Rating: 
Summary: GREAT FILM
Review: HI.iam shaheryar.How are you.Laggan is a goodfilm.amirkhan worked in this film is great.gracy is looking good in this film.A new face rachelshelley is beautiful and work good as a new commer.I mean to say all artis in this film work good.I like this movie very much.I like amiekhan,rachelshelley,gracy very much.And all people in this film
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Summary: Khan's first production, Lagaan lands in the Limelight
Review: Amidst traditional Indian feel-good-love-story movies, Lagaan steals the screen with a non-fictional plot and refreshing new faces, including that of Gracy Singh. The music is poetic and powerful, with catchy rhythms and heartfelt lyrics. Creative choreography brings the songs to life. Even better is Khan's focus on real-life issues, including criticism of the caste system and the historic British abuse of Indian farmers. Khan succeeds in making valuable commentaries through a lighthearted, enjoyable film that centers on a cricket match. Both fans and non-fans of the sport will find themselves cheering for Khan's team by the end of the film! Lagaan flickers skillfully from witty humor to painful betrayal, from resolute dedication to shy love. Aamir Khan's first production is a wonderful success. Well done!
Rating: 
Summary: Don't miss it..
Review: great film.. Don't miss it.. & congratulations to Aamir and his faith. Surprise of surprises..!! An adventurous venture like this does well( very well in fact) in India.. The producer happen to have his office in the building next to mine!!.. And I happen to have the director's old phone number for myself to receive all the accolades.. :-) Cheers all
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Summary: If it was not all about Bhuvan
Review: India during the British Raj. Colorfully dressed dancing farmers are worried about their crops because there has been no rain. To top it, the arrogant British major, complete with wiggly mustache decides he is going to levy double taxes this year because they got off easy the previous year by paying 1/2 tax. The villagers go to beseech the milquetoast king of the province, and witness a game of cricket which they watch in fascinated confusion and finally dismiss as a silly children's game. Raja Milquetoast cannot accede to their demands, but the mustache man takes offence to one of the villagers making a crack at the `silly' game he was playing and says that if the village can beat him in a game of cricket, he will exempt them from taxes for four years. The villager agrees because he is the male protagonist Bhuvan and his fellow villagers give him the cold shoulder for weeks even as he tries to put together a motley crew of villagers to play based on laterally suited skills. If a man can chase chickens, he can catch a ball, if a man can fling the bola, he can `pitch' the ball, and if a man can play the drums really hard, he can pinch hit. They find a low caste guy who can spin the ball because he has a deformed hand and finally the team, is a vertible advertisement for a united India comprising of all the religions. Even Christianity gets an honorable mention in the form of the British officer's sister who appalled at her brother's unfairness offers to teach them how to play. Of course, she falls in love with him and she is not the only one. Americans might feel they won't `get' the film because it is mostly about cricket, but they really don't need to worry. It works like this. Lets use baseball as comparison. There are only two `bases' in cricket and they are opposite each other. Two batsman play at a time and they stand at one `base' each. The batsman hits the ball and runs to the other base, for a run which is completed only when the batsman with him runs to his base. You have bowlers, like pitchers, but each gets to bowl a max of 10 overs (6 ball spells) a match. You have batsman, like hitters, but if they are out, they cannot play again during the innings. The main ways they can get out is if they miss the ball and it knocks over their stumps or if they are not in their bases and someone in the oppoing side knocks the stumps (three sticks that mark an area as a base) over. You can also get caught like in baseball if you hit the ball into the air and someone in the opposing team catches it before it bounces. A sixer is a home run equivalent, hitting the ball out of the boundary and the batsman gets six runs, but there is also the four where the ball touches the ground in the field and crosses over or rolls over the boundary without being intercepted. The objective is to beat the team that batted first by making more runs than them or to defend your score from being beaten. A hatrick, a term you will encounter is when a bowler gets three batsman out in successive balls. But the game really isn't about cricket as much as it is about the underdog who comes through and wins. The other characters are what make the movie; even if Aamir Bhuvan Khan who ghost directed the movie, tends to keep the focus solely on himself. The eccenteric fortune teller, the awkward cripple who makes the hattrick, the farmer and his fued with the man who sells eggs, and his errant chickens, and even the reformed envious suitor who comes through in the end for the team; all in all, it is all about those old fashioned values like fighting for what is yours, believing in yourself and being rewarded for it.
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Summary: Vastly entertaining
Review: If you are a westerner you will enjoy this movie even if the cultural nuances escape you. It is flat-out, no holds barred storytelling with huge production numbers, whole villages breaking into singing and dancing with music just pouring down from the sky along with the rain, huge vistas, lots of color, lots of fun, lots of hammy character actors, an over the top villian, a hero as handsome as Tyrone Power, a heroine so wiggly and coy that (occassionally) one wants to bonk her over the head with a cricket bat, and a young English rose who glows so passionately and beautifully with unrequited love that one wishes one could rewrite the script for her.
Completely captivating and totally unique.
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Summary: a superb introduction to Bollywood films!
Review: To be quite honest with you, this wasn't the first Bollywood film that I have viewed, but it should have been. Bollywood is to Indians, Pakistanis and Iranians what Hollywood is to us, except probably about ten times as popular. Bollywood films consist of film elements that are massively appealing to a great cross section of people. You have your action scenes, the two romantic leads (young and attractive), sometimes children might be thrown in for family appeal, plenty of singing and dancing numbers interspersed between scenes (sometimes, they seem to come out of nowhere!) and the singing voices are always dubbed. This might sound kind of odd to the average American filmgoer, but this is truly the rage in South East Asia, and has been so for many. many years now. What's more, many of the plots are originally derived from ancient stories and parables, and oftentimes the ending are more than a little moralistic.
"Lagaan" is of exceptional quality as, both, a Bollywood film and as a movie, in general. Also, it succeeds in spite of its length. (four hours plus!) That is quite an unusual feat, in and of itself. This film was directed by and stars the legendary Aamir Khan, a wildly popular and successful Bollywood actor. The story is quite complex and very intelligent. It is centered around an Indian village and the English who rule it with an oppressive iron fist. A tax is required (a tax that the village cannot afford to pay) and the outcome of whether they must pay it or not is determined by the outcome of a cricket match between the Indian villagers and the English. While the English excel at the sport, the villagers need time for practice.
The acting is wonderful (something that can't be said for a lot of films today, Bollywood and Hollywood alike). Aamir Khan is a strong lead and the two actresses who play his love interests (Indian and English) are wonderful. The dance sequences and the music are just beautiful! Rent this today, but be sure you make time for it and can watch it from beginning to end! It's worth it.
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Summary: Bollywood...With Spectacle, Romance and Cricket
Review: A group of poor Indian villagers in colonial India challenge the aristo officers of a British army company to a game of cricket. I think its cricket; there's a lot of endless running between two posts. If the villagers win, their taxes are repealed. If they lose, the taxes are doubled. And, of course, the villagers have never played cricket before.
The film has romance, good humor, near tragedy, first rate photography, the plucky underdogs, the condescending upperdogs, and some terrific Bollywood musical numbers tossed in here and there. It's romantic, good-hearted, touching. It's unlike anything I'd seen before. It's worth a purchase.
Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Introduction to Bollywood!
Review: 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 creates an instantly likeable presence, handsome, engergetic and full of great promise and self-assuredness. I welcome the opportunity to see more of his work.
Gracy Singh is simply irresistable as Gauri - who could not fall in love with this slightly wacky, but ultimately wise in matters of the heart. She moves with an easy grace and elegance and charm befitting a princess. Her contribution to the song and dance numbers was exquisite. More Singh, please!
Paul Blackthorne was a hilarious, old-school villain; over the tope and right out of a penny dreadful melodrama - and I mean this as a compliment. His unrelenting arrogance made him so oh so easy to hate I almost hissed at his every appearance. I love a good villain!
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.
Rating:
Summary: an epic moment in indian cinema
Review: lagaan is a brave venture and the production team succeeds admirably in this heroic tale of the underdogs. the story is simple, way too convenient and predictable. but what makes it work is the high drama surrounding it, the extraordinary music score and the magical one hour finale.
the entire movie is a build up to the final on-field cricket battle between the rustics who have no idea about the game and the britishers who brought the game to india. the story in itself holds no surprises, it is obvious from the beginning which team is going to win, but the quetion is how? the drama of the match is simply stunning, with ups and downs. the many characters in the game bring a lot of fun and grit and to the game and make it a a delight to watch. an absolute must for any indian cricket fan and for foreigners interested in bollywood. a very well crafted movie. my man of the match - a.r.rehman for some brilliant songs and an extraordinary background score.
Rating:
Summary: lovely film in need of editing
Review: This is a fine film in the classic tradition of underdogs who challenge a corrupt system, in this case with a small Indian village as the underdogs and the British imperial presence as the corrupt system. Challenged by a fickle little tyrant (not played terribly well), the villagers pull together a cricket team to meet a wager: if they win the match they will not have to pay the lagaan, or tax, for three years, which would be a boon to an area beset by drought. All of this is in a fine narrative tradition and there is nothing wrong with the film that some editing wouldn't have fixed. The movie is 3 hours and 45 minutes long, with the cricket match lasting 1-1/2 hours. Yikes.
DVD extras are minimal: one 18-minute deleted scene and filmographies. The film can be subtitles in English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Thai or Portuguese.
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