It was the summer of 2001; we had just finished our board exams and entrance tests and were waiting for the signal that will decide which track our life will go. As the movie coordinator in our friend circle i decide to book ticket for Aamir Khan’s latest film Lagaan. Many of my friends protested saying that it was a period film with the back drop of a farmer rebellion against the tax increase by the British. Honestly speaking I was also not too sure about the film but I preferred Aamir’s film than Sunny Deol’s Gadar as I was an avid Aamir fan. We booked the tickets for the 4pm show at a theatre near us on the first day itself. Little did we know that we were going to get the biggest cinematic experience of our life, a feeling not even recently released galactic film Avatar did not produce. There was no clue that this film was based on our second religion, cricket. For the best part of second half the balcony at the theatre was turned into virtually the gallery of a stadium. Only thing missing were the jerseys and the flags.



This movie is the first one to come out of Aamir Khan Productions and was termed block buster all over the world. The film also received outstanding reviews in and outside India. Lagaan was the third film in Indian film history to be nominated for the Academy awards in the foreign language category. Though Lagaan eventually lost out to the Bosnian film “No Man’s Land” everyone began to take notice of Indian film industry ever since then. To mix the most popular sport in India into a bollywood film was a tedious task. Many films had attempted the same in the past but had miserably failed. Aamir even had acted in one of such dud films called “Avval number “with legendary actor Devanand. So when Ashutosh Gowariker who had earlier directed Aamir in Baazi narrated the story he was reluctant in the beginning. Shahrukh too had earlier declined the film citing many reasons. Aamir usually takes a long time to give the nod and this time he not only said yes but decides to produce the film under his own banner. Aamir produced this film along with Jamu Sughand.



One of the main characters in the film is the village itself, so the director and the art director Nitin Desai set up a nationwide hunt and finally settled near Bhuj in 1998, a small city in Gujarat which resembled the Champaner village in the story. The fictional village of Champaner needed to look dry and barren and the Kanuria village in Bhuj suited the requirement perfectly since it was devoid for rain for some time. Moreover the village did not have electricity or tar roads which also fueled the zeroing in since it was a period film. Interestingly it did not rain at all in the shooting premises for the entire period and as it was shown in the film it rained heavily after the film unit left. That joy was short lived for the native of Bhuj as the city was destroyed in an earthquake on the very next republic day. Aamir and crew arranged a special premiere for the people of Bhuj to show their solidarity. In fact it was the first ever show of Lagaan and brought smiles to many faces.



The film rolls with the heavenly voice of Amitabh Bachchan who explains the scenario of Champaner, surely no one other than Amitabh could have suited the voice better. The film deals with the story of a small village in Champaner which was the main stay for the British army in the region. Captain Andrew Russel (Paul Blackthrone) who was the stationary commander in Champaner imposes double lagaan (Taxes) on the villagers. The Maharaja (Kulbushan Kharbanda) was also helpless as he was under the British orders. The villagers led by their head go up to Maharaja who was watching a cricket match of the British officers to relax their taxes as they were suffering from severe drought due to lack of rain that year. It is then when our main protagonist Bhuvan (Aamir Khan) engages in a verbal duel with Captain Russel. At the end Russel proposes an extraordinary treaty that cancels all the tax of the villagers for the next three years if they beat the British officers in a cricket match. Bhuvan readily accepts the challenge without foreseeing the consequences. This incident makes villagers turn against him, but a few stick with him. His lover Gauri (Gracy Singh), a young teenage boy, a mute drummer (Amin Hajee) and the eccentric fortune teller Guran (Rajesh Vivek) were the only ones to stand by him. Meanwhile Captain Russel’s sister Elizabeth (Rachel Shelly) decides to help Bhuvan and bears a crush on him in her heart. Slowly as Bhuvan started practice more villagers join in. A poultry farmer Bhura (Raghuvir Yadav), Potter Ismail (Raj Zutshi), Blacksmith Arjan (Akhilendra Mishra), Farmer Goli (Daya Pandey) and Gowri’s father Ishwar (Vallabh Vyas) who was the local doctor joined in Bhuvan’s team. Lakha (Yashpal Sharma) hated Bhuvan because of his close proximity to Gowri but joins the team as a British Spy. A Sikh sepoy Deva (Pradeep Rawat) also joins the team as he had the experience of playing this game earlier. The team was complete when Bhuvan convinces the villagers to take the untouchable handicapped Kachra (Aditya Lakhia) who could spin the ball because of his twisted wrist. Together they began playing cricket under the supervision of Elizabeth.




In the match the British wins the toss and elect to bat. Kachra is ineffective with the new ball as the Britishers compile the misery on the first day. Moreover Lakha’s drop catches and the miss fieldings help the English to set up a big score. They had initial hiccups though with the bowling of Goli but once that was tackled it was a smooth sailing for them. Meanwhile Elizabeth tells villagers that Lakha is a spy but Bhuvan forgives him and saves him from being killed by the villagers. Things started to turn around in the second day when kachra ripped through the British batting with his spin and he even got a hat-trick. British were finally all out for 313 runs. Bhuvan and Deva opened for the villagers and had a steady stand until Deva was run out. The villagers then lose a heap of wickets in a hurry leaving them in a tottering position on day 2. Moreover Ismail was injured and his leg was fractured. Ismail though returns to the crease when almost all the wickets were down with a runner. Bhuvan who had already scored a century piled on the runs with the help of Ismail but the latter was shamefully run out by the British leaving only Bhuvan and Kachra behind. Kachra fails to hit a six in the last ball by the bowler but as the British were starting celebration the Umpire had already called the no ball. Bhuvan hits the next ball for six when Captain Russel takes a catch outside the playing area. The villagers were exempted from paying tax for the next three years and Captain Russel was transferred to a desert in Central Africa as his punishment. Elizabeth realized the love between Gowri and Bhuvan and goes back to England and lived unmarried thought her life.
The shooting of Lagaan was done with a lot of planning and organizing. Every actor was given special instructions in the evening about next day’s workload. The conditions were tough as the actors struggled to cope up with intense heat and dust storms. All the actors were taken to the location from the hotel in a bus and if anyone misses the bus they had to find their own mean of transportation to reach the set.
When it was released it was declared a worldwide hit. Lagaan made it to the top movie charts in UK and the US. Lagaan was also the first Hindi film to be released widely in China. Lagaan also made its appearance in many film festivals like Sundance and Toronto. All the actors in the film were recognized and got lots of film offers in the coming years. A.R.Rahman’s music was also big chartbusters and appealed to a mass audience across the world. Oscar winning Bhanu Athaiyya was the costume designer for this film. Anil Mehta was the cinematographer and was well appreciated for this work. Lagaan also swept almost all the awards that year and was India’s official entry for the Oscars.



Surely no film has matched the enigma of lagaan and till this day gives me goose bumps thinking of it. I wonder how they kept the cricket factor under the wraps before the release of the film.Most of my friends lost their last buses for home since it was almost 8pm when the movie was finished. It had a running time of 3 hours and 42 minutes. Very few movies like Chak De India have come close but no one has given me better cinematic experience than Lagaan. This film might have missed the Oscar but is still the best film I have seen in my entire life and trust me many of you will agree to that.

Lagaan is the great film. And this one is a Oscar Nominated also. This is the great film by Aamir khan. The role of the Aamir khan in this film is very strong. The concept story of this film is very great to see. The music of this film is too cool. This one is really very super movie according to me.