New on the Film Page:
Lagaan – Once Upon a Time in India (2001)
A musical about tax resistance?! Why not! Rothbard once wrote, “…I am notoriously hostile to films that are (a) slow, (b) dark and murky, (c) with long close-ups of suffering actors’ faces substituting for dialogue, and (d) in a foreign language. Indeed these four elements almost always go together.” This film is, I admit, in a foreign language. But it is neither slow, dark and murky nor lacking in witty dialogue. Perhaps this is because it is not a product of the pretentious and usually depressed European art house cinema, but of the entrepreneurial and vibrant Bollywood, the Indian film industry that is second only to Hollywood in size.One of the pleasures of Bollywood films for fans of classic American film is that, like in that classic era, Bollywood still considers the musical film an acceptable, even preferred medium. So when it came time to tell the story of a village resisting taxes in the 19th century they produced a joyful and fun musical rather than a didactic screed. Poor villagers are made to pay a tax, the Lagaan, to the Raja which actually goes to the occupying British. When an argument breaks out among the villagers about whether they are being oppressed by the native Raja or the foreign occupiers, an insightful villager points out, “Whether we put it into the right hand or the left, it’s we who pay, Chief!” The hero of the tale asks the central question of the film: “I feel rage in my heart when I pay Lagaan to the Raja… And he gives it to those Whiteys with their dirty grasping hands… Who ploughs this earth to sow the seeds? We do. Who waters it? We do. Why should we fill their coffers with our produce?” Courtesy of an arrogant British officer, the villagers are faced with a challenge: Beat the British in cricket and pay no Lagaan for three years, lose and the entire province will pay triple. This is a joyful, beautifully photographed film that serves as a great, libertarian introduction to Bollywood. In Hindi and English with subtitles.
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I don’t want to nitpick, but Bollywood is much larger then Hollywood and not the other way around. Bollywood, the Indian film industry produces 1000 movies a year and outstrips hollywood by almost 3:1. Theaters worldwide sold some 3.6 billion tickets to Bollywood films last year, compared with Hollywood’s 2.6 billion. You can check out the references in the embedded links. ofcourse, in revenue terms hollywood is much larger, but that is due to currency difference and the much lower prices sharged per ticket by bollywood.
Kautilya,
Very interesting information, thanks! Yes, “second largest” is in revenue terms as you point out, so it doesn’t tell the whole story. If the vibrancy of Lagaan is any indication, then I can only hope that Bollywood will become more and more of a competitive threat to Hollywood (esp. in international markets). Hollywood could definitely use a few good competitive kicks in the pants from a film industry that isn’t quite so jaded.
Wait a minute, how does anyone know what Hollywood revenues are? Accounting in Hollywood is, and always has been a cover for all sorts of mischief; since Hollywood is restricted to making agit-prop movies for the state (name a single Hollywood film that is not) money laundering is tolerated.
Can I get a witness: When a theatre in jakarta (or wherever) shows a bollywood and a hollywood next door to each other, are the ticket prices comparable or low for bollywood, high for hollywood?
John,
I am not sure about how it works in Jakarta, but within India, the ticket prices vary with location,time, movie etc. This makes for a huge variation, where for example you could see a movie in an average theatre in a small town for about 15-25 cents, it could go up to $2 for a high quality theatre in metros. The majority of the movie going population is not in metros, though majority of the revenue is.
The ticket prices depend upon quality or public-draw-potential of the movie. This has very little relation to where the movie was made. But, since the market for hollywood movies only exists in metros, the ticket prices reflect that.
Also, I believe that the number of tickets sold in India is severly understated by theatres to avoid taxes, and the real numbers could be as large as 1.5 times the stated figure.
Stephen,
Most movies pander to the local tastes, and will probably not suit International audiences. Lagaan was one of the few exceptions, which managed to do well with both local/international markets.
But, Indian movie makers are slowly moving in the right direction(like Lagaan), and the technique/photography in most newer good-budget movies is excellent.
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