First movie by an actor's production house, a director high on technicality, unlimited budget and lots of publicity--- combine all this and u have lagaan. Publicised as "Once Upon a Time in India" -- the once upon a time is just incidental. It is definitely not a period movie, but emphasises on its setting to justify a large canvas. The plot is about some village people trying to beat an English team(englishmen who are the all-in-all for smooth running of the British empire) in a game of cricket so that they do not have to pay any taxes(lagaan) for the next three years. The movie is excellent technically--well choreographed songs, beautiful cinematography etc but that is all the movie has to it. The actors too play their part, which is not substantial, fairly well. The movie has been stretched to almost 4 hours but the plot deserves no more time than a routine movie..(In fact, there is not much plot at all.) There is not even a single actor other than Bhuvan(played by Aamir) which is developed. The movie focusses solely on Aamir and does not allow any other strong character to emerge. The stress on good cinematography (read good looking scenes ) is so large that peasants(poor, starving and all) living in pre-independence India wear freshly laundered (as good as new) clothes most of the time. It just does not look like that these are the poor peasants struggling to save their land but just a cricket team which is desperate to score a win over a fancied team. The love triangle is not even a triangle but a fleeting line....
All in all, a movie which looooks good but just that... Its soul is missing...
And as for the length of the movie , for people who can watch test matches from start to end may find it to their liking.
All in all, a movie which looooks good but just that... Its soul is missing...
And as for the length of the movie , for people who can watch test matches from start to end may find it to their liking.