Friday, August 5, 2011

The Victorians and Bollywood: Lark Rise to Lagaan

In Lagaan (Land Tax, 2001)—set in the Indian countryside during the late 19th century—Bhuvan (Aamir Khan) challenges the crack cricket squad of the occupying British with a rag-tag group of villagers:

Village team

So desperate are the villagers for a victory that caste differences must be ignored. All of the diverse talents of the village must be united to achieve the goal of defeating the hated British and relieving the village from the ruinous land tax.

Things aren't going well, and the village team is losing by a huge margin, when their final and best batsman steps up to the wicket:

Bhuvan at bat

Aamir Khan as Bhuvan

Can the outcome be in doubt?

In Season 4, Episode 5 of Lark Rise to Candleford (2008-2011)—set in the English countryside during the late 19th century—Daniel Parish (Ben Aldridge) challenges the crack cricket squad of the local aristocrats with a rag-tag group of townsmen and hamlet-dwellers:

Town and hamlet team

So desperate is Daniel for a victory that class differences must be ignored. All of the diverse talents of town and hamlet must be united to achieve the goal of defeating the hated aristos and relieving Daniel from the ignominy of losing a previous match when the head of the aristocrats' team cheated.

Things aren't going well, and the town-hamlet team is losing by a huge margin, when their final and best batsman steps up to the wicket:

Margaret at bat

Sandy McDade as Mrs. Margaret Brown

Can the outcome be in doubt?

The winning hit

No comments :

Post a Comment