This is mainly for Beth (and Rayna, who I think said liked Bollywood films,
too).  I finally leased Lagaan yesterday and I must say I loved it!  As some
of you may know, I love to watch cricket matches and boy, does this film have
cricket!

The film is set in 1893 India, when the British still occupied the country and
had a tax system in place - the local rajahs would collect the tax from their
subjects, take their share, and pass the rest on to the Brits.  This tax was
called lagaan, and the story centers around a bet a local famer places with
the local British governing official - if the local town plays the Brits and
win, they don't have to pay the double lagaan being imposed that year; in
fact they won't have to pay any lagaan for three years.  But if they lose,
they will have to pay triple lagaan.  The colonel -- a nasty piece of work --
makes the bet knowing that the local have never seen a cricket match and in
fact they don't even know what cricket is or how it's played. The town is
aghast but it becomes clear they don't have a choice as there has been no
rain that year and if they even pay double lagaan, they will starve.  So the
town eventually falls in behind the farmer.

The music is fabulous and I didn't find the singng and dancing jarring.  The
only beef I had with the film was that for the most part, the British are
portrayed as brutish prejudiced and without any consideration for their
Indian subjects.  Of course as I have never studied British colonial policy
and governance in India, I can't say if this was generally the case or not.
I think it's time I did some reading up on the subject.

In any case, I love the film and highly recommend it. :)

Kat