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DVD Lagaan - Once Upon a Time in India
Would you believe the most enchanting musical of the year is an almost four-hour-long epic about a ragtag group of 19th-century Indian farmers who form a cricket team to take on an arrogant British captain? The old-fashioned Hollywood musical is alive and well in India's Bollywood industry, where the joyful explosion of music and dance and innocent romance abounds in sweeping epics. In this infectious tale of bloodless revolution, the underdog outcasts and oddballs of a fractured village pull together into a unified team to take on the oppressive colonial Brits at their own game. Think The Longest Yard meets The Seven Samurai by way of Rudyard Kipling, with cricket bats, choreographed dance numbers, romantic triangles, and a rousing call to solidarity. There are no surprises, but what spirit, what color, what good fun! --Sean Axmaker
This is a must-see film, even if you have never watched an Indian film ever. You will not be disappointed by the film, and will enjoy every moment of it.
Be prepared, this is a long film, even by Indian film standards. Typically, films in India are over 3 hours long, but this film is longer than your average Indian film.
Having said that, let me also confess that this was one of the better Indian films I had seen in a long time. This is also a period film, and a film about sports --cricket. In the film the cricket analogy was used to underscore the tension between the Indians and the British rulers during the 19th century. It also highlights how life must ahve been in India during the British rule.
Aamir Khan, who plays the protaginst Bhuvan has done a marvellous job, and dominates almost all the frames in the film.
This film was nominated as the Indian entry for the Oscars, but lost out.
Upbeat and Lots of Fun
"Lagaan" resembles a typical American baseball movie -- the team wins miraculously, despite huge odds against it. A fiendish British officer in 19th century India tells some simple villagers that their only hope of escaping his ruinous taxes upon them is if they can beat his men in a cricket match. The villagers, with some help from the officer's sympathetic sister, win in a flash of victory that exceeds in spirit Robert Redford's pyrotechnic home run in "The Natural." Lovely music in the "prayer" sequence, too. Delightful film!
Sometimes the Oppressor Loses!
As an African American woman who is used to often seeing the oppressed lose in Western films, this film was like a breath of fresh air. I first saw this movie in India without English subtitles, but I still got it. The movie was beautiful because it involved uniting against British rule in the form of a cricket game. For me, this cricket game actually symbolized political strategic organizing. Although the odds were against the villagers, the producer demonstrated what real unity can do. Aamir Kahn promoted spirituality, politics, questioning caste systems, love and an overall race and class analysis in a very entertaining matter. I especially enjoyed the portrayal of a different kind of "jungle fever," and was glad that that Bhuvan and Gauri maintained intimacy and love between themselves despite the white woman as the obstacle. She may have even been considered a race traitor. Although she did a wonderful thing by helping the farmers learn the cricket game, the producer highlighted one of her alterior motives, which was her love for Bhuvan.
All of this was beautifally portrayed and my small children (3 and 7) actually get into the story as well as I read the subtitles to them. We've watched the film so many times that we are beginning to pronounce some Hindi words. I am now looking for other Bollywood films with Aamir Khan in them!
Monsoon Wedding is a return to form for Mira Nair, director of 1988's Salaam Bombay! Nair's gift for observation of the everyday and her love for her characters make for a delightful film, which spins a web of family relationships that knit and break during a wedding at a perfect pace. The excellent performances exceed the often stereotypical roles on offer (including the incomparable Nasiruddin Shah as the harassed father, Kulbhushan Kharbanda as the comic uncle, and Shefali Chaya as the orphaned cousin). Nair's sympathetic eye for the unnoticed and the harassed is at its best with the tender romance between the servant and Dube (Vijay Raaz), the marigold-munching, upwardly mobile wedding coordinator, who brings pathos and humor to the often unseen servant classes. The... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Naseeruddin Shah - Lillete Dubey Director(s): Mira Nair DVD Release Date: Released the 24 September 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Both stylish and stylized, Santosh Sivan's Hindi epic Asoka tells the heavily fictionalized but nonetheless compelling story of India's greatest emperor. In the third century B.C., the Mauryan king Asoka built a vast empire by means of ruthless conquest; but after the great Kalinga war he became sickened by the terrible slaughter he had caused, converted to Buddhism and dedicated the rest of his life to spreading peace and prosperity.
The film, though, concerns itself only with Asoka's rise to power, his love for the princess Kaurwaki, and his subsequent descent into brutality. Shah Rukh Khan is a brooding and temperamental prince who woos the lovely princess Kaurwaki (Kareena Kapoor) incognito and with the aid of the obligatory song-and-dance numbers. After a promising start... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Shahrukh Khan - Kareena Kapoor Director(s): Santosh Sivan DVD Release Date: Released the 12 March 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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This Tamil-language "Kollywood" film provided an interesting contrast to the Bollywood films I have recently seen. There are differences between the two Indian cinema styles, although both present their stories in similar ways. Not only the language, but the gestures and facial expressions differ between this Tamil film and its Hindi cinematic cousins. Kandukondain Kandukondain (I Have Found It) didn't seem as flashy or energetic, and the music and dancing also seem to reflect a more subdued different style. As I was watching the film, I thought to myself that this was a four-star film, but once it ended and I began reflecting upon what I had just seen, I realized that I was more impressed than I thought. Inspired by Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, I Have Found It does deliver... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Rajiv Menon DVD Release Date: Released the 18 January 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding) adds her angry voice to the cinema of forgotten children in this wrenching drama of an 11-year-old boy (real-life street kid Shafiq Syed) who heads to the big city and joins a sea of homeless kids and down-and-out adults scrambling to survive the pitiless streets. The fantasy of Bollywood dreams hangs just out of reach in posters, movies, and radio tunes, momentary respites from the hard reality of a world ruled by brutal pimps and drug dealers. In the tradition of Los Olvidados and Pixote, former documentarian Nair's feature debut is shot entirely in the slums of Bombay with a largely nonprofessional cast from the same streets. Though the drama is at times misty and melodramatic, her clear-eyed look at the mercenary world around... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Shafiq Syed - Sarfuddin Quarrassi Director(s): Mira Nair DVD Release Date: Released the 04 March 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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