One, people have found the film long. It could be shorter. I personally think -- there is a difference between duration and pace. Duration is how long the film runs. Even Lagaan was long. Pace is time taken for the scene to evolve and take place in front of you.

When people say -- lambi thi -- I think they are talking about pace, not duration. And the pace of the film is slow.

If you ask me what is the one thing I would have changed if I remake Swades, I would say I would slightly pace it up. But that pacing up would amount to reduction of length by five minutes. It's not that I would reduce 40 minutes or something, no such thing. I'd just squeeze it in a little bit.

Above: A scene from Swades