Jul 02, 2001 02:22 PM
4696 Views
This movie has surely created history. After a long time I was satisfied watching a Hindi Movie and enjoying it thoroughly. Usually when I do go to the theatre to watch a Hindi movie.. I leave my brains outside the theatre.. and well get ready to get entertained.. the filmi way.
Lagaan is his debu production and well it has gone off to a great start. Hopefully he can produce more and more of movies like Lagaan. Well I must say I was very impressed by the way the story of the movie progressed.. Believe me, my friends were laughing when they heard that the movie was about a cricket match but my friends could not help but applaud the way the movie was made.. each viewer had a look of satisfaction on his/her face.. That says a lot about the movie..
The story seems to be picked out of the forgotten pages of a history book. The village of Kunaria named Champagner near Bhuj was the location for the movie. It is an arid area with high temperature ranging to 40 degrees Celsius. One still feels the sting of the British when the scornful dialogues are delivered I think this will never be erased from our consciousness..
The story revolves around.. a village Champagner which is going through a dry period as regards farming. Captain Russel ( Paul Blackthorne) is in charge of collecting taxes ( Lagaan) from this village. Blackthorne comes across an arrogant captain who despises Indians and well does not miss an opportunity to insult or ridicule them. He challenges the villagers to a game of cricket. If the villagers win, which was impossible, the taxes will be waived for three years but if the villagers lose they would have to pay triple the tax amount. The fact that they would not have to pay the taxes for three years makes Bhuvan ( Aamir Khan) accept the conditions.. The villagers are appalled at this and curse Bhuvan. But Bhuvan is sure that he can work this deal out albeit with the help of the villagers...
The villagers comprise of Bhuvan ( Aamir Khan) who is the main character, Gauri ( Gracy Singh), the village belle and Bhuvan’s love interest, Lakha the woodcutter who also likes Gauri and is jealous of Bhuvan because of Gauri’s preference for Bhuvan, Bagha, the mute temple drummer, Kachra, the sweeper… Ismail ( Zutshi) the potter, Arjan, the blacksmith, Ishwar Kaka, Gauri’s father and the village doctor, Guran, the fortune teller, Deva the Sikh who comes to help the villagers, Bhura the murgiwala and Goli, the farmer with a great sense of target and who has the largest area of land in the village form the team members who are chosen according to their skill. The bat is carved and with days of practice they are ready to play ball...
The British team also prepare with great confidence very sure of the fact that they will win the match..
What follows is an exciting one and half hour of the funniest but meticulous to a detail cricket match… which would leave you laughing and then biting your fingernails even though you know the outcome..The climax is very well handled..
Well the movie has a great balance of drama, humor and seriousness. The emotions have been very controlled and very precise .. no overacting and no melodramatics.. even the romantic angle is subtle.. Aamir has distributed the roles quiet well, unlike Kamal Hassan who believes in grabbing every frame of his movie and trying to put himself in it.. The songs have been well sequenced with the situations.. the characters dont break into a song and a dance just because they have too.. thats a welcome change... the songs themselves are a pleasure to watch and hear. The voice of Amitabh Bacchan as the narrator of this story acts as the icing on the cake...
The editing is also done pretty well considering that it is his first feature film. The costumes have been very well designed.. And why not… Bhanu Athaiya has won an Oscar for her costumes in Gandhi.
Aamir himself did a lot of research for this movie.. I read somewhere that he had the bat made from England… and he had gone to great effort poring through books in the libraries of London about the Raj era. Well… hard work does pay … and Lagaan is the result for all to see. Aamir has worked very hard in releasing the movie and controlling the publicity which worked very well for the movie. The promos were very subtle and one didn’t know till one watched it that the whole movie had cricket as a major factor in the story. He also went to a lot of effort to prevent piracy of this movie. Knowing the Indians' love for cricket.. I guess Aamir has pushed the right button to interest the Indian audience...
This movie might a teensy weensy long but I guess its worth it… the length maybe the only disadvantage…
I think that Lagaan is to Bollywood as Star Wars is to Hollywood… And I am sure this will go down very well with his fans … and the general public. I do recommend this movie to all Indians out there …. Check it out !!!!!
