Review of Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001) by Leanne B — 25 Apr 2009

Aamir Khan's 2001 film LAGAAN proved a crossover hit for Bollywood, with this Hindi-language drama interspersed with gratuitous music scenes--and a plot based on sport unknown to Americans--surprisingly successful in the U.S. In the late 19th century, during the time of the British Raj, the farmer inhabitants of the village Champaner suffer from a drought. The sadistic commander of the local cantonment, Captain Russell (Paul Blackthorne), loves to humilitate the local king and his people, and he decides to impose three times the grain tribute ("lagaan") on the area. The villagers protest, but when a few of them interrupt a cricket match played by the British, Captain Russell offers them a challenge.

The hero of LAGAAN is Bhuvan (Aamir Khan), a proud young man who has faith that his village can overcome this challenge, in spite of sceptics and a traitor in their mist. Bhuvan maintains a shy courtship with Gauri (Gracy Singh), the village beauty, who provides moral support. Other personalities from Champaner include a crazy mystic (Rajesh Vivek ), a Judas-like figure (Yashpal Sharma). Captain Russell's sister Elizabeth (Rachel Shelley), secretly assists the villagers against her egoistic brother, making Gauri jealous. LAGAAN makes some political points, as Champaner is India in microcosm, with Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs banding together against the foreigners, and Bhuvan chastising the elders for not welcoming an Untouchable onto the team.

Based on its fine qualities, and the fact that some of its weaknesses are so bad that they are good, one might expect that LAGAAN would be a great party movie. The problem, however, is the film's pacing. The entire last third of this XX hour-long film is the cricket match. Even for those who enjoy the sport, so much here could have been cut with no impact on the plot. The deluxe DVD reveals that there was even more to the film, which was blessedly cut.

For audiences internationally who want to get an idea of Bollywood, LAGAAN is an imperfect but convenient introduction, being widely available and with an international cast and excellent subtitles. See it, even if it does test your endurance at some points.