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Lagaan

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Lagaan, (लगान, meaning land tax in Hindi) (also known as Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India) is an award winning movie made in India, released on June 1, 2001 and nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (the award actually went to No Man's Land that year). Unusually widely distributed throughout the world, this was for many Westerners the first opportunity to see a genuine Bollywood film in their own movie theaters.

Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India
Directed byAshutosh Gowariker
Written byKumar Dave (screenplay)
Sanjay Dayma (screenplay)
Ashutosh Gowariker (screenplay and story)
K.P. Saxena (dialog)
Produced byAamir Khan
StarringAamir Khan
Gracy Singh
Rachel Shelley
Release dates
June 15, 2001 India, U.K. and U.S. release
Running time
224 min
LanguageHindi / English / Bhojpuri

Plot

Template:Spoiler Lagaan is set in late 19th century India. Captain Andrew Russell (Paul Blackthorne), the vicious commanding officer of a British cantonment, oppresses the people of the region with high taxes (lagaan) while they are also suffering under an unusual droughtand wait for the monsoons to come and rain on its crops, but the ground remains dry and infertile. Impulsively, Russell offers the peasants of nearby village Champaner a wager: he will cancel the taxes of the whole province for three years if a village team can beat his men at cricket— a game they don't know anything about. Led by the courageous Bhuvan (Aamir Khan) and helped by the officer's good-hearted sister Elizabeth (Rachel Shelley), the villagers begin to learn and start training inspired to go up against Russell for the cricket match that will decide their fate.
The plot entails not only the training of the villagers in the game of Cricket, but also the addition of new members to their initially small team, as the skeptical villagers join hands of hope; and the lopsided romance triangle that begins when Elizabeth falls in love with Bhuvan, who is himself attached to a passionate local girl, Gauri. At one point, Gauri views Elizabeth as the "obstacle" predicted by the eccentric village soothsayer, Guran, until Bhuvan restores their closeness. At another, the woodcutter Lakha, jealous of Bhuvan's relations with Gauri, betrays the team by revealing their plans to Captain Russell.
When Elizabeth tells the villagers, they threaten to kill Lakha, but Bhuvan keeps his head and calms them, later to find Lakha hiding in the temple and wring the confession from him. Lakha proves his loyalty the next day by catching some very difficult balls and gaining points for his team.

The game, when it is in play, is a battle. It lasts three days, weaving in and out of manouveres that are very vivid and impressive, but whose results on the scoreboard are virtually incomprehensible to anyone not versed in the game. With a coin flip, the British team get first choice at bat. Bhuvan's team bowls well but the British finish their play with an impressive score of 323 runs. The next day, Bhuvan's team gets to bat and they initially have a tough time gaining many runs. Several players are injured; the British team cheat; and rules are bent often. In the last of it, Bhuvan needs to bat a six in order to win the game. Captain Russell catches the ball, but then finds out that he is outside the boundary. Bhuvan's team has won. And as if on cue, the long-overdue rains pour down tremendously, causing the villagers to rejoice.

Captain Russell is sent away to Central Africa, having paid the taxes for the whole province out his personal wealth; Elizabeth returns to England, and there remains for the rest of her life. She does not interfere with the marriage of Bhuvan and Gauri, but remains celibate herself out of longing.

Thereafter, says the narrator to the audience, "The name of Bhuvan vanishes from history".

Film style

The film is generally a dramatic musical. However Bollywood and Indian cinema in general has a very distinct way of pacing its musical numbers. Indian culture has always been very richly musical, and films like Lagaan display this to a great extent. Typical Bollywood films are known to have at least six musical scores and Lagaan adheres to this. However, these songs contrasted with most Bollywood films in that they actually pertained to the film's plot. Despite some of the film's supposed hokeyness, the movie has generally been regarded with high praise for its vibrant atmosphere and exciting storytelling, and its hokeyness may even be considered one of its strengths. Influential critic Roger Ebert in a largely positive review called the movie 'surprisingly entertaining' and stating that the film 'succeeds in being suspenseful at the same time it's frivolous and obvious'. Ebert placed particular praise on the use of Indian landscapes and compared it to other period epics like Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago.

Lagaan along with Dil Chahta Hai released later that year had a considerable impact on the Indian audiences who were plain tired of the stale formulaic films of old. The originality of the story influenced other directors and members of the film fraternity to experiment with newer stories and different film styles.

Awards and nominations

Cast and crew

Crew

Cast

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