'Yeh Des Hai Tera, Swades Hai Tera
Isne Tujhe Hai Pukara
Yeh Jo Bandhan Hai Kabhi Toot Nahin Sakta....."

These are the few words of a song from Ashutosh Gowarikar 's movie Swades. These are the words that can bring tears to any Non Resident Indians' eyes. It has been many a time when Indians perform in England or America, the NRIs are the ones who cannot control their tears. After all there are just merely dwelling across seas in the flesh and mind while there heart still strays in some village of their motherland.

Swades is a story that is set in the milieu of the citizens of India living overseas . Generally they find that the country lacks opportunity, modernization, ability to make big and then they end up in ignominy the condition of their country. But do they even dare volunteer to make efforts to improvise on the country's situation? The answer stands 'no'.

When these people come to their country, then at time they are able to realize things and then country's love draws him towards her.

No wonder it is called 'Bharat Mata'.

Same happened with Mohan Bhargava (Shah Rukh Khan) a young scientist who works as a project manager in NASA. He lives with the nostalgia that the light of success and lifestyle does not illuminates the banks of Ganges. He is a man of principles and considers his duty to look after his childhood nanny Kauveriamma (Kishori Ballal).
He returns in the quest to find her and take her along with him to America and look after her. He finally finds her in a village called Charanpur. His nostalgia rules when he prefers to take a caravan to the village as he doubts of the services that he would get. His caravan fantasizes the villagers, specially the village boys.

His Kauveriamma lived all her life with the expectation that Mohan would return one day. Mohan encounters Geeta (Gayatri Joshi) an attractive village school teacher who lives with Kauveri along with her little brother Cheeku (Master Smit Seth), who is an uninterested mischievous school boy.

Geeta is a simple girl who has an ambition to get more and more children educated . But villagers and the Panchayat take it as a relevant issue. Mohan helps Geeta in the mission. Mohan finds his love in Geeta while first Geeta takes him as a person who finds his country inferior but later on she too finds him as her Mr. Right.

Mohan begins to interact with the Panchayat, which has at its head a dogmatic village chief. Along the way he encounters the eccentric but appealing Mela Ram (Dayashanker Pandey), who sees Mohan as his pass to the chain of restaurants he will start on the American highways .Mohan befriends the local postmaster Nivaran (Rajesh Vivek), stuck to his old-fashioned ways. Soon, Mohan finally realizes that it is his scientific temperament as well as his understanding of societal complexities that can drive the villagers to participate in a movement to better their lives.

Mohan openly criticizes the myth of the Indians that their culture and tradition makes them stand at par with the world. He helps them to set up hydroelectric power plants. The climax reaches when Mohan plans to return back to America and fosters Kauveriamma and Geeta to accompany him. They refuse to leave their country and finally Mohan sets back on his own. There is an emotional departure.

But Mohan's life could not remain as same as before. The memories of his motherland harks back at him. He then decides to return to India with a prolonged decision.
The movie could not be hit in India but it won great reviews overseas. The movie is
Slow but has a good music by A.R. Rahman. If you are an lover of serious movie then Swades is an apt movie for you.