Released in 2001, Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India was a gamble that paid off spectacularly. Directed by Ashutosh Gowariker and starring a then-underdog actor named Aamir Khan, the film was a towering epic clocking in at nearly four hours. On paper, it sounded like a recipe for disaster: a period musical set in 1893 about a group of villagers learning to play cricket to lower their taxes.
It is a film that makes you believe in the impossible. It makes you believe that a village of farmers can beat the Empire with a piece of wood and a leather ball.
By Rohan M.