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India · 2004
Rated G · 3h 9m
Director Ashutosh Gowariker
Starring Shah Rukh Khan, Gayatri Joshi, Kishori Balal, Smith Seth
Genre Drama
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Mohan Bhargava is a successful young scientist working as a project manager at NASA. He returns home to India in order to find his childhood nanny, who he wants to join him in the United States. In the process, Mohan rediscovers his roots and comes to see India in a totally new way.
As a once NRI (non-resident Indian), this film tugs on my longing for the eternal homeland. Swades is meant to do this entirely, through SRK's tears and the shrill shenai in the background score. I would rather watch Swades over Lagaan, another one of Gowarikar's famously long films. However, Swades is also a film about the oppressor caste, fair-skinned savior — a troubling but common trope in Indian cinema.