Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (DVD)

Well this will probably be my first bollywood review, but to be honest I couldn't have picked a better film. Ive never been a really big fan of Indian movies, even though my mum and dad both always watch it, however this is the only Indian film I can say ive not got bored watching and furthermore seen in the Cinema. The film im reviewing is the academy award nominated "Lagaan" which translated means Land Tax, however the film for international audiences was called Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India. The film was directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar and starred Aamir Khan and Gracy Singh. Now because this is my first hollowyood film I though along with this review I ...

~~Introduction~~ This is an exemplary Bollywood film, complete with excellent acting, catchy soundtrack and incredible dances. ~~Plot~~ Simple but very, very effective. Bhuvan is a farmer in the small village of Champaner, a village ravaged for a second year running by drought. They cannot pay their lagaan to their Rajah unless there is rain soon. The lagaan is a tax that the farmers must pay to their Rajah, who rules over the province. The Rajah in turn pays much of this to the British occupiers, who require the crops to feed their soldiers. When the Leader of the local British Garrison decides to double the lagaan, the villagers march up to ...

PLOT The film opens with a spinning coin - the head of the Empress Victoria on one side, the words “one rupee” on the other - which falls on to a map of colonial India. And so the scene is set. The narrator explains the background story immediately. The year is 1893, the place Champaner, a small, thatched farming village in the heart of India. A British colonial outpost neighbours the village, and charges the Indian Rajah of the province a lagaan (tax), in return for protection and order. Every farmer must contribute to the tax, by parting with a large portion of their harvest, leaving the people hungry and unable to resist the iron grip of the system. We join ...