Aamirix And Co.

Like most desis I don’t go to the theatre anymore. DVD has been nothingshort of a boon for NRIs – good print and great audio ensures that nostalgiadoesn’t get really painful as with pirated tapes of the latest movies. The adsrunning across the bottom-half like a ticker tape really drive me to fury. Butevery once in a blue moon, we do hear great reviews about a new movie - whichmust be seen only in a cinema hall. The urgency is so well conveyed that wecan’t wait till it is on disc. Lagaan is one such movie.

I still wasn’t sure it was worth a trek to the cinema hall. For one thingit is over three hours. I have physically lost the capacity to sit throughsong-and-dance routines. I can’t use this time as a cigarette break. Even if Idid smoke I can’t really get back to my seat in the dark. It just doesn’tseem right, obstructing the view of all the good folk who are enjoying every bitof it. When I did get to Bombay Cinema this weekend I had misgivings again. Itwas an uncharacteristically warm weather and I didn’t find a decent parkingspot. The woman sitting in the row ahead had brought a bawling infant along."Ever heard of baby-sitters, lady?" I wanted to ask. Mercifully thebaby decided to sleep right through, once the lights went off.

The year is 1893. The Pax Brittanica has been enforced in nearly allof India. In the village Champaner, where the story is set, life is calm andtranquil. The only thing that the people are afraid of is the sky not falling ontheir heads in the form of rain. A drought seems imminent even as the terribletax – a share of the harvest, they pay their Raja is re-levied after a partialrespite. The Raja, in turn passes on the golden grains to the British CaptainRussell whose garrison is stationed at the nearby fort to fend off trouble fromthe neighboring states. The British have entered into similar pacts with theprinces all over the place. The exploitation goes on unquestioned.

Till Bhuvan, our spunky hero and wild life lover appears on the scene. Hecalmly accepts a challenge - to beat the British at their own game, though he isnot too sure what it is all about at that point of time. He has all of threemonths to learn. Cricket, we now know, is more than a game but for all the pompattached to it, it is just a little more than gilli-danda, which all thevillage kids play, our hero figures.

The perilous mission of gathering a playing eleven and saving the villagefrom tax for three years is his. Everyone is mad at him for accepting such acrazy bet. People from the next village actually arrive in carts to beat him up.Undaunted the captain picks his eleven shrewdly making decisions solely based onevery individual’s native skills. The angry iron-smith is willing to strike,the poultry farmer’s expertise at catching chicken makes him a excellentfielder, the sling-shooter makes an unpredictably good bowler, the disableduntouchable is an incredible spinner and so on.

Fate also lends a hand in the form of Elizabeth Russell, who graciouslyagrees to explain the rules of the game to this motley crew. A Sikh from thenext village makes a good all rounder. The medicine man keeps the wickets. Apotter is ready to be molded into a great batsman. Unbeknownst to them thoughthere is a traitor in their midst. And when thousands arrive to watch theproceedings you have to agree with the top brass "Decent crowd, what!"The Raja is there too exhorting the men to victory though he never did as muchas drop in on their net practice in those three months.

On the big day, the match is umpired by British gentlemen, all pukkasahibs. At the theatre we applauded right through. It was as gripping as anygood one-dayer with all the spills, chills and thrills though the game on screenlasted three days. All of us groaned at dropped catches and bad fielding. Theteam was now down to the very last man. No one expects any heroics from atail-ender. He just keeps his head and lets the star of the show, whack it away.

The Lagaan is lifted and the heavens pour on the parched land. There is nocelebratory banquet at the end but the sheer joyousness of the movie is like anAsterix comic. The villagers are as indomitable as the Gauls on a good day. Whenthey set their little quarrels aside they are invincible without any magicpotion. I can almost see it. The Champaneris shaking their heads and loudlyproclaiming in their Braj-Awadhi -Bhojpuri, "These angrez sasura arecrazy".

I am glad I went.