We Indians love our food with a lot of side dishes. We want a little pickle, a papad, little salt, a slice of lemon and some sliced onions. In the West they have a pizza or a hamburger and thats it. Why I am saying all this. Because our Movies are like our food. We want lots of masala.
Our directors while treating the story line can give us a taste of foreign location song (pickles) or some comedian act (papad) or a dishum dishum fight scene. It is never straight through the story. In that context Lagaan is different.
The subject of Lagaan is treated like the Hollywood movies. Remember movies like Speed (a bus keeps you engrossed throughout) or Titanic (Ship...) or Towering Inferno (a Burning skyscraper..). Well Lagaan keeps you engrossed around a game of cricket. Handling a subject in this manner is difficult esp. if it has to keep the audience engrossed for over 3 hours. But all credit to the director. It is one Hindi movie without all the pickles, papads etc. You relish the main meal (story).
For one it was a pleasant surprise that there was no dishum dishum. The location and makeup was very natural. The cinematography was excellent and the colors not gaudy. The performance of all actors/actresses was remarkable and the music was soothing to the ears.
A different Hindi Movie. A Movie that has brought Aamir Khan back to the reckoning after all the craze around Hrithik Roshan.
A Movie worth seeing.