When Shah Rukh Khan’s Swades Lost The National Award For Being A Copy Of A South Film, Director Denied To Sue Because Of “South Indian Filmmakers’ Generosity…”

Swades featuring superstar Shah Rukh Khan will always have a piece of every Indian’s heart for it fills us with great pride and brings a sense of nationalism among Indians living in the diaspora. The feeling of belongingness to one’s motherland has been beautifully articulated in this Ashutosh Gowariker directorial which continues to fuel us with patriotism even nearly two decades after its release. From songs to screenplay to acting performances and everything else that makes a film, Swades ticks all the boxes to become a cult classic. However, it failed to gain the biggest honour – the National Film Award.

Amid the frenzy of the recent announcement of 2021 National Award winners, an old video with a Swades connection has resurfaced which probably sheds light on why the film failed in bagging even the National Award for Best Feature Film despite boasting high patriotic sentiments – a formula that has always worked magic for Bollywood.

The video shows Kannada filmmaker T S Nagabharana projecting plagiarism claims onto Swades. Shocking, right? In the video, the filmmaker says, “I was getting feedback from Mumbai that there is some film called Swades, on 17 December 2004, when the film got released, I was shocked to see. Swades (is) almost a replica of my film which I shot in 2002 and released in 2003.” He further says he tried contacting Ashutosh and producers but had no luck. He adds, “When I asked my producer, he said, don’t go for legal action because it is also a film and let everybody enjoy that. “That’s the generosity of South Indian filmmakers, so I just kept quiet,” he says while beaming with great pride.