Synopsis by Nehaflix.com for Swades DVD If Lagaan was a period film, Swades is set in contemporary India with the modern day patriotism taking over. The film is about Mohan Bhargava (Shah Rukh Khan) who works as a project manager with NASA.
Mohan is working on a rainfall monitoring project called Global Precipitation Measurement which can get accurate weather predictions and has finished the first phase of the project and is all set to start the second important one which will launch a satellite into space as well. That is when he misses his parents on their death anniversary. On impulse he returns like many Indians with a singular purpose - searching for lost strings. In Mohan’s case he wants to find his childhood nanny Kaveriamma (Kishori Ballal). She represents motherhood and is the only family for him. She is more than a nanny for him and he locates her at Charanpur. He also finds Gita (Gayatri Joshi) who is taking care of Kaveriamma and falls in love with her. Gita is a teacher in the village school which has been set up by her parents who are now no more. Kaveriamma is her only family apart from her younger brother.
So while Mohan wants to take Kaveriamma with him to America, Gita wants her to stay. And that’s where the trouble starts.From dealing with the American form of democracy… Mohan now deals with the Panchayat in the village, the sarpanch and the works. The caste system is prevalent and determines the social status as is still found in rustic India. And that is a big eyesore for him. He slowly gets involved into the activities of the village and works towards getting electricity for the village – like in the case of the recently released Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost.
Mela Ram (Dayashankar Pandey who played Goli in Lagaan), wants to start a chain of restaurants in America and wants Mohan to help him out. The local postmaster Nivaran (Rajesh Vivek who played Ghooran in Lagaan), prefers to do things the traditional way… but is a great help to Mohan. Mohan realises that the children of the village hold the key to the nation’s future and puts his scientific temperament after accommodating the societal complexities within the framework and coerces the village dwellers to partake in the betterment of their lives.
The old man of the village Dadaji (Lekh Tandon) before dying tells Mohan to continue the good work the way he has given electricity to the village. This could easily be the Lagaan hangover, which had the same thought process. But while Lagaan saw the triumph of human spirit, Swades talks about how technological advancement is much more important than just having a strong will with no direction. And now it is time for Mohan to return to finish his project. He does so. But can he come back to homeland or swades? Clue: When SRK came back to India in Pardes, can he do so in Swades as well? 
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