Lagaan: Once Upon A Time In india


Lagaan (Land Tax) is a 2001 Indian epic sports drama film written and directed by Ashutosh Gowariker. Aamir Khan, who was also the producer, stars with Gracy Singh in the lead roles; British actors Rachel Shelley and Paul Blackthorne play the supporting roles.
Made on a budget of INR25 crore (US$4.2 million), the film was shot in an ancient village near Bhuj, India.

The film is set in the Victorian period of India's colonial British Raj and revolves around the peasants from a barren village who are oppressed by high taxes imposed by their rulers. They attempt to persuade the British officers to reduce the taxes because of poor agricultural production. Instead, a wager is offered: If their village team beats a British team in a game of cricket, their taxes for three years would be cancelled. After accepting this wager, the villagers face the arduous task of learning an alien game and playing for a result that will change their village's destiny.

Lagaan received critical acclaim and awards at international film festivals, as well as many Indian film awards.
It became the third Indian film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film after Mother India (1957) and Salaam Bombay! (1988). It was one of the biggest box office hits of 2001. In 2010, the film was ranked No. 55 in Empire magazines "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema".
In 2011, it was listed in Time magazine's special "The All-TIME 25 Best Sports Movies".

Budget: INR25 crore (US$4.2 million)
Box office: INR57.80 crore (US$9.8 million) (worldwide gross)
Directed by: Ashutosh Gowariker
Produced by: Aamir Khan, Mansoor Khan
Screenplay by: Ashutosh Gowarikar, Abbas Tyrewala, Sanjay Daima
Story by: Ashutosh Gowariker
Narrated by: Amitabh Bachchan
Starring: Aamir Khan, Gracy Singh, Rachel Shelley, Paul Blackthorne
Music by: A. R. Rahman
Distributed by: Aamir Khan Productions
Release date: 15 June 2001
Running time: 224 minutes
Country: India
Language: Hindi


Full movie available on Youtube here (English subtitles option)

Here a short extract from the movie, Chale Chalo song scene:


Critical Reception:

Lagaan was met with high critical acclaim. The film currently scores a 95% "Certified Fresh" approval rating on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 59 reviews, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The site's critical consensus is, "Lagaan is lavish, rousing entertainment in the old-fashioned tradition of Hollywood musicals."

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian described the film as "a lavish epic, a gorgeous love story, and a rollicking adventure yarn. Larger than life and outrageously enjoyable, it's got a dash of spaghetti western, a hint of Kurosawa, with a bracing shot of Kipling."

Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times argued that the film is "an affectionate homage to a popular genre that raises it to the level of an art film with fully drawn characters, a serious underlying theme, and a sophisticated style and point of view."

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times gave three and half out of four stars and said, "Lagaan is an enormously entertaining movie, like nothing we've ever seen before, and yet completely familiar… At the same time, it's a memory of the films we all grew up on, with clearly defined villains and heroes, a romantic triangle, and even a comic character who saves the day. Lagaan is a well-crafted, hugely entertaining epic that has the spice of a foreign culture."

This movie is over a decade old.

I don't understand what the big deal about it was. It's no different from a lot of big name Hindi movies that follow the same formula ("clearly defined villains and heroes, a romantic triangle, and even a comic character who saves the day").

I remember watching this and thinking, at the end of it, what a great movie!

A cinematic masterpiece that's for sure...

The lady on the poster looks like Nelly Furtado.

Same as it was for me when I watched it the first, indeed a cinematic masterpiece.

There are movies that regardless of being released over a decade ago, 20, 30, 50 years+ ago, are still timeless. To me Lagaan is one of those.
It was the first in its genre to use in-sync audio during production as opposed to ad-lib in post-production, the norm prior to Lagaan.
The cricket game part of the film, certainly made it a huge deal in India.
It's an epic well made film, with an excellent cast and music soundtrack.
Then if one doesn't like it, taste it taste.
I certainly do like it.