Lagaan

Laine Bulakites

HNDI 2441

April 12^th 2010

Lagaan Review

The Oscar Nominated Hindi film Lagaan, directed by Ashutosh Gowarkir, is definitely a film to be remembered. The film’s tagline is “Once upon a time in India,” and takes place in the late 1800’s, when the British ruled India. The story revolves around Aamir Khan’s character, Bhuvan, and his struggle to overcome the British Empire’s unjust double tax.

Bhuvan is a small-village boy with an extremely large heart. When he and the rest of the village find out that the British have imposed double tax (despite the drought) they march up to their fort and ask for the tax to be taken away until next year. Captain Andrew Russell (Paul Blackthorne) agrees to take away the tax for three entire years if the villagers can beat his team in a game of cricket. However, it comes with a catch. If the villagers lose, they not only have to pay the tax, they have to pay it in triple.

It takes a lot of convincing from Bhuvan, but eventually he ends up with a team of eleven players. They practice every day, and with the help of the Captain’s sister, Elizabeth (Rachel Shelly), they become a decent team. However, they did not expect the British to play the way that they did.

When the first day of the cricket match arrived, Captain Andrew Russell and his team played extremely well. Bhuvan’s team had to learn to quickly adapt to their different way of playing cricket and had to figure out ways to overcome the strength of the British team. The match goes on for two more days, and finally, it’s down to the bone. By some sort of miracle, Bhuvan’s team pulls off a victory. The first rain comes, the village evades their taxes for the next three years, and Captain Andrew Russell is sent to Africa for his bad behavior.

Lagaan was extremely successful when it first came out. There were a couple of reasons for this – one being that there was actually a major drought going on at the time. In addition to that, cricket is one of India’s only successful sports, one that both the masses and the elite can enjoy.

There was one part of the movie that especially stood out: the scene where Bhuvan makes the speech about letting the Untouchable play on their team because of his ability to spin the ball. This is one of the very rare occasions that caste and Untouchable’s are ever mentioned in Hindi films, so it’s an extremely memorable moment. However, even though Bhuvan’s speech seems very empowering at first, there’s more to it at a closer look. Bhavan is only allowing the Untouchable to play cricket with them because of his unique ability. He doesn’t even ask the Untouchable if he wants to be on the team, even though because of his low caste, the tax would not affect him.

Lagaan also has a major David vs. Goliath/East vs. West theme going on. India is seen as David, and Britain as the cruel Goliath. Knowing the story of David vs. Goliath it comes as no surprise that the villagers overcome their oppressor.

Even though Captain Andrew Russell was the villain of the film, he was definitely my favorite character. His character was very entertaining and I couldn’t wait to find out what cruel thing he would do next. It was never boring when the Captain was on screen.

The soundtrack of the film was also very good. The rain song, “Ghanana Ghanana” was a very spectacular song and scene. The songs were very well incorporated into the film and never felt out of place or thrown in for no reason.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie Lagaan. The acting was good, the story was good, and the songs were good. It was very entertaining and the audience definitely felt for the village people and I’m sure this movie made many people sit on the edge of their seats during the heated cricket game.