Lagaan: Once upon a Time in India Movie Review 2001

Bollywood musical set in 1893, in the drought-striken village of Champaner. The lagaan is a tax levied by the occupying British on the local rajahs, which the village can't pay. The region's nasty British commander, Captain Russell (Blackthorne), states that if the villagers can beat his soldiers at cricket, the lagaan will be cancelled for three years; if they lose, the lagaan will be tripled. Heroic Bhuvan (Khan) persuades the locals that even if they don't understand the game, they can certainly show those arrogant Brits a thing or two! English, Hindi and Bhojpuri with subtitles.

Distribution

Sony Pictures Home Video, Sony Pictures Plz., 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232, Phone: (310)244-7306, Fax: (310)280-2485, URL: http://www.spe.sony.com, Remarks: Formerly Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment

Available on DVD
Running time 225 minutes.
Originally from Indian.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Musical Drama, Romantic Drama, India, Period Piece: 20th Century, Sports Dramas, Military: Foreign, Taxing Situations

Screenplay

Ashutosh Gowariker, Kumar Dave, Sanjay Dayma, K.P. Saxena

Cast

Aamir Khan, Gracy Singh, Rachel Shelley, Paul Blackthorne, Suhasini Mulay, Kulbashan Kharbanda, Raghubir Yadav

Cinematography

Anil Mehta

Director

Ashutosh Gowariker

Music

A.R. Rahman

Other

Nakul Kamte, H. Sridhar, Ballu Saluja, Bhanu Athaiya, Nitin Desai

Producer

Aamir Khan, Sony Pictures Classics