Review Number 1

Once upon a time in America I would have scoffed at the idea of my falling in love with a nearly four-hour-long movie from India's prolific Bollywood film industry -- a movie whose centerpiece, no less, is a 75-minute-long cricket match. But that was before I saw Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India, a movie that amply delivers on the epic promise of its title, entertaining, enlightening, and emboldening viewers with its deceptively simple premise and execution. Although Lagaan is sure to look foreign to Western eyes, this crossover movie is hardly a typical Bollywood production with its toned-down flash and dazzle, muted colors, greater psychological realism, and use of synch sound and location shooting. Produced by its popular Indian star Aamir Khan, Lagaan has proved to be a massive success at home and abroad. Reported to be the most expensive Bollywood musical produced to date, Lagaan appears to be delivering on its cost by crossing over into the untapped international arthouse audience. The story is set in 1893 in the central Indian village of Champaner, whose people are suffering from drought and the high taxes -- or “lagaan” -- they are forced to pay to the local rajah, who, in turn, delivers most of the money to the British overseers, whose area encampment is headed by the imperious Captain Russell (Blackthorne). The villagers, led by Bhuvan (Khan), unite to request a moratorium on the lagaan in light of the draught, but Russell responds with a cruel proposition: The lagaan will be canceled if the villagers manage to beat the British in a game of cricket, but if they lose the lagaan will be tripled. Of course the villagers are completely unfamiliar with cricket and must learn the game from scratch. They are helped in this David-and Goliath venture by Capt. Russell's sister Elizabeth (Shelley), who objects to her brother's cruel edict and also takes a shine to the bold and handsome Bhuvan, a turn of affairs that ruffles Bhuvan's long-suffering sweetheart Gauri (Singh). This being a Bollywood picture also means that the characters break into stylized song-and-dance numbers with great frequency -- six times, to be exact. Here again, however, Lagaan breaks with the conventional Bollywood format by having quotidian events like an oncoming rainstorm spur the musical numbers to life instead of the formula's more usual religious or ritualistic promptings, and also using the outdoor locations and more free-form choreography. In only his third feature film, director Gowariker directs Lagaan with assured storytelling skill, detailing the story's many characters, tensions, and rivalries with deft coherence. Despite its running time, the film never lags or becomes overburdened with characters, its ochre color palette echoing the scorched earth that suffuses the film and its cinematography and editing expeditiously guiding the story toward its epic pinnacle -- the cricket match that could almost become a gripping movie in itself, so stirringly is it shot. A villager is wisely used as a conduit for explaining the mechanics of the game to the others as it unfolds, so that there's no chance of audience members being left in the dark regarding this classically British pastime. The actors all do a remarkable job of lending a strong measure of believability and humor to their archetypal characters. Lagaan is as rousing a tale as is likely to come around in a while -- a story of the little guys taking on intractable political forces, a love story that pricks the dogma of racial barriers, and a sports drama that effectively uses the game metaphor as a central motif. Lagaan depicts the eternal drama of the citizens' fight against city hall.

Review #2

Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India, directed by Shutosh Gowariker, is a musical, complete with ragas and choreography, about a mythical event that takes place in the British cantonment of Champaner (actually filmed in Kutch) during 1893. Musicals tend to have cardboard roles, a comicbook story, exaggerated emotions, and sharp contrasts between good and evil characters, and Lagaan is no exception, so audiences will occasionally laugh joyously in the most melodramatic parts of the story. The plot is simple. Arrogant Captain Andrew Russell (played by Paul Blackthorne), the commanding officer of the cantonment at Champaner, is fully aware that continued drought makes difficult payment of the annual lagaan (tax). As the British engaged in indirect rule of India, the local Rajah (played by Kulbhushan Kharbanda) must collect the tax, which is assessed to pay the British military stationed at Champaner and elsewhere. One day, Russell tells the Rajah that he will waive the tax if the latter will break his religious vows and eat a piece of meat; the Rajah refuses, even when Russell says that the tax will be doubled unless he submits. Thus, the Rajah must inform farmers in the region, who cannot possibly pay, that the year's assessment has been doubled. When a group of farmers goes to see the Rajah to plea for him to lower the tax, which of course is not a decision that he can make, they wait while a cricket game is in progress. When Bhuvan (played by Aamir Khan) criticizes the sport as "silly," Russell overhears. Accordingly, Russell issues a challenge: If a team comprising members of the native population defeats the British of the cantonment in a game of cricket within three months, no taxes will be collected for three consecutive years; if the British win, however, taxes will be tripled. After hesitating at first, Bhuvan accepts the challenge, though he knows little about the sport.. Russell's unmarried sister Elizabeth (played by Rachel Shelley) objects that the challenge is unfair and later visits Bhuvan's team to provide instruction about the rules and finer points of the game. At first she does so secretly, but when Russell learns of her assistance to the team, she continues defiantly. Meanwhile, Gauri (played by Gracy Singh) is eager to marry Bhuvan, who is reluctant to get hitched, but after the challenge her support wins the affection of Bhuvan, whose kind and eloquent manner soon causes Elizabeth to fall in love, too. A cricket team has eleven players, so Bhuvan has the difficult job of recruiting villagers who know nothing about the game. In so doing, he breaks down traditional barriers when Ismail, a Moslem, joins the team, and he even taps Kachra, an untouchable, who is only accepted by the rest of the team after Bhuvan makes an eloquent plea, obviously aimed at Hindu militants in India today. Meanwhile, Russell's superiors hear of his challenge, summon him, and give him a dressing down, fearful that all throughout India the native population will learn cricket and avoid taxes in the same manner. So they tell him that if the farmers of Champaner win, the taxes will be collected from his paycheck and he will be reassigned to a post in Central Africa. When the game begins, his superiors attend along with British umpires, demonstrating that Russell is the only asshole despite the intense hatred expressed by several Indian men toward the colonial overlords, whose taxes support their unwelcome colonial presence in the country. The outcome of the game is no surprise, though suspenseful until the last run. Russell is indeed reassigned, and Elizabeth returns to London to nurse her unrequited love after the glorious wedding of Bhuvan and Gauri. Although Lagaan is approximately four hours long, the pace is so rapid that the intermission seems less for weary eyes than for popcorn concession consumerism. Musically, the film is the best of the year so far. MH