Lagaan in TIME'S All-Time 25 best sports movies list

[EastWest]

Lagaan, which won an Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Language Film category, finds a place in the all-time 25 best sports movies list of Time.

It is in the 14th spot “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 music and dance as an expression of life's deepest, most soaring emotions. As a sports film, social document or communal ecstasy, Lagaan is the all-time all-rounder,” Time said.

Lagaan in TIME'S All-Time 25 best sports movies list

 

[EastWest]

All-Time's best sports movies list

From the thunderclap in the first torrential rainstorm — a cue for riotous dancing — to the climactic sunlight on the smiling faces of millions of viewers, this Bollywood epic is cause for joy of meteorological proportions. Surely the longest and most enthralling underdog-sports movie ever, Lagaan stars Aamir Khan (who also produced the film) as the leader of 19th century peasants from the western Indian town of Champaner, who strike a desperate deal with the representatives of the English Raj: if the locals defeat the lords of the British Empire in a cricket match, they get a break on their lagaan, or land tax. One guess as to whether the Champaners become champs.
The most recent of only three musical dramas in India's glorious film history to be nominated for an Academy Award (after the 1957 Mother India and the 1988 Salaam Bombay!), and one of the few to achieve U.S. release outside of the Desi theater circuit, Lagaan has the capability to win over Bollywood newcomers — to turn snickers into smiles, indulgence to rapture. Writer-director Ashutosh Gowariker finds the spice in a masala mix of melodrama and character comedy, and keeps his cinematic rhythms humid and urgent for the full 3¾-hour running time. 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. As sports film, social document or communal ecstasy, Lagaan is the all-time all-rounder.

 

[Kinetic]

it is undoubtedly the best Indian movie in last decade. Watched it again few days ago, it was fabulous.

 

[IndoCarib]

Some years ago 'Nayagan' was figured in Time's top 100 all time great movies

 

[Raja.Pakistani]

Jiss film mein gorey loug ki bajahoo wo film he wo nominate kartey hein

Lagaan really deserved an Oscar nomination. Great acting and well directed story of courage and fight against injustice

 

[fd24]

Bollywood film Lagaan (Land Tax), which won an Oscar nomination, has been included in a list of the 25 best sports movies by Time magazine.

Starring Aamir Khan, Lagaan tells the story of peasants who challenge their British rulers to a game of cricket in order to escape a punitive tax.

Time magazine said it was the "longest and the most enthralling underdog sports movie ever".

The film is one of the biggest Bollywood hits of all time.

Lagaan's music was composed by Indian composer AR Rahman, who also won Oscars for his soundtrack to 2009's multi-award-winning Slumdog Millionaire.

"From the thunderclap in the first torrential rainstorm - a cue for riotous dancing - to the climactic sunlight on the smiling faces of millions of viewers, this Bollywood epic is cause for joy of meteorological proportions," Time magazine said of the 224-minute film.

The magazine said that Lagaan, directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, has the "capability to win over Bollywood newcomers - to turn snickers into smiles, indulgence to rapture".

Time praised the the film's "masala mix of melodrama and character comedy" and its music.

"As sports film, social document or communal ecstasy, Lagaan is the all-time all-rounder," the magazine said.

Lagaan is the only Indian movie in the list which is led by Coen Brothers' The Big Lebowski.

 

[EastWest]

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