Swadesh

This one is from the 2004 movie, Swades.


Setting: Mohan Bhargava (Shah Rukh Khan) goes to the commencement of the primary school in the village. After the ceremony gets over, the people of the village ask Mohan to share his experience of living in America. Mohan tells them about the infrastructure and amenities provided by the government.Suddenly Munishwar (a member of the village panchayat) says that India has something which makes it a better nation than America - its culture and traditions. To this Mohan replies,


Main nahi maanta ki humaara desh duniya ka sabse mahaon desh hai, lekin yeh zarror maanta hun ki hum mein kaabiliyat hai apne desh ko mahaan banane ki. Yeh dono desh ek doosre se har pehloo, har roop mein ek-doosre se alag hain... Jab bhi hum mukaable mein dabne lagte hain toh hum ek hi cheez ka aadhar lete hain - sanskaar, parampara. America ne apne bal-boote pe tarakki ki hai aur unke apne sanskaar hain, apni parampara hai. Ab yeh kehna ki unke soch-vichaar, unka rehan-sehan, unki manyataayein kharaab hain aur humaari mahaan, yeh galat hai.


(Translation: I don't agree that ours is the greatest country in the world, but I do believe that we have the potential and the strength to make it the greatest country in the world. Both these countries are very different from each other in every aspect... Whenever we suspect losing in a competition, we clutch onto our only refuge - our culture and traditions. America has progressed on its own strengths, and they have their own culture and own traditions. It would be wrong to claim that their culture, their traditions, their lifestyle and beliefs are inferior to ours.)


This dialogue gives a reality check to everyone who has been clinging onto our greatness from centuries ago, instead of working towards the betterment of the nation, and also ridiculing the western culture just because it is different from ours.