![]() ![]() If they win, they won’t have to pay the lagaan for three years. Russell decides to trap the villagers in an impossible situation. When the villagers go to appeal to their Raj, Bhuvan interrupts a British cricket game and incenses Captain Russell. ![]() He even ruins Captain Russell’s hunt by scaring away the antelope. One young villager, Bhuvan, takes pleasure in standing up to the British. This and the succeeding musical numbers cover a vast, musical canvas in traditional Bollywood fashion. In the midst of this, Captain Russell, the British commander of the cantonment, tells the rajah of the area that he is doubling the lagaan! Everyone in the village is distressed and breaks into heartfelt song chronicling their oppression and the need for rain. ![]() Compounding the lagaan problem, rain has not fallen for months. The British have played one rajah off against the other and demand draconian taxes in agricultural goods and services called lagaan from the villages they protect from the inter-tribal warfare they instigate. Next to the village is a British cantonment. The movie tells the purportedly true story of the little village of Champaner in 1893 in India. On the screen, he is an incredible talent. In real life, Aamir is a very pleasant, humble man with two children, who appears nothing like a star. The key to its success is in no small part due to its charismatic and affable, and very talented star, the Tom Cruise of India, who can also sing and dance, Aamir Khan. Although LAGAAN is three hours and 45 minutes, it has successfully traveled beyond the borders of India to be critically acclaimed around the world, to do well at the box offices of Europe and even to be nominated for an Academy Award in Hollywood this year. Many years ago in India, I remember one movie lasting for what seemed to be four or five hours, perhaps more. Innumerable spices are heaped on the storyline and, thus, for many people they are an acquired taste. ![]() Drama, comedy, vast musical numbers, romance, war, faith, intimate relationships. Indian movies, like Indian subcontinent and Indian food, throw everything into the plot. (H, PC, Pa, B, M) Ultimately humanist worldview with revolutionary Communist undertone about villagers uniting to overthrow the oppressor and, in the process, bringing together Indian Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and untouchables who at best disdain each other and at worse hate each other, strangely combined with appeals to a sovereign God, prayers in the name of Allah and a lengthy focus on the local village Hindu temple containing statues of Krishna and his adulterous consort, Radhu, both of whom, it should be noted, in Hindu mythology are married to other people (the plight of Krishna and Radhu are reflected in the unrequited relationship between the British commander’s sister and the village hero, and the sister even succumbs to Hindu religious markings) 21 obscenities and three missuses of God's name and lots of appeals to God, which can either be construed as exclamations or curses some graphic violence with a British soldier beating and kicking an Indian worker and several instances of British soldiers crippling or hurting Indians and the threat of a lynch mob lots of romantic scenes but nothing salacious upper male nudity and some skimpy costumes but, again, nothing salacious minor alcohol use several possibilities of smoking hallucinogens and, cruelty, oppression, starvation, and revenge. To achieve its goals, however, LAGAAN reduces the British to the same type of stereotypes that they used to reduce the Indians and even extols the Hinduism which has kept the country in bondage for centuries. The writer of LAGAAN deserves commendation for the way he seamlessly brought together all the elements of Indian filmmaking and used them to tell a powerful, but simple, story. It refutes the caste system and the religious divisions which have crippled India for so many years. LAGAAN is worth watching for the cultural insights it gives into Indian culture. If they lose, they have to pay triple the taxes. If they win, the villagers won’t have to pay the taxes for three years. One day, he incenses the British commander, who challenges the villagers to a cricket game. One villager, played by Aamir Khan, takes pleasure in standing up to the British. The villagers chafe under the high taxes, or lagaan, that the British charge for protecting them. Set in 1893, it tells the true story of a little village protected by a British military compound. LAGAAN is an Indian movie nominated for Best Foreign Language Academy Award. ![]()
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