And, despite the widely signaled ending, there’s something unsettling about making the central character - a self-satisfied expatriate determined to bring Western values to poor Indian peasants - a charmer. Gowariker’s unforced shooting style - halfway between mainstream Bollywood and non-commercial fare - is the same as in “Lagaan,” but this time is let down by a schematic, non-dramatic script. But it’s only when he uses his engineering skills to solve the village’s chronic electricity problems that he impresses the locals. In the best of the pic’s so-so musical numbers, staged during an outdoor screening of the 1973 classic, “Yaadon ki baraat,” Mohan tries to heal the caste divisions which he sees as holding back progress. When Mohan tells her he wants to take Kaveri back to the States, Gita is horrified, though she slowly warms to Mohan’s boyish appeal.

When he finds her in a remote village east of Delhi, Mohan also re-meets childhood friend Gita (model Gayatri Joshi), who’s now an idealistic teacher dedicated to improving her people’s lot. On the anniversary of his parents’ death in an auto accident, Mohan gets homesick and takes two weeks’ vacation to track down his beloved wet-nurse, Kaveri (Kishori Ballal). Khan plays Mohan Bhargava, an Indian expatriate working on a project to study worldwide rainfall at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Washington, D.C.

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