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With 'Lagaan,' the Indian Movie Industry Is Poised to Cross Over Bully for Bollywood (Nita Rao, May 1 - 7, 2002, Village Voice)

India's first Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Film since Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay! in 1989, Lagaan (opening May 10) transcends the generic pageantry of Bollywood's masala moviemaking. Scripted in Hinglish (half-Hindi, half-English), the movie runs an epic three hours 45 minutes, but cannily leavens stock plots of caste discrimination and political tyranny with six frothy musical numbers and a love triangle that recalls the sugary Sweet Valley High novellas. Lagaan was written and directed by former model Ashutosh Gowariker and produced by swoon-inducing megastar Aamir Khan, who also plays Bhuvan. A $5 million-plus price tag makes it the costliest Bollywood production of all time. It became India's top-grossing movie last year, clearing $15 million in ticket sales. With Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann declaring it "David Lean meets Busby Berkeley," Lagaan could be the film that hoists Bollywood from the cult fringes of American pop culture toward a wider acceptance by the Western mainstream.

In the current issue of Vanity Fair, Bollywood topples porn as "Pretentious Film-Snob Reference of the Month."

If you've got four spare hours this weekend, rent Lagaan; it's a hoot. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 9, 2002 6:37 AM