Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India, directed by Shutosh Gowariker, is a musical, complete with ragas and choreography, about a mythical event that takes place in the British cantonment of Champaner (actually filmed in Kutch) during 1893. Musicals tend to have cardboard roles, a comicbook story, exaggerated emotions, and sharp contrasts between good and evil characters, and Lagaan is no exception, so audiences will occasionally laugh joyously in the most melodramatic parts of the story. The plot is simple. Arrogant Captain Andrew Russell (played by Paul Blackthorne), the commanding officer of the cantonment at Champaner, is fully aware that continued drought makes difficult payment of the annual lagaan (tax). As the British engaged in indirect rule of India, the local Rajah (played by Kulbhushan Kharbanda) must collect the tax, which is assessed to pay the British military stationed at Champaner and elsewhere. One day, Russell tells the Rajah that he will waive the tax if the latter will break his religious vows and eat a piece of meat; the Rajah refuses, even when Russell says that the tax will be doubled unless he submits. Thus, the Rajah must inform farmers in the region, who cannot possibly pay, that the year’s assessment has been doubled. When a group of farmers goes to see the Rajah to plea for him to lower the tax, which of course is not a decision that he can make, they wait while a cricket game is in progress. When Bhuvan (played by Aamir Khan) criticizes the sport as “silly,” Russell overhears. Accordingly, Russell issues a challenge: If a team comprising members of the native population defeats the British of the cantonment in a game of cricket within three months, no taxes will be collected for three consecutive years; if the British win, however, taxes will be tripled. After hesitating at first, Bhuvan accepts the challenge, though he knows little about the sport.. Russell’s unmarried sister Elizabeth (played by Rachel Shelley) objects that the challenge is unfair and later visits Bhuvan’s team to provide instruction about the rules and finer points of the game. At first she does so secretly, but when Russell learns of her assistance to the team, she continues defiantly. Meanwhile, Gauri (played by Gracy Singh) is eager to marry Bhuvan, who is reluctant to get hitched, but after the challenge her support wins the affection of Bhuvan, whose kind and eloquent manner soon causes Elizabeth to fall in love, too. A cricket team has eleven players, so Bhuvan has the difficult job of recruiting villagers who know nothing about the game. In so doing, he breaks down traditional barriers when Ismail, a Moslem, joins the team, and he even taps Kachra, an untouchable, who is only accepted by the rest of the team after Bhuvan makes an eloquent plea, obviously aimed at Hindu militants in India today. Meanwhile, Russell’s superiors hear of his challenge, summon him, and give him a dressing down, fearful that all throughout India the native population will learn cricket and avoid taxes in the same manner. So they tell him that if the farmers of Champaner win, the taxes will be collected from his paycheck and he will be reassigned to a post in Central Africa. When the game begins, his superiors attend along with British umpires, demonstrating that Russell is the only asshole despite the intense hatred expressed by several Indian men toward the colonial overlords, whose taxes support their unwelcome colonial presence in the country. The outcome of the game is no surprise, though suspenseful until the last run. Russell is indeed reassigned, and Elizabeth returns to London to nurse her unrequited love after the glorious wedding of Bhuvan and Gauri. Although Lagaan is approximately four hours long, the pace is so rapid that the intermission seems less for weary eyes than for popcorn concession consumerism. Musically, the film is the best of the year so far. MH