I am sure some people will probably bombard me with comments about Bollywood films, and how they are great. Let me tell you, I am an outsider, because I am not an Indian, and my Urdu vocabulary is slowly growing. I can also tell you that there are many American and Russian films equally poor in quality. Having many Indian friends in college, I was subjected to Friday and Saturday night Bollywood film fests in someone’s apartment. I admit, I love the big song and dance numbers, but the story is usually the same. Boy meets girl for 30 seconds. He decides he is completely in love with her. She may like him, but she plays down her attraction. Either her Dad or her brother thinks the guy is a loser. They have a conflict. In the end the boy and girl end up together, and they live happily ever after. I know I am generalizing, but this is what I gathered from most of the film plots.
Lagaan was very different. I had watched some Aamir Khan films in the past. The only distinction I had made, in my flood of Bollywood blockbusters, between him and Salman Khan was that Salman was taller and had the buff body. Now I see Aamir Khan in a completely different light. This film, Lagaan, proved to me that there are some outstanding film actors in India. He showed so much expression, and at the same time so much ease in front of the camera. I forgot that he was Aamir for a few hours and was captivated by the struggle of Bhuvan and his region against the cocky British. I liked the songs, of course, but I also liked how they incorporated cricket into the story to make it more interesting. I am not going to explain the entire plot, since past reviewers have done an excellent job thus far. I will tell you that this film held my interest. The acting on part of the entire cast was superb. The story about the Indians kicking some British tail in a cricket match made me smile. The songs were catchy and had meaningful words. I like Chale Chalo in which it says, roughly translated, the five fingers forming a fist. Seeing who will be the master and who will be the slave. It gave me goose bumps. There was a love story, of course, which I thought was a bit silly to have a love triangle that never formed. It would have been more interesting if the girls beat each other up over Bhuvan. Oh well! The end was a bit silly, but I will let you decide for yourself.
All in all, this was a spectacular film, definitely should have won the Academy Award. The Bosnian film that won instead sucked! I can tell you one thing...my parents back home even saw Lagaan, and my dad bought a copy of the DVD for himself. He, like me, is a sucker for a good film. Writing this review makes me want to see Lagaan again right now!