LAGAAN
The people of a small village in Victorian India stake their future on a game of cricket against their ruthless British rulers.
A masterpiece.
I never knew why this movie was so hyped all over the planet, until I actually watched it.
I will start with the story, which I can imagine it being true. Lagaan means taxes, which was crucial in countries that had not yet gotten their independence. The poor and unfortunate always had to scrape their way through life in order to be able to pay the taxes, or the consequences could cost them their miserable yet valuable lives. Some even live in such dire circumstances even today. But, we have to admit, it was a tough life in the earlier days. Zooming into a small village of farmers in India, times could not have been more harsh with the amount people had to pay for taxes being increased. This story shows the struggle these villagers went through to earn respect from the colonizers and at the same time reduce the taxes they had to pay.
What makes this movie extremely popular is no doubt, the element of sports, cricket to be exact. We all know of India's glory in the world of cricket, but in this film the timeline was set such that Indians had no clue what cricket even was, thus learnt it. Cricket originated in England and was introduced globally through colonization. India learnt about it that way as well. However, the premise here is that cricket was a tool used to obtain dignity, that was nonexistent from the British toward the Indians. If you do not find that interesting and entertaining, we are very different people.
I was really glad this movie was not just about the sport element, but had a lot of social issues as well. For one, the caste system. Even today, people are trying to break through of the norms of the Indian caste system, imagine what it was like back in the day. For those of you interested in the caste system in India, I suggest you read the 'Article 15' article in this blog for further detail. It was wonderful the way the caste issue was brought into the film, unexpected even. But I am glad it was, even though some thick skulls cannot be cracked open with just one rock.
The main morale here is to do with unity. If you have a purpose, and there are others with the same strong will and desire to obtain that same purpose, then you have to learn to stand together to defeat anything that stands in the way of achieving the purpose. One person had a dream to abolish taxes, that caused others to open their minds to such liberating dreams as well, for dreams should never have boundaries. That is what sparked the burning desire to stand tall against the British and have faith that anything can be reached if many people push you up to reach it together. In our lives, the same concept applies. If we have a wish to be able to start or finish something, it can be achieved but we may be easily led off path. But, if we have a number of people supporting the same cause, then we are confident in our task success. That is how we have countless organizations that support so many different causes today. One person had a vision, the rest supported the mission.
For those who do not know much about this movie, the music and songs were very celebrated once it was released. Up to today, I smile thinking about these songs. Considering how I had not watched this movie until 2 years ago, the fact that I knew every single song said a lot. I never even knew these songs came from this film. So now, time is here for me to credit them. A.R. Rahman, you are a talented, loved prodigy.
I just have one thing to say to all my fellow film fanatics out there. Looking for a movie to keep you in your seat for an 3 hours? Need a family movie for Saturday night? Want to feel joy, grief and motivated from one movie? Start here, please. It cannot get any better.
Cast: Aamir Khan, Gracy Singh, Rachel Shelly, Paul Blackthorne, Suhasini Mulay, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Rajendra Gupta, Raghubir Yadav, Rajesh Vivek, Raj Zutshi, Pradeep Rawat, Akhilendra Mishra, Daya Shankar Pandey, Shrivallabh Vyas, Yashpal Sharma, Amin Hajee, Aditya Lakhia, Javed Khan, A.K. Hangal, Amin Gazi, John Rowe, David Gant, Thor Halland, Jeremy Child
Director: Ashutosh Gowariker
Year released: 2001
Link for full movie with english subtitles:
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