Before there was Netflix, the only Bollywood film I had watched was "3 Idiots" (2009), starring Indian superstar Aamir Khan. That was a wacky comedy about three engineering students as well as a satire about the Indian educational system, . Now that there is Netflix, we now have access to a lot more Bollywood films than ever before, something I did not realize right away until this quarantine period. The first films I had chosen to watch were three famous films were submitted as India's entry to the Oscars Foreign Language Film category in their respective years (but only "Lagaan" made it to the final nomination list). All three films also starred Aamir Khan.
Directed by Ashutosh Gowariker
Produced by Aamir Khan
Written by K. P. Saxena, Ashutosh Gowariker
It was 1893. The farmers in the village of Champaner could not grow crops because of a long dry spell. When the farmers went to protest their double taxation, they saw the British officers playing a game of cricket. A spirited young farmer named Bhuvan (Aamir Khan) joked that cricket was just child's play for him. Incensed, British commanding office Capt. Russell challenged Bhuvan to cricket match, a victory of which will free their village from tax for three years. However, if they lost, they were going to be levied triple their present tax.
When I first saw that the running time of this film was a formidable 224 minutes, I admit to have been intimidated. I would soon realize that the running time would be so long because of multiple musical numbers which were interspersed throughout the film. I knew nothing about cricket, so I cannot really follow the games being played and the rules being imposed, but those scenes were quite entertaining. Aside from the sports aspect, there was patriotism (national unity), acceptance (caste system) and romance (inter-racial attraction) in the mix. As the bold and noble Bhuvan, Aamir Khan was ever the charmer as he was torn between two lovely ladies -- his neighbor Gauri (Grace Singh) and Capt. Russell's sister Elizabeth (Rachel Shelley). This was the maiden venture of Khan as a producer. At that time, its budget of $5M was unprecedented for a Hindi film. 7/10.
Directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Written by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Kamlesh Pandey, Rensil D'Silva
James McKinley was a British prison guard during the 1931 hanging of Indian revolutionary Bhagat Singh and his friends. In the present time, his grand-daughter Sue (Alice Patten) went to New Delhi to film a documentary about these revolutionaries with details based on her grandfather's diary. When she met her friend Sofia's (Soha Ali Khan) rowdy group of friends -- Daljit "DJ" Singh (Aamir Khan), Karan Singhania, Aslam Khan and Sukhi Ram (Sharman Joshi) -- she decided that she had found her perfect cast of actors for her film.
Even if I was not aware of this episod of Indian history, the way this film was presented had been very engaging as it shifted from present (in full color) to past (in sepia tones) events as a film within a film. As they were in the process of filming about revolutionary heroes, the four young friends underwent a gradual passage from foolish mischief to selfless maturity. Aamir Khan may be playing the bad boy leader of the gang DJ, but I was more drawn to the portrayals of the other guys, especially Siddharth Narayan as the jaded rich boy Karan, Kunal Kapoor as the friendly Moslem Aslam, and especially Atul Kulkami as Laxman Pandey, a conservative activist at odds with the Westernized lifestyle of DJ's gang. This film boldly delivered a very strong statement about corruption in the Indian government. The musical interludes by A.R. Rahman add to this film's cultural statements and value. 8/10.
Directed by Aamir Khan
Produced by Aamir Khan
Written by Amole Gupte
Ishaan Awasthi was a 8 year-old boy who hated school because he could never read, write or do math the way his teachers liked. Midterm, he was transferred by his strict father (Vipin Sharma) to a boarding school hoping it could whip Ishaan into shape. However, the strict policies in the new school were even more unbearable for the poor boy. One day, a non-conformist substitute teacher Ram Shankar Nikumbh (Aamir Khan) took over their art class. He eventually recognized that Ishaan had a learning disorder which was causing the child's worsening depression, which in turn was suppressing his talent for painting.
The first hour of this film was very difficult to watch because of its relentless negativity. Ishaan was already having obvious problems in school, but his teachers and father had been harsh and even physical when they dealt with Ishaan's failures. By the time teacher Ram came into the scene, then the whole tone of the movie turned lighter and positive. This was the film debut of child actor Darsheel Safary and it was a stunningly realistic performance of autistic behavior (which won him a number of Best Actor awards). This film was Aamir Khan's directorial debut. He wisely took the back seat to his child main actor, but his portrayal of an inspirational teacher with innovative teaching and guidance methods provided touching heart-warming moments. 7/10
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