At first glance, Lagaan may not seem like the most interesting movie. After all, it is almost four hours long and has a title that translates to “agricultural tax,” but it’s worth the watch. The movie weaves romance, social issues and sports into a wonderful, fun and gripping film.
The movie is set in colonial India, centering on a farming village forced to give a significant fraction of their crop yield to the British as a sort of tax. Recently, the village has had an extremely low yield because of a region-wide drought. This has led to them having difficulties getting enough grain to successfully pay the tax because there’s hardly enough to feed themselves.
The men of the village go to the British settlement to talk to them about waiving the tax. Still, instead of hearing their case and making an honest decision, the British captain in charge of the settlement poses an almost impossible bet — the tax will be forgiven for the next three years if the farmers beat the British in a game of cricket. Should they lose, the farmers would have to pay triple the tax for the year.
Bhuvan, a fiery and optimistic man from the village, accepts the conditions, shocking everyone. The cricket match was supposed to be played three months from that day, though the villagers are largely unfamiliar with the rules and techniques of cricket. After the deal was made, Bhuvan challenged the villagers to band together to become a formidable opponent for the British.
The movie somewhat deftly deals with various heavy issues like casteism, disability rights and, of course, colonization through the lens of this cricket game and the struggles Bhuvan goes through to make it work. However, I was glad to see the topics of casteism and disability rights acknowledged. I don’t believe Lagaan gives enough emphasis on those very important subjects because both were simply given four or five minutes of screentime in such a lengthy movie.
The story also has a romantic side with a sort of love quadrangle that adds some excitement to the movie. As is customary with Bollywood movies, the romance also adds a few super fun song and dance sequences that really hit the mark. My personal favorite is the song “Radha Kaise Na Jale,” which features exceptional dancing from the classically trained Gracy Singh, one of the female leads in the movie.
The last portion of the film features approximately an hour and a half of the fateful cricket game, and I honestly didn’t even get bored, even though I’m not much of a sports watcher myself. Though the game was completely scripted, I was on the edge of my seat and even more worried about the outcome than I’ve ever been for a real game. I won’t spoil the ending, but Lagaan is certainly a quality movie and an absolute must-watch!