Do you think the message of Lagaan rings true today, over 50 years after Independence?
I think that the message of Lagaan really has nothing to do with independence. In fact, if you notice, the villagers are not fighting for independence at all; they are just struggling to survive. It’s only a human story and not a story about Indians fighting for independence. The reason that people across the world are reacting so well to it is that the topic is something which is universal; it’s the David and Goliath story. If you see two people fighting and you see one of them is the nice guy and the other guy is not a nice guy and he’s bullying the nice guy, then the guy who is doing the bullying is a giant, and the guy who is being bullied is small in size. Instinctively, you want the small guy to win, even if you are just standing on the road and watching this happen. You want the small guy to overcome the giant. That’s what Lagaan is, which is why everyone’s heart goes out to the villagers and everyone wants them to succeed in what they are doing. In that sense, it’s a very unive
