LOS ANGELES (voa) – An Indian box office hit film, Lagaan, is among the five foreign language films nominated for this year’s Oscar – the (U.S.) Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences award.
Lagaan is only the third Indian film to be nominated for Oscar in the history of the Academy Awards. The two other nominees were the 1957 film “Mother India” and “Salaam Bombay,” a 1988 box office hit. Neither won.
Lagaan – which means Tax in the Hindi language – is set in the rural India of 1893, when the country was under British colonial rule. The film has the usual Bombay style mix of romance and music, along with two subjects that provoke passion among Indians – the country’s struggle for independence and the game of cricket.
The highlight of the film is a cricket match, where a ragtag band of illiterate villagers take on their snooty English rulers in a game in order to avoid paying a repressive land tax.
The film was a box office smash in India and won critical acclaim in both Britain and the United States.
Lagaan’s producer and the lead character, Amir Khan, told reporters in Bombay Tuesday he was thrilled his film would be competing with other nominees – ‘Amelie” from France; “Elling” from Norway; “No Man’s Land” from Bosnia-Hezegovina; and “Son of the Bride” from Argentina.
