Lagaan: the village he lives in which

Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India is one of a kind. There isno movie comparable to it. Set during the Victorian period in British raj anddirected by Ashutosh Gowariker the movie combines cricket with political feud, romance with some heartbreaking , betrayal and musical numbers.

This movie alsoshows some of the common division among the people of India from religiousdifference to social difference among the high classed people to the lowclassed people who are regarded as the untouchables in the Indian’s castesystem but at the end the villagers come together to fight off the British, this is somewhat similar to what actually happened in history when the Indiansfought the British by uniting under the idea of nationalism to fight off theBritish but Mr. Gowariker added a twist to the movie because there wasn’t anuntouchable group in the caste system back then but he added it to the movie toshow something that is an issue in the country today.                   Themain actor Bhuvan who is played by Aami Khan introduces us to the village helives in which is under the control of an evil British officer known as CaptainRussell. There is no love between Bhuvan and Captain Russell after Bhuvanchases a deer which the captain was trying to shoot. Given a last chance tolive Bhuvan goes back to village where everyone is patiently waiting for therain so that they could plant and harvest to pay their grains as Lagaan whichis tax to the British. But it does not rain so the villagers go to their kingto tell him to beg the British to allow them go that year without payingLagaan. But as you would have guessed that does not happen.                  Being ignorant and seeing this as a game and funny captain Russellchallenges the villagers to a cricket match and challenges Bhuvan to make thedecision for the villagers and in return they would not have to pay Lagaan forthree years but if they lose they would have to pay triple the amount.

Beingleft no decision Bhuvan agrees to the bet. Many of the villagers are mad withBhuvan for agreeing but he convinces them by telling them cricket is similar toa game they played in the village known as gilli-danda. This gives thevillagers some hope.                 There is no drama movie without romance in it and Lagaan: Once Upon aTime in India does a really good job in this. We are introduced to Elizabethwho is the captain’s sister after she decides to sneak into the village to helpthem because she thinks her brother is being unfair to the villagers and thereshe teaches them what cricket is and how it is played. Her closeness to Bhuvanmakes Gauri jealous, a village girl who had feeling for Bhuvan since they wereyoung and believed they were destined to get married. And out of this comes thevillage betrayer Lakha who loves Gauri and wants to marry her. Driven byjealousy Lakha becomes a spy for the British and he wants them to win so thatthe villagers may hate Bhuvan for agreeing to the bet and by destroying Bhuvanreputation he would have a chance with Gauri.

Lakha tells the captains about his sister betrayal but Elizabeth refusesto listen to him and she tells Bhuvan that Lakha was a wolf in sheep clothing. Hearing this the villagers decidedto kill him but Bhuvan saves him and they make a plan to win the game. Thevillagers team includes a crippled man who belongs to the untouchable group whothe villagers refuses to go close to but Bhuvan tells them that division amongthemselves is what cases them harm. The part about caste differences is not avery international thing but it is a concept unique to Indian people but themovie director does a good job in explaining the cultural difference andviewers abroad can be able to easily understand the cultural difference.

Theteam also includes Deva, a man who used to work for the British military butafter seeing their horrible actions decided to leave. Although it is not saidin the movie the reason why most of the Indian soldiers left the British armywas due to the British using cattle and pig fat to grease their guns and cattlewas very sacred to Hindu beliefs while the Muslim population in India wereprohibited from eating pork.                   Oneunique thing about Bollywood movies is the ability of the characters to justburst into songs in the middle of actions. When the villagers see rain cloudsthey burst into dance and singing around happily when compared to a dancing inthe British headquarter were ladies and men are dancing the director does agood job in showing the difference between the two difference dances. While oneis very wild with the dancers freely jumping up and down the other is very slowand almost robotic like and with this two scene we see the cultural differenceamong the two groups.                   Lagaan does a good job of keeping the viewer on edge when the finalcricket match comes, both teams are very good but at the end one of them winsand them there is the question about who Bhuvan would choose to marry at theend. Would it be Gauri or Elizabeth who were portrayed as good women, the suspensionand the need to know who he is going to choose is the best scene. Lagaan: OnceUpon a Time in India makes you feel as if you are similar with the charactersbut the movie has unique production and is unlike anything mi am used to watch.

From the buildings, to the dancing Lagaan is definitely one of its kind.