I watched Swarg as a kid, and I used to consider it a good film. I knew I would not like it as much today, but I never expected to dislike it as much as I did while watching it again. The film tells the story of a big, wealthy and happy family. Rajesh Khanna plays Kumar, the dignified head of the family who is a hard-working and successful businessman. He has a wife, three half-siblings from his father's second marriage, one of whom is married. Above-all, he has a faithful servant named Krishna whom he treats like his own son. He never had his own children, as he once had vowed to his stepmother to never have his own kids in order to focus on the upbringing of his half-siblings (yeh, a fairy tale I'm telling you!). All seems to be pure bliss in Kumar's huge mansion, so much that the place is called heaven. The family members live happily together, they respect and care for each other, but when the predictable struggle comes, everything is ruined. Kumar's two brothers start showing their true colours and what used to be heaven turns into hell, one dire strait after another. Meanwhile, Krishna, who was thrown out of the house, now finds success in showbiz (you must see it, a true Cinderella story) and promises to come back to Kumar, whom he worships as his God. He doesn't even imagine what's going on in there.
Swarg is an extremely melodramatic feature, and it follows the done-to-death formula of a "happy-family-destroyed." It is so overdone that any of David Dhawan's proceeding over-the-top comedy films would seem exemplary in comparison. The story itself is not that bad actually, though I doubt anyone would ever be able to do something less stereotypical with it, but the direction lacks focus and the script is flawed. Technically the film is rather amateurish, and the background score couldn't be more annoying. The film does have its moments but they are few and far between. The songs are average. Where acting goes, Rajesh Khanna is good at times, but for the most part he is laughably bad, overdoing almost every aspect about his role. Govinda, known for his energetic and charismatic nature, does better, but the script lets him down and at times, particularly in his crying scenes, his expressions are unintentionally funny. Madhavi as Khanna's wife and Juhi Chawla as his younger sister, are both beautiful, and do better. The show stealer here is Paresh Rawal, in a classic villainous part, and Satish Kaushik is also quite likable in a comic role. The ending is horrendous and makes everything else in the film look rather subtle. I'm sure there must be those who'd consider Swarg a great film for its genre. I can't recommend it.
