Why is it that Indian filmmakers seem to believe that every movie, regardless of subject matter, needs to be over three hours long? Is it simply a matter of "more is better," or is there something ethnical or cultural going on here? For indeed, this phenomenon is not restricted to certain specialized genres as it is in American film-making (the sweeping epic, the historical drama, the Broadway-based musical etc.) but seems to extend to films of all types made in that country.

Take "Swades," a rather simple comedy/drama about a successful NASA satellite designer named Mohan who returns to his native country in search of his roots and past. He travels to a village where Kaveriamma, the woman who took care of him as a child, now resides. His intention is to take her back to the States with him, so that she can live out the remainder of her life in the lap of luxury and affluence. However, while he's there, he falls in love with a beautiful but feisty and independent young schoolteacher named Gita who wants Kaveriamma to remain where she is. A struggle develops between these two attractive young people who are obviously madly in love with one another but too prideful and pigheaded to realize or acknowledge it.

What might have been a meaningful and profound little personal drama at, say, a reasonable 115 minutes, becomes something of an endurance contest at a turgid 186. The story simply isn't compelling enough to sustain our interest for this enormous a length of time. The film does have some pertinent things to say about the caste system, the role of women in society, the need for universal education, and the conflict between traditionalism and modernity in 21st Century India ("swades" actually means "we, the people") - and I'm sure that people in the home country may find these issues more compelling than some of us watching the film in an entirely different part of the world. Unfortunately, writer/director Ashutosh Gowariker seems too addicted to romantic clichés for any of these themes to filter through and register much of an impact. He also employs the kind of corny reaction shots one rarely sees in American films anymore, as well as too-cutesy-by-half musical riffs to highlight the humorous moments so that the presumably unperceptive audience will know when to respond appropriately - like a laugh track in a sitcom or the traditional drum roll of the stand-up comic. One of the reasons why the movie is so long is that the narrative is frequently interrupted by those seemingly obligatory musical numbers without which no true blue Indian film can exist. Some of the these sequences are high-spirited and enjoyable, but I have no idea why every single filmmaker in that country feels compelled to use them in every single film.

As the young lovers, Shahrukh Khan and Gayatri Joshi make a handsome, attractive couple, and Kishori Balal provides stability and warmth as the old woman who becomes the bone of contention between the two. And there would be no point in denying that "Swades" has moments of point and purpose as Mohan comes to realize the beauty and quality of the land and the people he has left behind. Now, if only a sensible editor could have trimmed the movie down to a more serviceable length, "Swades" might have been a film worth watching.