Swades

Mohan Bhargav is an Indian engineer working on a weather satellite project in the United States. After twelve years abroad, he returns to his home country to find Kaveri Amma, the nanny who raised him, intending to bring her back to America. The search leads him to a small village, where he meets Gita, a schoolteacher who is also the old woman's adopted daughter. Confronted with the poverty and daily difficulties the villagers face, Mohan delays his departure and begins using his technical knowledge to help with their water and electricity supply, though long-entrenched habits and attitudes stand in his way.

Ashutosh Gowariker directed and produced the film, his second feature after Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India and before Jodhaa Akbar. He wrote the screenplay with Ronnie Screwvala and Ayan Mukerji. Shah Rukh Khan plays Mohan, with Gayatri Joshi as Gita, Kishori Ballal as Kaveri Amma, Smit Sheth as Chiku, Lekh Tandon as Dadaji and Rajesh Vivek as Nivaran Dayal Shrivastav.

Made on a budget of about 3 million dollars, the film took roughly 1 million dollars worldwide, a small return relative to its cost. Its reputation has since grown: on IMDb it holds 8.2 out of 10 from around 106,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.4 from about 400. A critics' rating of 8.2 from nine reviews places it in line with the audience score on IMDb.