 "Lagaan makes it to Time's pick of top 25 sports films")
Time magazine
has taken the release of the upcoming film Moneyball as an excuse to list the top 25 sports movies of all time, and our homegrown Oscar nominee Lagaan (2001), directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, figures at number 14. In a list dominated by American sports, and one inexplicable pick — The Big Lebowski — it’s a surprise a film about cricket, an Indian one at that, figured on the list. [caption id=“attachment_92954” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Time called it the “longest and the most enthralling underdog sports movie ever”. Reuters”]
[/caption] One of the biggest Bollywood grossers, the film stars Aamir Khan, who leads the charge against the gora saheb for introducing an exacting land tax in the time of drought. A cricket match would decide whether the tax would be levied or not. The storyline was perfectly complemented by AR Rahman’s compositions. Time called it the “longest and the most enthralling underdog sports movie ever”, “the all-time all-rounder.” The magazine further says:
From the thunderclap in the first torrential rainstorm — a cue for riotous dancing — to the climactic sunlight on the smiling faces of millions of viewers, this Bollywood epic is cause for joy of meteorological proportions. Surely the longest and most enthralling underdog-sports movie ever…
The film, says Time, has the “capability to win over Bollywood newcomers — to turn snickers into smiles, indulgence to rapture”. Other films on the list: • The Big Lebowski • Body and Soul • Breaking Away • Bill Durham • Caddyshack • The Damned United • Downhill Racer • Eight Men Out • Field of Dreams • The Freshman