Bollywood Essentials: Lagaan

Indian squad in all it's glory!

As the name of this post suggests, this series is basically about some of the best movies Hindi cinema has to offer. As a film lover and someone who has grown up watching these movies, I want to give the glimpses of my world to everyone else who hasn’t yet been initialized to it or is under the impression of it being nothing more than glitzy, glamorous melodrama and random song and dance sequences. There is more to it and I intend to showcase that through these posts. 

I wrote first entry for this series almost one and half years ago for LAMB Foreign Chops. That day I made a conscious decision of starting this series with Satya(1998) than with Lagaan(2001) because I thought later would be too obvious a choice. You would imagine I will get back to it right after and I promise I did intend to but for some unexplained reason I kept postponing it. So today as I finally sit down to do just that, I am really surprised that it took me this much time and more than half a dozen posts to get back to it. That is not a strike against the quality of this film because I believe Lagaan is a quintessential Bollywood film. It is also a monumental film, a trendsetter in many ways that I will get to little later in this post. There will be spoilers almost throughout this post. So if you haven't seen this film and don't want it spoiled, avoid this but to tell you the truth, I don't think it matters. Everything that happens in this film is trademark Bollywood. So if you know the industry, most of it will not come as a surprise to you though it's no less riveting.

It takes place sometime in nineteenth century, when India was under British rule, in a small village called Champaner. Champaner hasn't seen a drop of rain in whole year but Captain Russell, British officer in-charge of Champaner and other villages in the vicinity which were originally under Raja Puran Singh's rule, wants to double the taxes. Villagers know that it won't be possible for them to pay a penny and decide to go and request Puran Singh to exempt them for this year. Captain Russell, however, has some other plans. He singles out Bhuvan, a young, dynamic guy who has already caused some troubles for him, and challenges them for a game of cricket. Britishers have been playing this game for a while and are quite skilled in it and villagers don't even know how to hold the bat right. But catch is if they win, they will pay no tax for three years and if they loose, they will have to pay triple tax. Quite a do-or-die situation! Bhuvan accepts the challenge. Initially everyone feels like it is a suicide mission but Bhuvan is determined to go the distance. He slowly starts putting a team together but real turning point comes when Captain Russell's sister agrees to teach them the game as she thinks they should get a fair chance in this match.

Obviously, game of cricket forms an integral part of the whole narrative. As someone who loves the game, what's interesting to me is during those three days of this match, every single thing that can happen in the game of cricket does happen. You have freakish run-outs, a hat-trick, on-ground controversies, complete collapse of batting orders and unlikely partnership that leads to last ball heroics. Anywhere else all these in one place would have looked hokey but this script makes it enjoyable. I also admire that director Ashutosh Gowarikar chose to show Bhuvan's teammates to be unaware of nitty-gritties of game. No one can in such a short time as villagers were given but this David vs Goliath match-up is what makes it so entertaining and thrilling. Also, cricket is not the most well-known sports in many parts of the world. So I was always skeptical about how it will travel overseas. I am so glad to be proven wrong by many people who have enjoyed this film as much as I did despite knowing next to nothing about the game. To me that is indicative of the game being so much more than just a cricket match.

And it is not 'just' a cricket match. As the whole diaspora starts to think of this as an opportunity than calamity, it becomes a channel to vent their anger, their frustration against their oppressors. A symbolic fight to beat British at their own game, in this case quite literally. It becomes some sort of glue to bring everyone together, a communal thing that everyone celebrates together or even reproach at times. By including Kachra who is from lower cast who were socially condemned then in team, Gowarikar also uses this opportunity to make social commentary. Another aspect that I make special point of mentioning in this posts is songs. In case of Lagaan, there is a special reason for that. If you consider all the songs in any film as some sort of album, I think I can make a very strong case of this being THE best in 100 years of Bollywood. Not only is every song just so much better than the previous, there is so much variety in them that it's mind boggling. There is an inspirational song, devotional song, straight-up love song, communal rain song and sort of lovers quarrel song. Each and every one of them have beautiful meanings, offer much more than surface value and are only one-uped by probably the best music A.R. Rehman has done in his career. 

Like me, there are many who consider it to be a ‘quintessential’ Bollywood film. Whatever you can expect from a typical Bollywood movie, you will get it here. You have an uplifting story with message that has a happy ending and provides a lot of social commentary. With Elizabeth falling in love with Bhuvan and Gauri who everyone in the village knows will be married to Bhuvan one day, you also have a love triangle, songs, good triumphing over bad with our protagonist snatching the victory from the jaws of defeat. You even have a character who sells the villagers out for his hatred of Bhuvan but even he redeems himself by the end. And on top of all that, there is cricket in the cricket crazy nation of billions. What else can you want? However where Lagaan distinguishes itself from most others is it handles this juggernaut really well. Despite being a sweeping epic of David Lean proportions which many others have tried in Hindi industry to varying results, there is not much I can find fault with in here.

It has created quite a legacy for itself by being only third and last Indian film to be nominated for Oscars (Mother Indian(1957) and Salaam Bombay!(1988) were the other two). But it has nothing to do with what I was talking about being a trendsetter. As far as I remember, it was the first Indian film that had a proper marketing budget and it was done with perfect planning. Aamir Khan, who starred in the film and also produced it, made sure that it would reach every corner of the country and everyone was talking about it even before it was released. But the reason I say there was great planning behind it is despite being marketed so heavily, no one had any idea that there was cricket involved in it until the day it was released. And that cricket match consists of about 50% of it's 224 minutes run time! When people came out of theaters on the opening day, everyone was extremely surprised about it. Once it rode that wave of surprise, it literally never looked back till the day of Oscars.

I like this film. I have always liked it but at the same time, I don't consider it to be one of my favourite films. As good and legendary it is, I have always had some minor quarrels with it. Minor because I am fully aware it's unfair to hold it against it but I can't help it. I have seen this movie more than half a dozen time, last time being less than a year ago, but over the last few watches I feel like this is dated already. I also have small problem with overall acting and tone of the movie. Even though there is a lot of humour in it, it's mainly melodrama and it's so much at the knife's edge that a smidge more of it would undo everything. It never really crosses that edge for me but it feels like it would on many occasions. However here I would like to underline the fact that I still think it is one of the essentials. I will even go further and say that if you've never seen any Bollywood movie before, Lagaan is as good a start you can hope for.

Rating(out of 5):

Previous Essentials: 

Satya(1998)

Sholay(1975)

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron(1983)

A Wednesday(2008)

Do Bigha Zamin(1953) 

Sarfarosh(1999)
Taare Jameen Par(2008)

Celebrating 100 Years of Indian Cinema: 10 movies that made the difference

This post is little late. On 3rd May 1913, Dadadaheb Phalke released first ever full-length Indian feature film - Raja Harishchandra(1913). I was little late to act and post something on 3rd but better late than never. To commemorate this occasion, I give you 10 films that made difference to the industry, in many ways, to take it where it stands currently. Even though the title says Indian cinema, for this list I will concentrate on Hindi cinema since except for Marathi film Industry, I have no real expertise to judge other regional cinema. That would imply Satyajit Ray won't make an appearance here, though I have no doubt whatsoever about his place and legacy. There also won’t be obvious choices like Raja Harishchandra above or Sant Tukaram(1936), first ever Indian film to be screened at an International Film Festival. Now, making a list on such a broad topic is very subjective. There is no one way to define 'making a difference'. So, this is just my take on it. You may agree on some of them, you may disagree on some but I hope you'll join me in saying that all these movies substantially contributed to the Indian cinema, for better or for worse. Another thing I must mention, this is not the list of my favourite films. I may not even like some of the films on the list. Though it is impossible to completely avoid personal biases seeping in, I have tried to look at it objectively through my limited knowledge of cinema and this list is a result of that. Hopefully, some of you will find some value in it.

In chronological order,

1. Alam Ara(1931): This is a by-default entry in this list on the virtue of being ‘First ever Indian talkie’. Unfortunately, this movie has been long since lost and hence off course I haven’t seen it. Director Ardeshir Irani was just one of many directors trying to make a talking film and gauging its importance, made a conscious effort to finish it as soon as possible. After release, he turned out to be right as the movie turned out to be such a big hit, they needed police to control the crowds. But even in 1931, it wasn’t just talking; it was singing too and was 124 minutes long(Now you know why Indian movies are long or have songs).

2. Neecha Nagar(1946): Directed by Chetan Anand, it is one of the three films being credited for the rise of Parallel Cinema in Hindi film industry. Other two being Nagarik(1952) by Ritwik Ghatak which I have never seen and Bimal Roy’s Do Bigha Zamin(1953) which I have already written as an Essential film in Bollywood. So I guess I am giving Neecha Nagar its due credit by including it in this list, after all it is the oldest movie of three and was a winner of Grand Prize at Cannes. All these films also introduced the theme of neo-realism to the industry which became very much prevalent later in a lot of mainstream films as well.

3. Mother India(1957): First Indian movie to be nominated for the Oscar and it probably was the pinnacle of neorealism that Neecha Nagar introduced. The period from ‘40s to some early ‘60s is usually regarded as ‘Golden Age’ of Hindi cinema. Lot of movies which are still held to the highest acclaim were made during that time. As usual, I was trying to spread the wealth as much as possible in this list but this is 4^th film from that period; there is a reason it’s called golden age. Mother India sometimes gets flacked for being too melodramatic and to tell you the truth, I even agree. But what makes it great is the accurate depiction of social and economic conditions in India at that time.

4. Madhumati(1958): If you watch this movie today, I am sure nobody will think world of this movie because, to tell you the truth, there is nothing extraordinary about this movie that you see on screen. What’s extraordinary is its legacy. There are hundreds of trivial things that we take for granted in horror films that were first used in Madhumati like inhibited mansion in the middle of nowhere, suspicious looking caretaker of that house who is the only living soul in miles, even something as trivial as cracking main door or the walking candle. I strongly believe that every single thriller, horror movie made since owes something to Madhumati. 

5. Mughal-E-Azam(1960): In many ways, Mughal-E-Azam is Indian cinema’s Metropolis(1927). There is no connection with the subject matter but the first thing that comes to my mind about it is K. Asif’s epic vision. But that’s not the only similarity. Asif started working on this film in 1944. By the time it released, everything that can be changed about it was changed and it drove Asif to bankruptcy becoming the most expensive film then. However, he always kept his eyes on the target and relentlessly pursued it, to the last detail. He also made sure it never became style over substance. As a result, there are not many films even today that have such an epic scope but still have solid cinematic foundations.

6. Sholay(1975): No list talking about the greatest movies in Bollywood can be complete without the inclusion of probably the most iconic Hindi movie of all time. What the hell! Why do I even need ‘probably’? It is THE most iconic Hindi movie of all time. I really don’t think there are many people who’ll think of that as going too far. Sholay is just that solid. 1975 was a great year for Bollywood. There are few more films that year that left their mark on the industry including Deewaar(1975). In 1975, Deewaar was a bigger hit; it won most of the awards over Sholay as well. But after so many years, I think not only Sholay has endured the test of time better but it has contributed more to the industry to substantiate this place.

7. Mr. India(1987): Of all the films on this list, this is probably the least expected film to appear on such list but I think it is worth that honour. Despite being a very mainstream film with every aspect of a typical ‘Masala’ film present, this is probably the only example Sci-Fi film done right in the industry. Yes, I called it a sci-fi film. Well, the man disappears! So, if Hollow Man(2000) is sci-fi, so is Mr. India. I can think of many other movies that attempted this genre but in my opinion almost every single one of them fails miserably. The fact that Shekhar Kapur at least successfully entertains you in Mr. India is enough for me to put it in this list. Add on one of the most iconic villain and Hawa-Hawai to it and I am sold.

8. Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge(1995): Since '90s, a typical Bollywood movie can be summed up as a ‘Family-centric Romantic Musical’. I know that is lot of genres together but on an average, any Hindi film fits into about 5 genres. So bear with me. In my opinion, success of DDLJ played an instrumental role in shifting the pendulum towards it. In the intro, I said that these movies changed the industry, for better or for worse. In the hindsight I think what followed it was for worse but I am not about to blame this movie for incompetence of those who tried to cash-on its success. It does have its weaknesses, I won’t deny that but if you want to watch a typical Bollywood masala movie, why not go for the best? That’s Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge for you.

9. Satya(1998): There aren’t many movies that can boast something Satya can – it made it necessary to introduce whole another genre in the industry. Mumbai Noir. Ramgopal Verma’s Satya is first gangster movie made in Hindi. This legacy alone guarantees it a spot on many lists, executing it as well as it does was just an added advantage to solidify its position in the history of Hindi cinema. Genre made popular by the likes of Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese came to India in the form of Satya and I don’t know if it reflects positively or negatively on the industry but despite many other movies made since, it still remains to be ‘the best’.

10. 3 Idiots(2009): This movie is Bollywood equivalent of Fight Club(1999) for me because I might be one of 7 people on this earth who have seen this film and does not think that it is the greatest thing in the world. In my opinion it goes way too over the top too many times to take it seriously. But at the same time I cannot deny the fact that this is the highest grossing movie of all time, first one to cross INR 1 billion mark and the reason it’s on the list – to open many overseas markets for Indian movies. It’s not the first time Indian movies have had success overseas; Karan Johar has been making movies exclusively for that market since late ‘90s but none did the business like this one did and I believe 3 Idiots is an important reason why there have been film festivals going on in Japan or regular releases of Hindi movies in many other markets of East Asia.