Mark me down for two Indian movies now. I'm not sure why I've started tracking Indian movies down lately. The Chinese market is where international focus has been going in recent years. I mean Wolf Warrior 2 (a Chinese film) is the one that made over $850 million with only $2.7 million coming from the U.S. Given that I'm a movie populist by mission statement (See Club 50), you'd think I'd look in that direction. Personally, I blame my fascination with Indian films on IMDB. Indian films are well represented in the IMDB Top 250 considering the American slant of the site. There's always a few Indian movie trailers I come across for my monthly Movie Previews (I rarely include them because, I guess I'm xenophobic - or don't feel equipped to pass judgment). There's also that local theater that's always playing a few Indian films thank to a growing Indian population in the area.
Of the streamable titles, Lagaan is the most recommended Indian movie I've come across. So, I set aside an entire night (more on that in a bit) and decided to watch it.
Lagaan is conventional in
just about every way. I mean this in a good way. There's nothing complicated
about the movie. It's a sports movie. There are clear heroes and villains;
haves and have-nots. The cricket team has every character type you'd expect -
the reckless leader, the brute, the fool, the outsider, the veteran, the
turncoat, etc. All of their stories play out exactly as you'd expect. The lead
villain has no complications to him. He's just a bad guy. The stakes are
simple: win and get no taxes, lose and get triple. Given the years of drought,
that is essentially life or death. It's also a direct pull from Kurosawa. This
movie is Seven Samurai.
The first half is assembling the team; the second half is the battle. They are
defending the poor village against outsiders who are trying to raid them. Don't
worry, there's a love triagle too. The game? It's a come-from-behind victory.
They find an unlikely ally among the ranks of the enemy too.
I honestly can't find a single original thought in this movie. Everything is pulled from Stroywriting 101. It works though, because there isn't a trace of irony to it. Lagaan isn't pretending to be anything more than what it is on the surface. It's an earnest sports movie, made epic by the stakes and length (I'm getting to it, I swear).
It's also everything I associate with Indian films*. There are big, catchy song and dance numbers. The movie is quite wholesome. It's about Cricket, for crying out loud. How much more Indian could it get? It's very long (I'm almost there). I came out of this movie feeling like I just had a crash course in the Indian film industry (kind of like seeing Forrest Gump in the U.S.).
*I'm trying to avoid "Bollywood", because I know that's just one variety of the Indian film industry. I don't want to incorrectly attribute Lagaan to the wrong one, although I have a feeling it's like calling a movie produced by Canada a "Hollywood movie" (i.e. an understandable and not that meaningful distinction).
That length though. Good god. I'd like to watch more Indian movies, but they are so damn long. Inexplicably long. The movie doesn't drag. There's just 40% more of everything. I'm used to the American version of this that would have 3-4 more montages, no song and dance numbers, and would focus on half as many people on the team. I'm not suggesting that the American version or cut of this would be better. Lagaan works because of the specific balance of all the pieces. I just don't know how it filled almost 4 hours. It reminds me of when I read the unabridged version of The Count of Monte Cristo. Despite being 3-4 times as long as the abridged version I read in high school, I couldn't think of anything in the full version that the shorter version was missing. I didn't get appreciably more out of the unabridged version despite having substantially more content. What I'm trying to say is this. If I like an Indian movie as much as a similar non-Indian movie that's one or two hours shorter, I'm less likely to pick the Indian movie. So, I won't be getting to as many Indian movies as my enjoyment of them would suggest.
Make no mistake, I did like Lagaan. I was fully invested in the game at the end (once I kind of figured out the rules). I liked and disliked all the characters the appropriate amount. My notes called Paul Blackthrone "Wannabe Billy Zane" until I finally looked him up. Aamir Khan is great in the lead role. That man has charisma. The songs have been stuck in my head since watching this. Correction: an approximation of the words of the songs have been stuck in my head. Any fan of sports movies would get a kick out of this. Just, you know, set time aside that's equivalent to watching a basketball game that's gone into 6 overtimes or a baseball game with a long rain delay.
Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend
No comments:
Post a Comment