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The spirit of Lagaan

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The Spirit Of Lagaan is the extraordinary story of a thousand days in the lives of Aamir Khan, Ashutosh Gowariker and their mammoth team which made a classic film. It journeys through the dreams and nightmares, the loneliness and comradeship, the despair and exhilaration of a unit numbering thousands, drawn from the far corners of the globe, as it battled it out in the heat of the Kutch desert. It is a story of building a dream team amidst contradictions and of creating a modern and progressive work ethics in an industry blighted by feudal methods of work. It is a tale of how the Lagaan unit became a melting pot for diverse cultures to blend with a chemistry that created magic on screen and deep bonds off it. The book narrates the efforts and journey undertaken by the team of lagaan to make this extraordinary film and help Indian cinema reach new heights.

If you're crazy about "Lagaan" -- and hey, only the mad, the heartless, or the hopelessly ethnocentric WOULDN'T be! -- then Satyajit Bhatkhal's "The Spirit of Lagaan" is for you. It gives you a feel for how an idea becomes tangible and visible, how it gets into first one imagination and then another and another and another. It tells you how a team creates itself and then works across cultures to build something bigger than its separate parts. It tells you about many of the individual talents involved, actors and others whose names (sadly, stupidly) are unfamiliar to us but whose quality of work easily equals the best of mainstream Hollywood. And it makes you long get your hands on Bhatkal's documentary on the movie, variously known as "Chale Chalo" and "Madness in the Desert: The Lunacy of Film Making," if ONLY to see Bhuvan sing "Aati Kya Khandala."

I absolutely adore this film and had to have the "making of" book. I've owned it for several years. When a friend mentioned that her granddaughter is also a fan of the film and wanted to borrow my book, I decided to get her her own copy for Christmas. It's too precious to lend, and my experience with lending things in general -- to anybody -- is that when they do come back, IF they do, they're dirty or damaged. So... I no longer let people "borrow" my stuff "just for a few days." I know she'll enjoy the book and like it even more because she can keep it forever.

My journey to reading this book started with my love for the film 'Lagaan: Once upon a time in India', and admiration for who I believe is the best actor in the Indian film industry in Aamir Khan. Having read this book, my appreciation for the film, its cast, and the processes that guided it from its inception to realization, increased significantly.

From the viewpoint of someone not involved in movie-making, this is a tremendous introduction to the details. The accounts portrayed by Mr. Bhatkal transport the reader onto the sets of the film. The literary efforts are successful, for one feels a part of the action. This is well complemented by the numerous photographs that are included throughout the book. The texts are candid and clear, and even offer insight into the multi-cultural melting pot that was the driving force behind one of the most authentic and successful films ever made, not only in India, but in the world.

In all, a must-read if you are a fan of the film, of the legend Aamir Khan, of Bollywood films, or cinema-making in general. There is something in this for everyone.