-
Lagaan - Once Upon a Time DVD (German Edition) Aamir Khan
Starring: Aamir Khan, Gracy Singh, Richal Shelley...
Language: Hindi, German (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Music: A.R. Rehman
Subtitle: German
Code: 2
DVD Features:
Tonformat: Dolby Digital 5.1 Hindi; Trailer Entfallene Szenen, Filmografien: Schauspieler, Regisseur
Synopsis:
Set in 1893, in a rural background, Lagaan tells the story about oppressed farmers who have a draconian tax levied upon them by the British. Bhuvan (Aamir Khan), one of the farmers, decides to fight the imposition of taxes. The commander of the British cantonment, Captain Russell (Paul Blackthorne) throws out a challenge to the farmers. If they can win a match against the Britishers, then the tax will be waived for three years. However, if the locals lose, they have to pay thrice the amount.
Bhuvan, with the support of his beloved Gauri (Gracy Singh), persuades the villagers to help him in his endeavor. Captain Russell's sister Elizabeth (Rachel Shelley) secretly teaches the farmers the basics of cricket. On the appointed day the villagers, who have everything to lose, face their arrogant and ruthless rulers with grit and determination....
CRITICS REVIEW: History shows up in the strangest ways in films, let alone Hindi films. Now we are told to believe that in 1893, an extraordinary cricket match took place between the British garrison and a village in Gujarat, whose population had never played the game but were taught by an English woman (who, needless to say, falls in love with our village hero, Mr. Aamir Khan) and then went on to give the Brits the match of their lives!! In fact, it's the villagers' lives that are in question and the motley cricket team has to save the village by winning or pay triple the tax that was imposed on the farmers.
With the Indian's love for cricket, this is a great idea. How true it is no one really knows as these events were passed on by word of mouth rather than a BBC radio commentary.
Amir Khan plays a very sincere hero, but his choice for leading English lady and male villain are really dreadful. Why, with all the actresses in London, did he choose Rachel Shelley and the hammy Paul Blackthorne as her nasty, to say the least, brother? All the characters are two-dimensional but I must admit the match is well edited and exciting to the very end.
