Swades

The story of an engineer who returns to India from America. Mohan is a project manager at a space agency. He takes leave and goes to India to find the woman who raised him, Kaveri Amma; he means to bring her back with him. He finds her in a village. He does not want to stay, says a few days, and stays. What he sees holds him: the school standing empty, electricity arriving a few hours a day, caste shaping ordinary life, and nobody treating any of it as something that could change. The central section is an attempt to build a small hydroelectric plant. Mohan uses his engineering, but the real problem is not technical; the villagers have to be persuaded into common work. One of the best moments is a short scene where Mohan gets off a train and buys a cup of water; the film says its whole subject in one transaction. Shah Rukh Khan plays Mohan, and the part counts as one of the times he stepped outside his star pattern. Kishori Ballal plays Kaveri Amma and Gayatri Joshi plays Gita. The music is by A. R. Rahman. Ashutosh Gowariker directed. The film did not draw the expected audience on release; its standing rose over the years. An important production for anyone who likes Indian cinema that takes social questions seriously. For a viewer expecting pace, it runs over three hours and is in no hurry.