Shahrukh Khan Nostalgically Recalls Swades

Superstar Shahrukh Khan gets nostalgic when thinking about his 2004 film 'Swades' directed by Ashutosh Gowariker. Shahrukh, a favourite of art house directors in the beginning, gained his glorious stardom through romantic comedies churned out by Yash Chopra and Karan Johar.

Shahrukh always had great respect for directors who made films with substance. Swades, which portrayed him as a NRI scientist, was a tour de force for him in terms of the movies he was doing till then. Having done a film that doesn't have any commercial gimmicks attached to it, Shahrukh proved that the actor in him is really alive and is thirstily looking for roles with potential.

Shahrukh tweeted yesterday, "Making Swades was such an emotionally overwhelming experience that I never saw the finished product. Didn't want the feeling to end...". An emotional tweet which is not prompted from any pressure of marketing or promoting any film proves Shahrukh's attachment with the character and the patriotic plot of the film. Swades, unlike other Bollywood films, didn't have a grand dramatic conflict in the climax and the story was told in a very simple manner to reach each and every Indian. Unfortunately, Indian box office didn't pick the movie up and that subsequently blocked the way of such films with honest theme and treatment.

We can hope that Shahrukh's appreciation for this film may inspire other B town film makers to conceptualize a movie that is close to our ground realities. Shahrukh also added, "Thank you Ashutosh for changing my life. Gayatri, A R Rahman and Javed Akhtar sahib for helping calling 'a Swades a Swades'."

Swades, a land mark film in Indian cinema, told the story of a NRI scientist from NASA coming to India to find his roots.