Swades (transl. Homeland) is a 2004 Indian Hindi-language drama film co-written, directed and produced by Ashutosh Gowariker. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan, Gayatri Joshi, Kishori Ballal, Daya Shankar Pandey, Rajesh Vivek, and Lekh Tandon. The plot was based on two episodes of the series Vaapsi on Zee TV's Yule Love Stories (1994β95) which starred Gowariker. The story of a man setting up a micro hydroelectric project to generate electricity was reported to be inspired by the 2003 Kannada film Chigurida Kanasu which was based on the novel of the same name by K. Shivaram Karanth and Bapu Kuti by Rajni Bakshi.