Swades (2004)
"Swades: We, the People" (original title)

A successful Indian scientist returns to an Indian village to take his nanny to America with him and in the process rediscovers his roots.

Director:

Ashutosh Gowariker

Writers:

M.G. Sathya (story), Ashutosh Gowariker (story),

Stars:

Shah Rukh Khan, Gayatri Joshi, Kishori Balal

12 wins & 23 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Shah Rukh Khan	...	Mohan Bhargav
Gayatri Joshi	...	Gita
Kishori Balal	...	Kaveri amma
Smith Seth	...	Chiku (as Master Smith Seth)
Lekh Tandon	...	Dadaji - Freedom Fighter
Rajesh Vivek	...	Nivaran Dayal Shrivastav
Daya Shankar Pandey	...	Mela Ram
Farrukh Jaffar	...	Fatima Bi
Vishnudutt Gaur
Raja Awasthi
Vishwa S. Badola	...	(as Visshwa S. Badola)
Bhim Vakani
Rahul Vohra	...	Vinod (as Rahul Vora)
Rajesh Balwani
Bachan Pachehra	...	(as Bachan Pachera)

Storyline

Set in modern day India, Swades is a film that tackles the issues that development throws up on a grass root level. It is to this India, which is colorful, heterogeneous and complex that Mohan Bhargava (Shah Rukh Khan), a bright young scientist working as a project manager in NASA, returns to on a quest to find his childhood nanny. The film uses the contrast between the highly developed world of NASA, which has been at the forefront of advances in space research, and this world back home in India, which is at the crossroads of development. Mohan's simple quest becomes the journey that every one of us goes through in search of that metaphysical and elusive place called "home".

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Plot Keywords:

india | village | nasa | postmaster | childhood nanny | 

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Taglines:

We, the people

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi English

Release Date:

17 December 2004 (India)

Also Known As:

Swades

Filming Locations:

Goddard Space Flight Center - Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

£96,842 (UK) (17 December 2004)

Gross:

$1,223,240 (USA) (4 February 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ashutosh Gowariker Productions Pvt. Ltd., Dillywood, UTV Motion Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

210 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital Dolby SR Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ashutosh Gowariker was the voice of Ravana in the song "Pal Pal Hai Bhari".

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Goofs

Mohan Bhargav, the project manager for Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) at NASA, works towards launch preparations of the man-made GPM satellite. However, in the launch sequence towards the end of the movie, the lift-off footage shown is that of a Space Shuttle, such as the Discovery, which is meant to take humans to space.

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Quotes

Mela Ram: Apni chaukhat ka diya, giving light to neighbor's house

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Connections

Features Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973)

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Soundtracks

"Yun Hi Chala Chal"
Sung by Udit Narayan, Hariharan & Kailash Kher
Lyrics by Javed Akhtar
Composed by A.R. Rahman

User Reviews

One of the best films of the year.

Saw it last night with a packed cinema and I must say Ashutosh Gowariker has done it again. Nice storyline, little slow but he knows how to make a thoughtful film. Really made me think about being an NRI.

Great songs, with A.R Rahman Music of course. The actress Gayatri Joshi played her part very well and she looks very beautiful. Definitely a new star. Shah Rukh Khan well is Shah Rukh Khan, one of the best actors of our times and he can play pretty much any part.

Best film of the year. Watch it and it will make you think.

Its not a masala movie.Intelligent and Thought Provoking. 10/10