Lagaan

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Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India
Directed by Ashutosh Gowariker
Produced by Aamir Khan
Written by Screenplay:
Kumar Dave
Sanjay Dayma
Ashutosh Gowariker
Original Story:
Ashutosh Gowariker
Dialog:
K. P. Saxena
Starring Aamir Khan
Gracy Singh
Rachel Shelley
Music by A. R. Rahman
Cinematography Anil Mehta
Editing by Ballu Saluja
Release date(s) June 15, 2001 India, UK and U.S. release
Running time 224 min.
Country India
Language Hindi
English
Bhojpuri
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Lagaan (Bhojpuri/Hindi: लगान; Urdu: لگان;), also known as Lagaan: Once upon a time in India, is an award-winning film made in India, released on June 1, 2001. It became the third Hindi language film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (after Mother India in 1957 and Salaam Bombay! in 1989).

Indiatimes Movies ranks the movie amongst the Top 25 Must See Bollywood Films.[1]

Contents

"Lagaan" is set in late 19th century India. Captain Andrew Russell (Paul Blackthorne), the commanding officer of a British cantonment, oppresses the people of Champaner with high taxes (lagaan). The local ruler, Rajah Pooran Singh, asks that taxes be lowered, to ease the suffering of the drought-stricken villagers. Captain Russell humiliates the rajah by asking him to eat meat if he wishes the taxes to be lowered. The rajah says that he must keep the rules of his religion and his caste; he cannot eat meat. Captain Russell then doubles the taxes.

The peasants, who are already suffering from a prolonged drought, are devastated by this news. The monsoon is late; they will be unable to pay regular taxes, much less double taxes. They beg the rajah to help them, but he says he cannot persuade the British to mercy.

The villagers, returning from their fruitless audience with the rajah, stop to watch the British officers playing cricket. Captain Russell notices them and sees the young, impetuous Bhuvan (Aamir Khan), who has previously angered him. The captain offers Bhuvan a wager: He will cancel the taxes of the whole province for three years if a village team can beat his men at cricket. If they lose, they will owe triple tax. To the horror of the other villagers, Bhuvan accepts this wager on their behalf. Later, he explains that as they can pay neither double nor triple taxes, they should grab the chance for a tax remission.

Nonetheless, the villagers of Champaner, and of all the neighboring villages, are furious with Bhuvan. No one has ever played cricket. How can complete novices beat the British?

The British Government, on learning of Captain Russell’s wager, admonishes him for his arrogant and irresponsible behaviour. His superiors tell him that if he loses the match, he will have to reimburse all the taxes from his own pocket and moreover suffer a transfer to Central Africa.

Led by the courageous Bhuvan and helped by Russell’s good-hearted sister Elizabeth (Rachel Shelley), a few villagers begin to learn cricket. As time progresses, more and more villagers are convinced to join Bhuvan's team. Bhuvan accepts them on merit alone, disregarding all considerations of religion and caste. This is controversial, but eventually accepted by the villagers. The team works hard and it seems that they might have a chance to win.

As they spend time together, Elizabeth falls in love with Bhuvan, who is himself attached to a charming local girl, Gauri. Though Bhuvan feels nothing but respect for Elizabeth and Elizabeth never expresses her feelings, Gauri sees how matters stand and is anxious until Bhuvan declares his love. This infuriates the woodcutter Lakha, who had hoped to win Gauri himself.

Lakha decides to humble Bhuvan by forcing him to lose the match. Lakha joins the team, but secretly meets with Captain Russell, informing him of everything that is happening. The captain tries to prevent his sister from helping the villagers, but she defies him. On the first day of the match when the villagers are fielding, Lakha deliberately drops many catches. That night, Elizabeth sees Lakha travelling to the British camp to meet her brother and she informs Bhuvan. The villagers attempt to kill Lakha on the spot but Bhuvan reprieves him. Lakha takes a diving one-handed catch the next day which sparks the British batting collapse.

So matters stand when the three-day cricket match starts. An immense crowd of villagers gathers to watch the British and the local team face off at cricket. The last hour of the movie is a condensed rendition of the game, with many improbable changes in the match situation. Bhuvan strikes a six from the final ball to seal a one wicket victory for the Indians.

The love-triangle between Bhuvan, Gauri and Elizabeth parallels the story of Krishna, Radha and Rukmini in Hindu mythology. Krishna and Radha love one another in a pure and unconditional way, but circumstances of the world drive them apart. Krishna eventually marries Queen Rukmini while Radha marries Ayanaghosha, though some traditions say that Radha never married out of unwavering devotion to Krishna. Radha's relationship with Krishna is said to be symbolic of spiritual devotion because Radha remains eternally devoted to the god despite being physically separated from him.

In the film, the village celebrates a festival by performing the song "Radha kaise na jale" (“Why shouldn't Radha be jealous?”) with Bhuvan and Gauri playing the parts of Krishna and Radha respectively. During the performance, Krishna (Bhuvan) makes Radha (Gauri) jealous by ignoring her and flirting with the other gopis instead. This appears to reference a story in the Bhagavata Purana in which Krishna attracts the amorous attentions of the local gopis (cow-herding girls) of Vrindavana. Krishna playfully feigns disinterest and rejects their advances until they become jealous of one-another while vying for his affection. Radha emerges as Krishna’s favorite gopi and becomes his lover.

Elizabeth appears to fall in love with Bhuvan while watching his charming performance, which makes Gauri very jealous. Throughout the film, Gauri admonishes Bhuvan for ignoring her whenever Elizabeth is present. Gauri appears to believe she is Radha to Bhuvan’s Krishna while Elizabeth is merely a “lovelorn gopi” that has caught his eye. However, the film suggests (from Elizabeth's perspective) that Gauri is actually Queen Rukmini while Elizabeth is Radha. At the end of the film, the narrator states that Elizabeth returned to England, where she never married and remained “Bhuvan’s Radha for all of her life”. This suggests that, despite his marriage to Gauri, Elizabeth feels she and Bhuvan are united by a sacred bond that transcends time and space, just as Krishna remained united with Radha after he married Rukmini.


Awards
Preceded by
Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai
कहो ना प्यार है		 Filmfare Award for Best Film
2001		 Succeeded by
Devdas
देवदास
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagaan"
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