Swades lights up the silver screen

Shah Rukh Khan in Swades

There are certain things common between Lagaan and Swades: internationally-feted Allah Rakha Rahman is the music director of both, the two films are set in a village and deal with thought-provoking issues, the heroines in both the movies (Gracy Singh in the earlier and Gayatri Joshi in the second) make their screen debut.

But the similarities end there. Lagaan, set in pre-Independence India, was action-packed and revolved around a one-day cricket match. Swades, on the other hand, portraying the story of an Indian engineer (played by Shah Rukh Khan) at the American space agency NASA and his return to his village, is more emotional, filled with romance, humour and great music, says Gowarikar.

'Shah Rukh is able to get into the skin of the character he portrays in the film and AR Rahman's music will greatly contribute to the film's appeal,'said the director.