Lagaan. This is going to be a difficult post to write. From where do I start? Its difficult to compose a post on Lagaan in just a few words. Its the kind of movie on which you can write a series of books. Let me start from the morning of 15th June 2001. Yes, it holds a special place in my heart. The day of the release of Lagaan. As every Friday, it was my religious practice to bunk school and catch the latest movie. As I wake up in the morning of 15th June 2001, I was having a subconscious feeling that something special was going to happen today. I had not even made a decision to watch Lagaan. I picked up the newspaper after going out of home and went through the new releases of Friday. There were two biggies releasing this day, Gadar and Lagaan. Gadar, an action drama featuring Sunny Deol and Amisha Patel. The other one was Lagaan starring Aamir khan and wait, almost all unknown faces for the regular audience of bollywood cinema.
On my way to the nearest theatre , still in a dilemma to choose which one to watch, I chose Lagaan only because it had an early show due to its length. It was advertised to be a movie of nearly 4 hours of run time. It had an early morning show of 9:30 a.m, which was a rare in the pre-multiplex era. I stood in the line (which is an absolute favourite of mine as you get to hear the most interesting stories standing in the single screen theatre ticket line) and as usual the crowd was discussing about the movie before the ticket counter opened. One of them opined "Haa story film lagtee hain, isliye lambi hain film"(It looks like a story based movie and so the length could be long). Other man standing next to him made a remark "Haa Aamir khan to hain par doosre koi bhi samajh nahee aa rahe movie mein kaun log hain" (Yeah, there is Aamir khan but not sure of the other star cast in the movie). Finally, the ticket window opened and we all happily got the ticket and slowly made our way into the dark room of the single screen theatre screening Lagaan.
From the moment I entered the hall and the movie started till the time I got out after the final credits of the movie, I was speechless. Lagaan simply blew my mind. I was dumbstruck, astounded, left in awe of what I had seen in the period of those 4 hours. I had seen umpteen movies even at that age since the time we would see movies on Doordarshan to the movies of Mithunda which used to come almost every week in a theatre and screw our minds. To some of the finest ever movies ever made in India like Mughal e Azam to Pyasa, from Anand to a Deewar, I had seen it all. But nothing like Lagaan. From that day till the next one month, I watched Lagaan thirteen times, all in different theatres just to get a feel of how the audience would react to Lagaan. Some of the theatres were in upmarket areas, whereas some where in a small town center where hardly there were proper seats to sit. The experience in every theatre was the same. Lagaan gave the finest big screen experience to its viewers. It made me realise that movies are meant to be enjoyed on the big screen. Lagaan made me realise the effect a great movie has on its audience. Lagaan made me realise the absolute genius of Aamir khan. Lagaan made me a certified Aamir khan fan.
What makes Lagaan the Greatest
The title of the post about the "Greatest movie ever" might sound as an over-statement for some who have seen some of the best movies in India and globally. Well, its only a statement from one of the closest observers of Indian cinema. At a time when movie reviews were scarce as compared to today when almost every other person is a movie critic, I scrambled through every review I could get of Lagaan at that time. Each review was in superlatives. The one particularly which impressed me was written by Pritish Nandy, a well known film producer and also a politician. He perhaps was also blown away by Lagaan. He wrote an extensive post on Lagaan in a daily newspaper and quoted " I have seen hundreds if not thousands of movies in my life from Casablanca to Sholay, however Lagaan took my breathe away through the sheer simplicity of its narration". He was spot on. Lagaan, takes your breathe away by its sheer simplicity, honesty, dedication and takes you on a roller coaster of emotions that are hard to emulate.
Lagaan, a movie about a bunch of villagers headed by Bhuvan, who take on the colonial British officers in a match of cricket to waiver of their Lagaan(tax). On paper, Lagaan would look like a juvenile story. A bunch of villagers taking on the British in a game of cricket! Yes, Ashutosh Gowarikar, the directed had narrated the story to Aamir and he loved it so much that he himself agreed to produce it. Thus, Lagaan became the first movie to come out from Aamir khan Productions. Aamir, being a visionary would have certainly foreseen the greatness of Lagaan. It had something in it that would do great things. With mostly unknown faces like Gracy Singh as the lead actress and actors picked from the theatre performers, Lagaan was a risky proposition. However, the absolute conviction of Aamir khan and director Ashutosh Gowarikar made Lagaan into a marvel, an absolute masterpiece, the movie which could be a bench mark for generations to come.
Look at the performances in Lagaan. There is not a single performance in Lagaan that is not spot on. Each character became a memorable one. Gracy singh looked like Gauri, the village damsel, the earthy villagers right from Baaga to Bhoora, from Kachra to Ismail, from Goli to Bhuvan everyone had a character graph that made them endearing. Lagaan had a great ensemble cast of the British actors too headed by Paul Blackthorne who played the British officer. His lovable sister played by Rachel Shelly. It looked as if they were really living the role. The cast also included the dependable Raghuvir Yadav, the fiery Pradeep Rawat, the efficient Akhilesh Mishra, the brilliant Yashpal Sharma and the It also had old time stalwarts such as A.K Hangal and Rajendra Gupta shining in their roles. However, at the centre of such a glorious ensemble cast was Aamir Khan. The genius Khan simply jumping into the role of Bhuvan as the man possessed. Watch this performance of his to believe it. From the very first scene where he is seen trying to shoo away a deer from being a target of British officer's bullet till the last scene where he hits it out of the boundary, Aamir khan became Bhuvan. With his perfect Awadhi accent, Aamir khan delivered one of the greatest performances ever not only in Indian cinema but also world cinema. Lagaan produced one of the most energetic performances ever from Aamir khan. When he holds the bat in his hand, he looks as if he means business. Be his frinedly banter with Gracy singh or his scenes with the villagers, his cute anectodes with Rachel Shelly to his showdown with Paul Blackthorne, Aamir khan is simply MAGNIFICENT. No other actor in Indian cinema could have played Bhuvan (perhaps may be Dilip Kumar during his prime). I have absolutely no doubts about it. No other star actor could have even touched a script like Lagaan.
Lagaan was loved by audiences across India and the world. It was a run away hit in India even though it clashed with Gadar which became a mega success. However, the love for Lagaan transcends boundaries. It made people even overseas simply fall in love with a very Indian movie. Imagine the foreign audience who is made to watch an Indian movie with all regular songs, dances and cricket over a length of nearly 4 hours. That itself speaks volumes of the greatness of Lagaan. It simply involves you, it makes you root for its characters. It was absolutely loved by the audience at the Locarno Film festival and also made an entry into the top five movies of foreign language at the coveted Oscar awards. Not talking about Indian entertainment awards as they had already lost their credibility. A Special mention needs to be made about the man A. R. Rehman. He might have later won the oscar for Slumdog Millionare but Lagaan remains his finest work ever. His delightful music along with the thumping background score in Lagaan has to be his best. He has given many classics, however to give such a score in a village based movie based on cricket. You need to give it to this man.
AN IMPOSSIBLE MOVIE TO MAKE
Another important aspect of this movie is its making. Lagaan is an extremely difficult movie to be made. Shot in the heat of the small village Bhuj, Lagaan needed actors to also learn the game of cricket. Anyone who has a knowledge of cricket would agree that its simply not an easy job to trying to learn bowling action when you have hardly played cricket in your life. To do it and also to look convincing is almost impossible. Each character who bowls during the match has a unique bowling action. Nobody knows if they even played cricket ever in their life. Even if they did, its hard to emulate a bowling action. It also needed to incorporate almost all the rules of cricket during the match.Another difficult feat. It incorporated almost all aspects like a no-ball, run out, a runner for an injured player and even the rule of not hitting the ball twice in cricket. Even if we leave aside the cricketing aspect, the beautiful blend of Indian and British actors in Lagaan is commendable. All made to toil hard in the sands of Bhuj. The work ethics during the making of Lagaan were such that even Aamir khan was left out and made to find his own way of transport when he failed to arrive on time to board the bus to shoot. Only a madness such as this could result in a movie like Lagaan. You can watch the making video titled "Chale Chalo" to experience the making of this madness.
I wish I could never end this post. I simply adore and love Lagaan. I left the theatre first time watching Lagaan on the afternoon of 15th June 2001, however Lagaan never left me. It still walks with me daily, stays with me, lives with me. If there are any mortals across the globe who have not experienced this classic, my advice is to please watch it if possible on big screen along with friends or a group. Lagaan is a big screen experience, a movie that comes once in a lifetime. A visual and technical spectacle that needs to be seen to be believed. The greatest movie ever arguably still has not found a competitor for me and millions who love this gem. Ready to pay any kind of Lagaan(tax) to go back to the days of Lagaan.
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