Movie Watch Radar: Bollywood Movie Lagaan(2001)

The Trend of Historical and Period Movies in Bollywood

Early in 1950s and 1960s, Bollywood used to had Producers and Directors making historical or Period movies like on Prithviraj Chauhan, Ramayana, Mahabharata, India’s freedom struggle, Akbar etc.
However, later on and by 1990s, there were lesser and lesser period or historical movies.
The focus grew on contemporary themed movies.
Yet in 2000s, a trend started, albeit on a not so large scale of historical and period movies.
One such trend setter was Lagaan, a movie starring Aamir Khan, which was released in 2001.

Movie Lagaan: plot, how it fared and a personal opinion

The movie claimed that it was based on a true story, set in rural India sometime in late 19th century, when India was ruled by British empire, yet this story did not got too famous and not many knew about it.
A certain Captain Rusell was the person appointed to oversee a certain area under an Indian king, played by Kulbhushan Kharbanda, had one of the villages as the main center for that area.
He used to make the people of that area pay a lot of taxes.
One year, it did not rain, but Rusell still continued charging them a lot.
One of the villagers, Bhuvan then challenged the British to play a cricket match.
A deal was fixed, so that if the villagers won, whole of their tax (Lagaan- hindi word for taxes) would be waived off.
Else, if they lose, they would have to pay double taxes.
The Villagers are not even aware of the game of cricket except Bhuvan, played by Aamir Khan.
However, they are joined by a person who has been working under British administration and had played cricket under them.
Surprisingly, the villagers are also supported by Rusell’s sister who does not support his unfair treatment of the village folk, and she also has a secret admiration for Bhuvan.
The plot has some twists and turns, and inspite of many difficulties, the village folks manage to beat the cunning British team under Rusell.
The tax(Lagaan) is waived off, and as if the Gods are amused, rains too start falling down, and drought is eradicated.

The movie did very well and was a big hit. It was also India’s official entry for Oscars- under Best Foreign Movies category.
Yet it seems that the Oscar jury is not fond of songs, dance and a slightly longer movie duration.
These factors probably worked against the movie, but still I would rate this movie as one of the all time best of Bollywood.
Aamir Khan is at one of his best, and so are some other characters like Captain Rusell, and his sister.
In short “A Must watch”.
Source: Own viewing and Imdb