"Swades" was generally an enjoyable film. I didn't expect that I would like it. This film is a merging of the modern and traditional film styles in India. You still have the scenes where the characters break out into song, but then you also have the modernized scenes inside NASA and the explaination of the turbine. The way the caste system is represented in this film is very interesting. There was that one scene where the higher caste man says, "...we heard you ate food made by mala-ram, don't you know what caste he's from?". I think that it very much mirrors the extreme rascism that was once present in the US. The camera movements, I think, had two distinct patterns. When the characters were singing, the camera was much more lucid, using low-angle shots and pans, with soft lighting. The rest of the film was shot in what we consider a "normal" style. The use of two languages emphasized the merging of the western and Indian culture. The film adheres to the traditional Bollywood style of minimized romantic contact; Mohan and Gita only hug. The drama and tension of Mohan's desicion is appealing to western audiences while the songs and dancing captivate Indian audiences.

Sarah Gao