Lagaan - Once Upon a Time in India
Would you believe the most enchanting musical of the year is an almost four-hour-long epic about a ragtag group of 19th-century Indian farmers who form a cricket team to take on an arrogant British captain? The old-fashioned Hollywood musical is alive and well in India's Bollywood industry, where the joyful explosion of music and dance and innocent romance abounds in sweeping epics. In this infectious tale of bloodless revolution, the underdog outcasts and oddballs of a fractured village…
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Last updated: December 19, 2009, 3:15 pm
Lagaan - Once Upon a Time in India Customer reviews:
Average Rating: 4.5 Total Reviews: 194
(Kasey R. Gillespie, 2009-11-29) I ordered this DVD for my sister's birthday but I was a little late in ordering it. I expected it to arrive a week late but instead it arrived in only 4 days from the day I ordered it.
(katyaj84, 2009-09-21) I bought a DVD from this seller and it was defective. I contacted the seller and he told me to return it back to him to see if there is anything wrong with the DVD. I sent it back to him and he writes me an email stating nothing is wrong with it and sends me back the DVD in my envelope with the words "Refused Back To Sender". What kind of customer service is that? I do not know what kind of DVD player he has but I have a Panasonic and Sony that plays all of my other DVDs just fine. This DVD does not work and yet the seller refused to take his defective product back. I am in the middle of disputing this erroneous transaction! DO NOT BUY FROM THIS SELLER! He will screw you over! What a waste of my time and money!
(Amaranth, 2009-06-03) "Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India" is an entrancing, sensual Indian epic. Aamir Khan stars as Bhuvan, the handsome, charismatic,frequently shirtless hero. The Brits are levying a heavy tax upon the Indians... but a game of cricket may save them. Gracy Singh stars as Bhuvan's girlfriend, while Rachel Shelley stars as Elizabeth,who's secretly smitten with Bhuvan. There's a love triangle, forbidden love, song and dancing. The Bollywood singing and dancing in this epic is superb! One of the best numbers is when Bhuvan explains the game of cricket. The soundtrack is by AR Rahman,who would one day win Oscars for his Slumdog Millionaire music. "Lagaan" is a bittersweet fairy tale. Everybody lives happily ever after--even Elizabeth,in her own way. "Once Upon a Time in India" is a Bollywood classic!
(Laura Suzanne, 2009-05-23) Lagaan is a very good Indian musical. We have never, though, been able to watch the movie all the way to the end. This is now the second DVD of this movie that we have purchased that has been damaged. Only the first three quarters of the movie are playable. It could be the case that all of the DVDs made from the original are damaged. If anyone finds a copy of this movie that is playable in its entirety that would be a real find.
(Christopher Culver, 2009-04-26) Aamir Khan's 2001 film LAGAAN proved a crossover hit for Bollywood, with this Hindi-language drama interspersed with gratuitous music scenes--and a plot based on sport unknown to Americans--surprisingly successful in the U.S. In the late 19th century, during the time of the British Raj, the farmer inhabitants of the village Champaner suffer from a drought. The sadistic commander of the local cantonment, Captain Russell (Paul Blackthorne), loves to humilitate the local king and his people, and he decides to impose three times the grain tribute ("lagaan") on the area. The villagers protest, but when a few of them interrupt a cricket match played by the British, Captain Russell offers them a challenge. The hero of LAGAAN is Bhuvan (Aamir Khan), a proud young man who has faith that his village can overcome this challenge, in spite of sceptics and a traitor in their mist. Bhuvan maintains a shy courtship with Gauri (Gracy Singh), the village beauty, who provides moral support. Other personalities from Champaner include a crazy mystic (Rajesh Vivek ), a Judas-like figure (Yashpal Sharma). Captain Russell's sister Elizabeth (Rachel Shelley), secretly assists the villagers against her egoistic brother, making Gauri jealous. LAGAAN makes some political points, as Champaner is India in microcosm, with Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs banding together against the foreigners, and Bhuvan chastising the elders for not welcoming an Untouchable onto the team. Based on its fine qualities, and the fact that some of its weaknesses are so bad that they are good, one might expect that LAGAAN would be a great party movie. The problem, however, is the film's pacing. The entire last third of this 224 minute-long film is the cricket match. Even for those who enjoy the sport, so much here could have been cut with no impact on the plot. The deluxe DVD reveals that there was even more to the film, which was blessedly cut. For audiences internationally who want to get an idea of Bollywood, LAGAAN is an imperfect but convenient introduction, being widely available and with an international cast and excellent subtitles. See it, even if it does test your endurance.