This is my first attempt to write on an Indian movie, owing to my Indian co - workers and their patience , and to my 10 years of regular trips to India during which I have fair proportion on Hindi in my grasp, I must say I am impressed with this movie.
One of the first reviews I have read on this movie when this movie was nominated at the Oscars. One review suggested that this was long and dragging. Some good and some bad opinions has lead me to apprehensions of watching this one. My reasons were far too feeble to avoid my Indian friends into watching this movie.
I am not a great fan of cricket. My presence here during the World cup , did put me updated on the rules of the game, thanks to my Indian friends again. Though I don’t follow certain terminology , The cricket game I saw on Lagaan, was just interesting to watch. More over I assume the three day game series has snatched a good 80 minutes of the movie.
I am not dwelling into the story line for somethings are rather confusing for me as much as driving an Indian Car. Not that I don’t like Indian cars, I am not used to the right handed automobiles.
On simple grounds , the film was just modest. Set on the sets of rural India during the pre independence. Suffering the over taxing English on one side and the droughts on the other hand, this locality was in terrible straits on dealing with both of the hurdles. So the day has come to settle this over a game of cricket. What went on stake. Either three years of tax waived or three times more the tax. Cricket was an alien game to these people as much as it is to me. ( I love baseball). We see that they get a lot of help in training the locals in the game. Both at pitching ( I suppose you call it bowling) and Striking. who wins , who loses, those who have seen it already know , and those who haven’t , no points for guessing.
After going through movie , I felt this one had a different than the other Indian movies I have seen. The voice over narrator with the deep intense and yet gentle voice added attraction much like an icing on the cake.
The cricket arena wasn’t much like what we see today. The crowd cheering and the players victory dance is nothing new to what you see today , be it in any sport. The songs though sounded alien to me, were melodious. The performance by Aamir khan was quiet remarkable. Although My fair knowledge on Hindi failed me in most cases, I will watch it again and this time with translated sub titles.