Rukh Khan gave arguably his best performance ever. Mohan gives up his cushy job at NASA to return to his roots in India.
His journey may seem a little touristic but the film's heart is in the right place.
It moves you in ways that films about desh bhakti seldom do.
Gowariker's direction eschews jingoism and rabble-rousing rhetoric. And SRK has never been more stripped of his mannerisms.
Swades was exceptional because it was far removed from SRK's other films.
When we spoke about it, SRK had refused to mourn the failure.
"I always say it's not the manzil but the journey that matters. I often don't watch my completed film; I enjoy the process of acting in them. I push it, promote it, participate in the projection, and then I move on.
"I don't make any inquiries about the box office performance. It isn't that I'm detached from the result because I hope for the sake of the people behind my films that they do well. I enjoy doing all my films regardless of how they perform. As for Swades, I told Ashutosh Gowariker that it won't work commercially. The film was nobly intended."
SRK had liked himself in Swades: "I think like my character in Swades. Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to change the way our society functions. My efforts to bring social awareness should not be restricted to short films on cancer, polio and AIDS. Cinema is a very important medium of putting social messages across.
"Paheli was again an entertainer with a social message. It talked about women's emancipation but wasn't a bra-burning propaganda film. I want the message in my film to be more fun-oriented. That's where I come from.
"I started with street theatre, and we used to put across ideas on family planning or dowry with a lot of enjoyment. I love nautanki, folk theatre, cartoons and puppetry. These are vibrant forms of artistic expression. I love to express myself through basic art forms."
Swades propelled SRK towards more mainstream themes.
"I don't tell film-makers what to make with me. I didn't write Swades. I can't tell writers to write a film keeping in mind whether 22 people or 22 million people will like it. I just do what they ask me to.
"I like to sell a dream. I like to tell stories. I'm a very good storyteller. I can convert the most boring topic into a riveting tale.
"I tell stories to my children every night. Some stories they don't like, so I avoid them. Others they like and I repeat them with variations. I can't keep repeating the same story because it only works once. Film-makers also need to understand that."
