Lagaan

  • Aamir Khan: Bhuvan
  • Gracy Singh: Gauri
  • Rachel Shelley: Elizabeth Russell
  • Paul Blackthorne: Captain Andrew Russell
  • Suhasini Mulay: Yashodamai
  • Kulbhushan Kharbanda: Raja Puran Singh
  • Raghuvir Yadav: Bhura
  • Rajesh Vivek: Guran
  • Raj Zutshi: Ismail
  • Pradeep Rawat: Deva
  • Daya Shankar Pandey: Goli
  • Yashpal Sharma: Lakha
  • Amin Hajee: Bagha
  • Aditya Lakhia: Kachra
  • Avtar Kishan Hangal: Shambukaka

Lagaan (Hindi: लगान Lagan, literally, taxes or leased) is an award-winning Indian film. He was released on 1 June 2001 and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Action

Lagaan is set in India in the late 19th century. Captain Russell (Paul Blackthorne ), the malicious commanding officer of the British Regional Headquarters, the people oppressed in the region with high taxes ( Lagaan ), while they suffer additionally under an unusual drought. When they their Radhschah, the pact with the British to ask for help, Russell offers farmers of the village Champaner a bet: he shall be made for all three years, the taxes of the whole province, when a village team can beat his men in cricket - a sport that is completely unknown to the inhabitants. However, if they lose three times the tax is levied. Led by Bhuvan ( Aamir Khan) and with the help of good-hearted sister of the officer, Elizabeth (Rachel Shelley ), the inhabitants begin to train for the game that will decide their fate.

Bhuvan succeeds only with difficulty, to convince the villagers of their chance; religion and the box across to Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus do together in the village, a blacksmith who Vaidya ( doctor ), a chicken farmer, even a outcaste is received (due to its randomly discovered ingenious ball throwing technique ); Brahman and Mullah work after initial skepticism harmoniously together, and the village chief can eventually convince even the angry Indian province of Upper assume that there is a real chance of victory.

The team is working very hard, and during this time, Elizabeth falls in love with Bhuvan, but he can not return her feelings, as he one hand does not understand because she confesses her love to him only in English and it is actually also long been in love with Gauri which is quite jealous of Elizabeth. Lakha, who actually wanted to win for themselves Gauri, now wants out of spite, because it is obvious that Gauri Bhuvan also loves that Bhuvan and the villagers lose this game. He was already in his school days not very popular because he always played by unfair means. Although Lakha was a member of the team, but he secretly informed Captain Russell on the progress of the team. The captain tried to prevent his sister from the villagers continue to help, but she resists because she really loves Bhuvan and fair play would.

Lakha play in the big game, which takes up almost the entire second half of the film, is to be more dramatic and hardly a great advertisement for the game of cricket is, deliberately bad, and so the already low odds of the Indians fall further. On the evening of the first matchday Elizabeth observed, however, as Lakha sneaks to her brother into the British camp, and they informs Bhuvan and the villagers. The team is outraged and demands Lakhas head, but Bhuvan pardoned him on condition that he now had to send his best and so prove his loyalty.

At the end of the exciting, the whole second half of the film (40 min) engaging the match wins in the literal last second, the village team. Not only the place but the whole province are therefore exempt for three years from Laagan. All are happy, and Gauri and Bhuvan are a couple. The villain, Officer Russell is set to Central Africa, and Elizabeth returns disappointed back to the UK.

Reception

Lagaan is the most successful and according to some rankings even the best ever Indian film ever. He elicited enthusiastic responses, not only on the cricket playing subcontinent ( " the greatest feelgood Hindi movie ever", " paean to the human spirit" ), but also the international audience. He has received, among others at the International Film Festival of Locarno 2002, the Prix du Public, and was nominated for the award of the Oscar for best foreign language film .. It costs, what direction, music, costumes and sound is concerned, as groundbreaking.

Other projects by director and producer

In his next film Swades (Homeland, 2004) is devoted Gowariker because even these more recent issues, now with Shah Rukh Khan in the lead role. However Swades came only abroad on resonance and in India could not build on the overwhelming success of Lagaan. Amir Khan also then turned with Dil Chahta Hai (2001), a completely different kind of film that plays in the city and the urban youth with their friend and love affairs has as its object.

Trivia

  • Lagaan broke with some iron laws of Bollywood: "Thou shalt not make periodic film (film in a specific time or area ), Thou shalt not make a film, playing on the land, you shall never let it end with a sporting contest a movie; Dress your protagonists never in dhoti and never give them a bindi ( forehead jewelery, also called Tilak ). "
  • The film was shot in a train while in India usually seven to eight rotary appointments are common and the actors often work on several films simultaneously.
  • A.R. Rahman's music was at the time of turning almost completely, while other music and rotation have nothing to do with each other and only gradually emerge.
  • The supporting foreigners roles were cast with real foreigners who do speak their Hindi rolls itself, either phonetically (Rachel Shelley / Elizabeth: "may toomsay pyar kurnay lugee ho" instead of "main Tumse pyar karne lagi ho" ) or in a half year trained (Paul Blackthorne / Capt.Russell ).
  • All recordings were made on site, not in the studio.
  • Lagaan was Bollywood's most expensive film to date.
  • Amir Khan was willing to give the script of the hitherto only moderately successful screenwriter Gowariker a chance, and his family agreed to the revised script only after several attempts.
  • Amir Khan not only took over the role of the protagonist, but also the producer for Lagaan.
  • In DVD sales of the film Lagaan previous hit for the first time "eternal" record holder Sholay (1975).
  • Lagaan was the first film, which was awarded nationwide in China.
  • The lead actor, Aamir Khan, is a descendant of " Maulana " Abul Kalam Azad (1888-1958), a Persian Tajik from Herat, the struggle for freedom of India led by Gandhi and Patel, the secularization of the country and advocated as a Muslim for the first Minister of Education in India been.
  • A.R. Rahman, the composer of film music, specially flew from Madras to complete the composition to the location Bhuj, and as he was known to work primarily at night came the British actress, Rachel Shelley, in the next room hardly to rest.
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