Lagaan - Es war einmal in Indien

Okay, I am not from India, not even close. I am from Scandinavia. Before Lagaan I had never watched any Hindi movies of any kind. I know about 3 words from the hindi language. And I don't like musicals much. I viewed the movie on a DVD of rather poor quality compared to the state of the art DVDs I am used to. And I was told the movie lasted close to 4(!) hours... I figured this would be a complete waste of time... BOY was I wrong! This movie is completely the opposite! It is just amazing! Mr. Gowariker has selected an incredible cast with Aamir Khan in the lead. He makes an stunning performance as the village rebel, Bhuvan. He tries to unite the village in a struggle for life against the greedy Britons. The Britons exploit the villages by collecting lagaan (tax). This means that most of the harvest surplus is gone and there is just enough left for food for the farmers themselves. It's a classic war between "David", the native villagers of India, and "Goliath", the powerful and greedy Britons. But what makes it really interesting is that this war is fought in a Cricket arena. This is a challenge from the Britons, who are well known with Cricket, against the village, where most people have never laid eyes upon a cricket bat. If the villagers win, there will be no lagaan at all, for three years! And if the Britons win, they will collect triple lagaan, which will mean the end of the village. The stakes could not be higher!!

I can't remember a movie being this thrilling and having so much life in it. And the music has a huge impact thanks to the great voices of Udit Narayan, Lata Mangeshkar etc. And the dancing is a chapter in itself! Few or none will leave this movie not remembering the song "Mitwa, sun Mitwa". It is a must see for everyone, inside and outside of India. And this movies has been totally righteously nominated for an Oscar too, and I wouldn't be surprised if it goes all the way to the top. It has my vote! It gets 10 out of 10 from me. Excellent!

This was my first full-fledged trip into Bollywood and I couldn't have asked for a better entry. While there were some inconsistencies in sound, overall I loved the picture. Some of the songs and dances were breathtaking and emotionally charged. In particular the number where Bhuvan and the young boy are sitting on a hill and they're shrugging their shoulders, soon getting the village into the act. The other number where Bhuvan and Gauri re-enact the love of Krishna and Radha in exquisite dancing. Also there were many moments of stunning, breathtaking images, including the women of the village seated in the temple praying for salvation. Absolutely stunning.

While I feel some judicious pruning could have trimmed the nearly 4 hour long version I watched (the DVD of which included an additional 17 minutes cut from this version) the picture did not seem nearly as long as it really was.

Aamir Khan is such an instantly likable presence and Gracy Singh is simply irresistible as Gauri.

Paul Blackthorne was a hilarious, old-school villain right out of a penny dreadful melodrama – and I mean this as a compliment.

Rachel Shelley's Elizabeth was a perfect blend of Victorian reserved beauty and free spirit and noble in her heartbreak.

So many other performances ran the gamut from old school "b" stereotypical characters to some original ideas.

The blending of melodrama (in its purest sense) true comedic moments (the hen keeper), self and enlightenment culminated in the scene where Bhuvan shocks the village by touching an untouchable; his stirring, heartfelt speech about brotherhood and putting away castes shaming the village into enlightenment.

Some of the criticism leveled at Lagaan is (I believe) unduly harsh. This is a charming movie and a perfect introduction into the joys of Bollywood.

This movie not only opened my eyes to the beatuies of india but also the hearts of India. I fell in love with this movie at once and I feel very close to all of the characters I know them and feel for them. The dancing and singing made my heart pound and my heart overwhelmed by the matchless beauty and I was imagining myself following along with Gauri. I love this story and I could watch it daily and never tire of the beauty it holds. I have always loved indian people and the culture which they live, I am American and have never visited India,soon I will visit in person and dreams of going there will no longer tug at me . I hope to one day perform the dances as well as those in the movie. I really loved that in the movie the characters were faced with such hardship but somehow they were of cheer and sang together and lifted one anothers spirits.I love this movie some may tire of its length but I wish it would continue forever. I want to be a part of it.

I initially gave this movie a miss after I was totally disappointed by "Asoka". The latter was hugely advertised but I don't find it good at all.

I finally saw "Lagaan" after a friend told me that this movie was actually good. And she was right. I borrowed the DVD from the library and had to see the movie in 2 sessions due to it's almost 4-hour-long running time. But it was worth it!

The cricket game was captivating. I didn't know anything about cricket but before the movie ended, I felt that I almost understand the game!

I'm not Indian and I seldom see Indian movie even though I love foreign movies, especially Japanese. But "Lagaan" is truly the best Indian movie I've ever seen, or at least the best of the year 2001.

I still remember the long queue for the advanve booking of this film. Saw this 3 times in theatre. Then so many times on channel that I lost the count of it. What a lavish n enormous entertainment man. It is more than 3 hours long but doesn't bore u for even a minute. Awesome direction. Awesome screenplay. Awesome editing. Awesome cinematography. Awesome acting by all. Aamir khan was too good man. What an amazing performance of his as teams captain Bhuvan. This movie is more than just a sports movie. This is a great sports movie and even if you don't like sports, it is still a great movie. I highly recommend this movie to everyone. It is a movie that you should definitely see if you're down because it is a movie about hope. It is also about victory. Lovely songs n awesome music.

In 2010, the film was ranked No. 55 in Empire magazines "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema". In 2011, it was listed in Time magazine's special "The All-TIME 25 Best Sports Movies". Lagaan was listed as number 14 on Channel 4's "50 Films to See Before you Die" and was the only Indian film to be listed.