Exactly twenty-five years ago, on June 15, 2001 came alive in a vibrant (hi)story the three major passions of the India then; namely, cricket, politics and cinema! The occasion was the release of "Lagaan", not merely a money churning blockbuster but also a way of looking at "entertainment, entertainment, entertainment."
No longer was cinema mere fun or silly romance. Cinema attained the gravitas of a historical document. Surely, influenced heavily by "Naya Daur" and its defining race between a horse driven tonga (the emerging Indian 'i'dentity post Independence) and a motor car (reflecting money minded modernity), "Lagaan" used sports, specifically cricket, to comment on pre-Independence India and the colonial cruelty.
True, the story of the film, a cricket match against the British to avoid heavy taxation, is fiction. Yet the film effectively captures the ambience of the India of the late nineteenth century, the stupid, self-indulgent local kings, the arrogant and the exploiting British, the constant famines, and the oppressed lives of the common man, the farm labourer and/or small time farmer.
Yet the plot that the script-writer Ashutosh Govarikar spins around the definitive match is also a story of Indians of all varieties joining hands to fight the British. Just as it is a story of the unity, unmistakable are the tributes to Indian cricket greats such as the spin master Chandrashekhar, for instance.
The film comes alive on the celluloid because of Nitin Desai's superb art direction. True, Aamir Khan's visibly invisible hand unmistakably dominated direction, cinematography and editing. Remarkable is the acting by the minor most character, with Aamir Khan towering tall as the rebellious, principled, determined good guy Bhuvan.
Superb is A.R. Rahman's background score which captures subtly yet most effectively the local Champaran soundscape. The songs, penned by Javed Akhtar, jell well within the narrative.
A masterpiece, in brief, in which Gracy Singh debutted as the simple but sensitive and sincere Gauri, the only lacuna in this realistic film is Elizabeth's infatuation. I am personally of the opinion that instead of a trite n impossible love triangle, a British mother figure helping the natives would have taken the film to greater heights! Well, Aamir Khan, surely his loss, does not know me, one of his hardcore fans till he declared India unfit to live!
In brief, a la the title song of Amitabh's "Amar, Akbar, Anthony", " unhoni ko honi kar de/when come together three Indian passions/cricket, politics and cinema"!
Pratima@ I think, given the success of "Lagaan", the (hi)story as cinema genre dominated the Bollywood for quite some time, Aamir's own "Mangal Pandey" being an example.
Quote of the day: "Cinema is a mirror by which we often see ourselves." You said it, Alejandro G. Iñárritu!
Word of the day: historical realism Historical realism refers to an artistic style or a creative subgenre that embeds characters and narratives into verifiable historical events and settings. It aims for high historical accuracy and plausibility, depicting past eras honestly and without romanticized ideals, making both the setting and the human experience feel authentic.
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