Lagaan has done the nation proud, as it is named one of the best sports films in an American glossy.
The Oscar nominated film ranked in at number 14 in Times magazine’s top 25 best sports movies of all time.
Released in 2001, the film was nominated in the Best Foreign Language Film category in the following year.
The movie is set in the Victorian period of India’s colonial British Raj and follows a group of villagers who are struggling under the high taxes placed by their rulers.
In order to set themselves free, the peasants strike a deal with the Raj – if they beat them in a game of cricket, their ‘Laagan’ or land tax will be cancelled.
The movie was written and directed by Ashutosh Gowariker and produced by Aamir.
Times magazine did not hold back in their praise for the cross-over film, as it lauded Mr Gowariker on the thematic balance in his film.
They said, “Ashutosh has found the spice in a masala mix of melodrama and character comedy, and kept his cinematic rhythms humid and urgent for the full 3 3/4 -hour running time”.
The publication also praised the underdog storyline, as well as A.R Rahman’s soundtrack.
“Lagaan has the capability to win over Bollywood newcomers- to turn snickers into smiles, indulgence to rapture.
Even those who know none of cricket’s complicated rules will bounce in their seats to A.R. Rahman’s irrepressible tunes; here, one can immediately and fully accept the Bollywood trope of music and dance as an expression of life’s deepest, most soaring emotions.”
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