The following review was originally written in Tamlish script for my friends when the movie got released. Since the review has got some comments related to the events occured during that time, I am re-publishing it here.
I cannot resist myself from writing this review.
Pardon my Tamlish scripts.
I hate cricket. I don’t prefer watching Hindi movies.
But still I managed to spend time for Laagan (Tax) ( Sorry
guys! unakku en katta vendum vari? mamana, machana!
madhiri unarchiyana vasanam ellam kidayithu ) even after
hearing that the last one hour of a 4 hour movie
(theatre-la utkkara mudiyuma?) features cricket match.
But the title itself made me to feel that, the movie will
be good. They didn’t disappoint.
en iniya thamil makkale, bhartirajavin - ’’Nadodi thendral’’
pola British Egathipathyamum, oru love story-um than
Kathai. Adikka varatheenga! It’s defintely more than that.
After the tehelka.com(scam) episodes of the Cricket, this
movie will make cricket lovers proud abt their passion for
the game.
Here goes, the Story.
Oru oorla.. oru raja... (paatti kathai-illai) endru
Amitabh bhachan-in munnurai-yodu padam thodangukirathu.
andha rajavin rajyahtil oru china grahamam. Vaanam paartha
boomi.
Namma hero Bhuvan(Amir). And heroine Gauri (gracy singh).
Nothing special abt the love scenes.
A British Officer rules/supervises that village. While he
was hunting, our hero saves the life of the animals by
disturbing them when he pulls the trigger. Our Hero was
caught after several attempts. The officer develops a
grudge for this guy.
Nirka. Nalam nalamariya aaval-nu Officer’s sister
elizabeth (Rachel) comes to that village.
Raja visits the officer asking for a tax relaxation ( US
Makkale - indha varusham evalo return!)
all these dialogues was happening in a lunch table. he was
offered meat by elizabeth. Our Raja says, he’s a
vegitarian and cannot eat it. got wild by this, officer
says, the village has to pay double tax the following
year.
perusu-ka ellamam koodi pesi, raja-vai parka varukirarkal.
Ange officer-m, 10 perum cricket vilayadi
kondirukkirarkal. Our villagers were asked to wait till
the game gets over for the talks. ( sorry! TajMahal, Agra
Summit-nnu peru ellam vaikka koodathu!)
Our guys were watching the game impatiently and our hero
comments it’s nothing but a Gilli-thanda game. Matter...
Matter...The film slowly starts to roll in the coaster.
Officer-kku amma mathiri athiram pongi, arrest him-nu
solvarnu paartha, He bets with our hero for the game.
Savalakku saval.
if hero loses, the village has to pay triple tax and if they
win, there will be no tax for next three years for the
entire village. Elizabeth sees this as unfair. She feels
for the villagers and develops a special feeling for
Bhuvan. (luvvu! luvvu!). But they give 3 months time to
practice.
Intermission. 2 hours has gone.
paran mela yeri, kakka kuruvi viratukiravan oru bowler.
kozhi, vaathu pidikaravan fielders, Annamalai rajiniyin
amma pandaribai kai madhiri ulla oruvun spin bowler.
Our Hero bhuvan selects the teams after analysing their
technical and physical skill set after getting approval
from the Panchayat. (podhuKuzhu?). Elizabeth extends her
support for Bhuvan and others by teaching the game. Day by
day (musthafa paatu illai) time and the skilled team were
running and practising for the life saving match.
The final day arrives. It was decided to play for three
days. (not sure abt the over count). British team won the
toss and they chose to play. With much expectation from
the villagers, and the rajah and elizabeth, the match
starts. But the british plays well and score some 250 runs
on the first day. Bhuvan team managed to make some
wickets. In the second day, British team lose all the
wickets and our team starts to play. 30 minutes (movie
play time, not the match) has gone.
For the next 30 minutes, our bhuvan team plays. They start
losing wicket one after another very easily. Bhuvan stays
in the field and scores some with the help of the tipu (15 yr old boy.
he is a by-runner). Others got out because they are hurt by the ball or
their bad play. six balls are there and 10 runs are needed to win.
bhuvan scores one four.
5 ball, 6 runs.
4 ball, 5 runs
3 ball, 5 runs
2 ball, 4 runs
1 ball, 4 runs.
0 ball, 4 runs.
Alas, Bhuvan team lost the match. our Umpire gives no
ball. Hurey! Any chance to win?
Bhuvan scores 6 this time in the last ball. But british
captain caught the ball. Everyone was stunned. The British
audience specially came to witness the match showed
sighness and express they weren’t happy abt this catch.
They thought Bhuvan will won.
Cricket rules were in favour of bhuvan, because the ball was
caught offside the boundary. Bhuvan team wons.
The story ends with amitabh voice again, saying it’s a
lost page in the history. But this marvellous movie will have a page in
Indian film history
uh... Hum...Humm...
I tried my best to narrate the 4 hour movie.
You feel the movie better when you yourself experience
this. It’s worth your time to watch this.
The movie is little slow in the beginning. It’s all
compensated by the wonderful songs, good screenplay and dialogues.
a silk of Untouchables and Secularism was masterly weeved
into this remarkable movie. Yet the movie producer(amir
khan) doesn’t make compromises for commercial values. He risked his
money and carrier.
It will be a surprise, when this movie doesn’t bags any award.