Swades (transl. "Motherland") is a 2004 Indian Hindi-language drama film written, produced and directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, based on the true life story of a Non-resident Indian (NRI) man who returns to his homeland.[6] The film stars Shah Rukh Khan, Gayatri Joshi, Kishori Ballal in leading roles, with Daya Shankar Pandey, Rajesh Vivek, Lekh Tandon appearing in supporting role and Makrand Deshpande in a special appearance. The film was considered ahead of its time, and received widespread critical acclaim at its release. It is now considered a cult classic of Hindi cinema.[7][8] The core plot of the movie is loosely inspired by the Kannada film Chigurida Kanasu which was based on a novel of the same name written by Jnanapeeth Awardee Kannada writer K.Shivaram Karanth[9][1][2] and the two episodes of the series Vaapsi which aired on Zee TV's Yule Love Stories (1993-95) which had Gowariker in the lead.[10] The music and background score was composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics penned by Javed Akhtar. It was dubbed in Tamil as Desam and released on January 26, 2005 coinciding with Republic Day.