Features of the Film Story Lagaan - Movie Review Example

Film Review – ‘Lagaan’ The film story ‘Lagaan’ sets in the second half of the nineteenth century and points out the misfortunes and unfairness committed by the British against the poor guiltless farmer community who faces these odd situations with great courage and self-respect. This film is based on a rational subject matter and also maintains lustre of an admired movie. The Director of the film, Ashutosh Gowariker, and the art designer Nitin Desai has given rise to a genuine scene of an Indian village Champaner of 1893 (ApunKaChoice.com, n.d.). The story of the film goes like this. Its the close of the 19th century, and Great Britain controls India. The story begins in the village Champaner of central India in the year 1893. The farmers have been waiting for the monsoons to rain on their crops but to no advantage. Over and above, the local British ruler Captain Russell (Paul Blackthorne) has ordered the villagers to give double tax – ‘Lagaan,’ forcing them to hand over a certain portion of their crops, despite the consequences of how good or bad the harvest has been. Aamir Khan stars as Bhuvan, the village hero who goes and pleads with Captain Russell to relax the tax during a drought year. But the evils minded Captain Russell challenges Bhuvan and his village to face a cricket match. He sets a bet with Bhuvan. If the villagers win the cricket, the tax is lifted for three years and if they lose, they have to pay triple lagan (tax). Bhuvan finds no other way to save the villagers from the Lagaan and finally agree with Captain Russell to play the cricket match. A good amount of time of the movie shows the villagers preparation for the big game since the villagers are quite new to this game, and the last 80 minutes of the film is mainly dedicated to the game itself. Along with, the usual love triangle raises its head, between the village girl Gauri (Gracy Singh), who has loved Bhuvan since from their childhood, and Captain Russells sister, the Englishwoman Elizabeth (Rachel Shelley), who clandestinely sneaks away to support and teach the villagers the rules of the game and learns to speak Hindi with an amazing speed. The movie also discover political and class relations by building its team from a range of citizens, from a spiritualist to an untouchable (Anderson, 2001). As a captain of the team, led by Bhuvan and supported by Russell’s sister Elizabeth (Rachel Shelley), the villagers begin to learn cricket. As time goes by, more and more villagers came forward to join Bhuvans team. Bhuvan selects them on merit, paying no attention to religion and caste. Even though this is controversial, eventually it is accepted by the villagers. The team practices hard and the hope to win the game rise in them As time pass by, Elizabeth falls in love with Bhuvan, who is himself love with a charming local girl, Gauri. Although Bhuvan feels only respect for Elizabeth and Elizabeth never expresses her feelings towards Bhuvan, Gauri understand the grave situation and worried until Bhuvan declares his love to Gauri. This cause jealousy in woodcutter Lakha, who had hoped to win Gauri himself. Lakha decides to win Bhuvan by forcing him to lose the match. Lakha joins the team, but clandestinely meets with Captain Russell, informing him of everything that is going on. The captain tries to prevent his sister from training the villagers, but she refuses him. On the first day of the match when the villagers are fielding, Lakha intentionally drops many catches. On that night, Elizabeth finds Lakha travelling to the British camp to meet her brother and she tells to Bhuvan. The villagers wanted to kill Lakha on the spot but Bhuvan interrupt and reprieve him. Lakha takes a diving one handed catch the next day which sparks the British batting collapse. The last hour of the movie is a condensed rendition of the game, with many improbable changes in the match situation. Bhuvan takes the Indian team to victory with a sixer from the final ball (Wikipedia, 2007). The three-day match between the villagers and the British team led by Captain Russell is the most significant portion of the movie. When the game nears to the end, the Indian side needs to make 20 runs in just three over and Bhuvan is batting and he is already scored a century to his credit, the tension begins to mount. Finally the climax ends with the Victory, leaving spectators’ with relief and joy in a film with a pragmatic theme and simultaneously preserves the lustre of well-liked movies. Dressed in a simple darned Dhoti and with hair wet in oil, Aamir Khan gives a realistic depiction of a simple young villager. Aamir Khan as Bhuvan, the character he plays, is a man of self-esteem, whether he is playing around the village fields or waltzing on Mozart’s symphony in a ballroom with Elizabeth, the sister of the British captain Russell (Paul Blackthorne). Each and every cast in the film gives life to their role handles it brilliantly. Aamir Khan as a hero stands out. As Gauri, Gracie Singh appears realistic, a simple attractive village girl who is loved by Bhuvan. Gracie’s attractive smile and homely looks make her an ideal choice to play a rural girl for whom her little village is the world (Deoshi, 2005). Lagaans have its superbly composed song-and-dance sequences, with the characteristics of Bollywoods exclusive style. It is important to note that the six musical numbers crystallize key plot moments into wonders of dreamlike joy are gracefully produced and vividly executed. As the music begins, it acts like a drug, and one desires it would never stop. Featuring singing by playback legends Asha Bhosle and Lata Mangeshkar, the movie stands out as an excellent sample of a musical cinema. As a matter of fact, Lagaan may be high-concept for New Bollywood, but it plays like well directed Old Hollywood film (Halter, 2002). The ‘art and aesthetics’ of "Lagaan" is the strength and attraction of the movie and its credit goes to the people behind its making. Ashutosh Gowariker takes the lead as a director first, and to the extent that the man behind the story and screenplay. Director Ashutosh Gowariker captures the beauty and straightforwardness of country life in India at the turn of the century. The vast countryside and magnificent palaces make for delightful settings to tell the story. Anil Mehta handles colour and camera to show up the mood in each scene. As the movie sets in at the end of the 19th century Nitin Desai and Bhanu Athaiya handles this situation well to suit the sets and costumes and virtually takes all back to the 19th centaury successfully without much struggles since the movie is limited to a single village ‘Champaner’. As music director A R Rahman’s background score when combines with Anil Mehta’s visual brilliance create a powerful audio-visual impact. The songs are highly impressive by themselves, and instrumental notes from the songs work luminously in the background track - that keeps one listening and realizing it from the titles to the credits at the end. The songs mix together into the movie with Javed Akhtar’s powerful lyrics and are ground-breaking choreography. The viewers want to see movie repeatedly for the songs and choreography - and Lagaan handles the balance between story and song-and-dance appreciably well. The movie is about common men, especially the poor peasants who work hard in their field in the scorched sun from morning to evening, led by a positive person to conquer opposition and differences in view - and standing their own feet for a cause against a powerful opposition. There is a reason for a fight, there is a fight, and there is an ethical success in the end. This is the substance that the story Lagaan is made of and has won the hearts of people in India and aboard (Planet-Bollywood, 2001). When comparing with the sound track of ‘Gone with the Wind’, ‘Lagaan’ does not disappoint. Actually, for a cinematic type that is so unambiguously connected to its musical score, Lagaan realizes its all expectations, serving up a collection of songs and melodies, brilliantly composed, and perfectly sung by some of the singers of Bollywood: Sukhwinder Singh, Udit Narayan, Asha Bhonsle, Lata Mangeshkar, Anuradha Shriram, and so on. The opening number ‘Ghanan Ghanan’ is an inspiring number combine male and female lyrics. The song ‘Mitwa’ may be the most contemporary number in the album. Next is the first gem of the soundtrack, ‘Radha Kaise Na Jale,’ the song that goes with the famous dance of the Gopis (which any Indian youth will keep in mind performing at their elementary school arts expo), an attractive song with a tempting musical beat. The second best, indeed the love anthem, is ‘O Rey Chhori,’ where Indian classical music meets and amalgamates with Western music. The album ends with two symphonic numbers and the third jewel, ‘O Pallanhaare,’ a very spiritual and moving performance of a prayer. This soundtrack is vital for fans of Bollywood music and world beat equally: for the movies and music that is so uplifting, it crosses cultural borders (Amazon.com, 2006). Hindi actor-producer Aamir Khan invested a lot of time and money to his debut production, Lagaan, to draw Hollywoods notice Lagaan becomes the third Indian film to win a best foreign film nomination. Earlier, Gandhi, an Indian and British co-production, contested in the mainstream category and won most of the top Oscars at the 1982 ceremony (Pais, 2002). Film industry favourite ‘Lagaan’ has swept many of the awards the board at Bollywoods annual awards ceremony held in Malaysia. The emotional story of poor peasants in the central India and the formation of a cricket them in the 19th Century who beat a team of colonial British rulers at their own game, Lagaan won seven India International Film Awards including best film, best director, best story and best actor for its star Aamir Khan (BBC News, 2002). The Movie won the following Nominations and Awards: 2002 Oscar Nominated for Best Foreign Film 2002 National Film Awards, India Golden Lotus Award for Best Popular Film 2002 National Film Awards, India Best Music Director - A.R.Rahman 2002 Film fare Award Best Actor: Aamir Khan 2002 Film fare Award Best Director: Ashutosh Gowarikar 2002 Film fare Award Best Film 2002 Film fare Award Best Music - A.R.Rahman 2002 Film fare Award Best Playback Singer Male - Udit Narayan For the song "Mitwa Re" 2002 Film fare Award Best Story 2002 Locarno International Film Festival Audience Award 2002 Zee Cine Award Best Actor - Aamir Khan 2002 Zee Cine Award Best Debut - Female Gracy Singh 2002 Zee Cine Award Best Director - Ashutosh Gowariker 2002 Zee Cine Award Best Film - Ashutosh Gowariker 2002 Zee Cine Award Best Lyricist - Javed Akhtar For the song "Radha Kaise Na Jale". 2002 Zee Cine Award Best Music Director - A.R. Rahman 2002 Zee Cine Award Best Playback Singer Female - Asha Bhosle For the song "Radha Kaise Na Jale". 2002 Zee Cine Award Best Story - Ashutosh Gowariker Bollywood and Indian cinema in general has a very discrete way of pacing its melodic numbers. Indian society has always been very splendidly musical, and films like ‘Lagaan’ demonstrate this to great extent. Leading critic Roger Ebert in a largely positive review called the movie surprisingly entertaining and stating that the film succeeds in being suspenseful at the same time its frivolous and obvious. Ebert gave the meticulous praise on the use of Indian landscapes and evaluated it to other period classics like ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ and ‘Doctor Zhivago’. ‘Lagaan’ had a substantial impact on the Indian audiences. The novelty of the story influenced other directors and members of the film organization to experiment with modern stories and diverse film techniques (articles-hub.com, 2006). References Amazon.com, (2006) Customer Reviews, Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India, [Online] 20 November 2007, Available from: Anderson, J.M. (2001) Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India, [Online] 20 November 2007, Available from: ApunKaChoice.com (N.D.) Lagaan, [Online] 20 November 2007, Available from: articles-hub.com, (2006) Lagaan, [Online] 20 November 2007, Available from: BBC News, (2002) Lagaan scoops Bollywood awards, [Online] 20 November 2007, Available from: Deoshi, N.K. (2005) Lagaan, Film critic, [Online] 20 November 2007, ApunKaChoice.Com, Available from: Halter, E. (2002) Moulin Raj, Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India, [Online] 20 November 2007, Available from: Pais, A.J. (2002) Lagaan: Indias third Oscar nominee, New York [Online] 20 November 2007, Available from: Planet-Bollywood, (2001) Lagaan: Film review, [Online] 20 November 2007, Available from: Wikipedia, (2007) Lagaan, [Online] 20 November 2007, Available from: Read More