Lagaan

LAGAAN: ONCE UPON A TIME IN INDIA... (2001)

It'd been too long since I'd last seen an Indian movie, and the opening to Ghost World only put me in more a lather. So, despite my mental block against the location of the NAZ Super 8 in Fremont, I set out to lose myself in a big Bollywood crowd-pleaser. Lagaan was only one of two movies showing with English subtitles, and the link to the film's website gave me enough of an idea of what I was in for: blah, blah, historical epic, yadda, yadda, struggle against the British, etc., etc., a battle without bloodshed--well, that's kind of a bummer but oh, well, I can handle it, I guess...

Now, if you followed the link and checked out the website, you'll have seen pretty much everything I did. But what you may not know is the site is very cautious not to give away anything about the nature of "the battle without bloodshed." If you plan on seeing this movie, and want to be surprised, and are prepared to deal with a movie so eager to please the crowd it practically jumps off the projector and does a buck-and-wing on the front stage, skip the rest of the review. If you don't mind having the reasonably clever conceit of the movie given away, then read on, Macduff.

First off, let me just say that I disapprove of the cheap and easy tactic of over-simplifying a foreign movie by coming up with an analogy that isn't even appropriate to the culture that made the film. I say this because, although tempting, it would be inaccurate to describe Lagaan as a parable of the life and teachings of Jesus considered as a baseball game. For one thing, it's not baseball; it's cricket.

Paul Blackthorne as Bhuvan's nemesis, Capt. Russell Amir Khan as Bhuvan The nickel tour: the tiny farming village of Champaner has hit hard times when 1893 rolls around. Already crippled by the previous year's drought and suffering through a rainless monsoon season, the village is horrified when the Rajah's men inform them that the head of the British cantonment has announced Dugna Lagaan, or double tax. (The scene in which the villainous Captain Russell agrees to cut the Lagaan in half if the Rajah renounce his vegetarian ways and eat a plate of chicken was particularly effective for this "only seafood, thanks" vegetarian. When the Rajah refuses, Russell announces the double tax just to be a cruel bastard.) The villagers go to appeal to the Rajah and Capt. Russell, but instead, because of Russell's dislike for Bhuvan (Amir Khan) who had earlier spoiled Russell's hunting, Bhuvan is handled a challenge because of a dismissive comment he makes about the British troops' love of cricket. If Bhuvan and the villagers agree to play the Brits in a game of cricket six months later and win, they will have to pay no Lagaan for three years. If they agree to play and lose, they must pay triple Lagaan for that year. Although everyone begs Bhuvan not to answer, he finally agrees to the match. He has six months to recruit a team from a village who feels he has given them a death sentence, train for a game whose rules he doesn't know, and beat a team of British soldiers who have been playing their entire life. How Bhuvan accomplishes all this takes up the next hour or so and the last ninety minutes of the movie is the cricket match itself.

Although Bhuvan probably isn't Jesus (there's actually a worship at the temple of some Indian god and his bride that is supposedto be more relevant), you coulda fooled me. There's certainly a strange disciple-ish air to both the stubborn resistance and then magical embracing of Bhuvan's challenge by the other villagers who become the other members of his team (including both a Judas and a John the Baptist type, at least to this lazy bastard's eye). By the time everyone in the village goes ape because Bhuvan recruits an untouchable as one of the pitchers (his crippled hand gives him a great curveball) you expect Bhuvan to get up and give an impassioned speech that shatters the orthodoxy of his culture the way Jesus did. And, in fact, Bhuvan does--in a scene that I suspect throws quite the pill of Indian social criticism into Lagaan's sugar coating.

Of course, there's at least two love triangles (Gracy Singh is the village girl that loves Bhuvan, and Rachel Shelley is Capt. Russell's sister who falls in love with Bhuvan and teaches him the rules of cricket; meanwhile, the village ne'er do well loves Gracy Singh and is willing to betray the whole village just for the chance to destroy her love for Bhuvan), several peppy musical numbers, and Paul Shelley is great as the oh-so-hissable Capt. Russell. The film is also educational as I now have an okay idea of how cricket is played (all the odd rules provide for some great plot twists) and I learned that Ferenghee was the quasi-derisive term the Indians used for the British long before Star Trek: The Next Generation came along.

Well over three and a half hours after I walked into the Naz Super 8, I strolled out happily whistling a medley of the tunes and feeling a lot better about the world. If you gotta see a big budget summer crowd-pleaser and your ass can go the distance, I wholeheartedly recommend Lagaan for what ails you.

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