English Unit-4 Review writing

Grammar bits

 

This unit deals with, writing a review about a book / film / play.

Usage of impersonal and personal structures of passive voice.

Collocations with verbs and nouns.

Writing - formal and informal speech.

 

Review

 

Bollywood -- one of the largest in the world, but its products are rarely seen beyond India and the Indian communities abroad. The musical ''Lagaan,'' however, has leapt over the usual boundaries. It became a genuine popular success in London last year, crossing over to a general audience, and now it is reopening in New York, after having played the Indian neighborhoods last summer, and opening in Los Angeles. Its New York venue is the Film Forum in the South Village, where the regular audience of refined filmgoers might be expected to view ''Lagaan''.
 
 The movie is nearly 3:30 to 4:00 hours long. But worth watching with your family. It gives a glimpse into the pre-independent era of India.

''Lagaan'' is set during British rule in India, but the film has none of the nostalgia for the lost empire that typically informs both English and American films on the subject. Ashutosh Gowariker, who wrote and directed the film, portrays the British Army as conscienceless oppressors, who cynically play the local rajahs against one another while collecting protection money from them all. That money, called lagaan, is ostensibly a land tax, but effectively a tribute -- paid by the local farmers to their local chief, who in turn pays off the English.
 
It hasn't rained for two years in Champaner, a village in sweltering central India, but Captain Russell (Paul Blackthorne), the commander of the local British regiment, isn't about to give the parched villagers a break. He makes a bet with Bhuvan (Aamir Khan), the most spirited of the villagers (and of course, the handsomest), but only because he believes it's a sure thing: If the villagers can beat the British regiment in a cricket match, he'll cancel the land tax for two years; if the British win, the villagers will have to pay three times the normal, an unreasonable amount.

Captain Russell feels confident because the villagers have absolutely no idea of how cricket is played. But Bhuvan believes that it is close enough to a game called gilli-danda'' they all played as children, and with the clandestine assistance of the captain's sister, Elizabeth (Rachel Shelley), who's appalled by her brother's cruelty, Bhuvan begins putting together a team.

 Aamir  is the central character of the movie. He is loved by two women -- Gauri (Gracy Singh), the village girl who has loved him since they were children, and the stately Elizabeth, who, for a proper Victorian lady, has surprisingly little trouble with the idea of falling in love with an Indian peasant.

Their rivalry is the basis of the film's best musical number, which finds Bhuwan and Gauri dancing out their love in the village, while Elizabeth, alone in her room in the forbidding English fortress, dreams of herself in a sari, snuggling up to Bhuvan in his humble village home.

Like many of the classic Hollywood musicals, ''Lagaan'' is a utopian fantasy of a perfect community, brought together in literal and figurative harmony. Drawing his players from the village outcasts and outsiders (the team includes both a Muslim and an untouchable), Bhuvan unites the farmers in a common front against their colonial exploiters -- and even the local rajah, whose livelihood depends on the British, is drawn into the excitement of the match. The climactic tournament lasts three days and takes up, by rough estimate, some 80 minutes of screen time, as Mr. Gowariker wrings every conceivable drop of suspense out of a game that even after 225 minutes remains incomprehensible to the uninitiated.

The music is scored by the Bollywood master A. R. Rahman, avoids the higher registers that sometimes sound shrill to Western ears. The earth-toned cinematography by Anil Mehta and the densely populated, spatially complex wide-screen images created by Mr. Gowariker give the film a kind of visual assurance that is rare enough in any national cinema.

Written (in Hindi and English, with English subtitles) and directed by Ashutosh Gowariker;
Director of photography : Anil Mehta
Edited by : Ballu Saluja, Kumar Dave and Sanjay Dayma
Music by : A. R. Rahman 
Lyrics by : Javed Akhtar
Produced by: Aamir Khan

WITH: Aamir Khan (Bhuvan), Gracy Singh (Gauri), Rachel Shelley (Elizabeth Russell), Paul Blackthorne (Capt. Andrew Russell), Suhasini Mulay (Yashodamai) and Kulbhushan Kharbanda (Raja Puran Singh).

Dear kids,

Try writing a review about your favourite film / book / play or sports match with the help from an adult with good command over English. Don't have any high expectations of yourself while writing as the words might not come out easily at first. Try reading reviews of films in an English daily. Deccan chronicle carries film reviews every Saturday, which I use in deciding which movies to watch in the weekend. :-)))

Everyone's friend,

Lakshmi. :-)))