Hureem Anwaar

951-MSIO-PSY-19
Leadership and team building (IOPSY-7202)

Report on Movie: Lagaan

Lagaan is a feature film the story of which revolves around the people of a village
Champaner in the Victorian period of colonial India who are forced to pay agricultural tax. The
tyrannical Captain Russell of the British government imposed an unprecedented tax on the
villagers because the Raja refused to eat meat when Russell asked him to do so. It was already
quite challenging for the villagers to pay tax with little to almost no rain which resulted in low
crop production. This double tax added to the misery of the farmers. A young boy, Bhuvan, took
the lead and asked the villagers to talk to Raja and to publicly oppose the tax. Russell offered an
unusual way to settle the dispute in which he challenged Bhuvan and his fellows to play a cricket
match, a sport of which they were completely unaware. Russell proposed that if Bhuvan and his
men won, the tax will be repealed for 3 years but if they lost the match, they will have to pay three
times the tax they were already paying. Bhuvan knew that there was no other option and he saw it
as an opportunity to get rid of the tax for three years. He agreed to the challenge and the match
was decided to be played after three months.

The important aspects which the movie highlighted and I learned are of leadership,
teamwork, courage, hope, management, cultural support, spiritual support and the Indian societal
system as well.

Courageous and Optimistic: When Russell offered the proposition to the villagers, Bhuvan
accepted this challenge on behalf of all the villagers. Though he was aware of the risks, he weighed
the risks against the possible gains and made his decision. He looked at the bright side.

Visionary, hopeful and Risk-taking: The only vision he had in his mind was the possibility of
winning and getting his people out of the burden of tax. So here, a leader is born. He had a vision
to help his people and took a risk for the big cause. He was hopeful throughout the time, from start
till the achievement of his goal.

Good negotiation and Encouragement: I also learned that while negotiating with someone you
should not tag the price first. Russell started from lifting the tax for one year and when Bhuvan did
not respond, he increased his offer to three years. Bhuvan had the courage to make a change and
to turn the winds. He encouraged his fellow villagers that cricket is not a difficult sport to learn.
It’s easy, they can do it. He led from the front. He took daily life examples like he associated
running after hens to running after ball to make his team members understand the rules of the
game.

Opposition and criticism: He went through different stages of leadership, he was laughed at,
opposed and criticized and after this people started accepting him. He was hopeful that they will
learn the game.

Taking Initiative: He took initiative to work for his vision and started from himself.

Using the available resources: He made the bat and ball with the available resources and started
playing in front of the villagers to encourage them and to make them believe that it was easy to
play and anyone can learn it.

Try, try again (resilience and consistency): At first he failed at it but he tried hard enough to
learn it and we know that practice makes a man perfect. His team practiced day and night for the
match. A leader is not afraid of the setbacks and the difficulties.

Meritocracy and nondiscrimination: Bhuvan assessed the people with their abilities and what
they can offer for the great cause. He made an all-inclusive team without discriminating anyone
on the basis their caste, creed, religion, social status. He was welcoming to everyone who could
be helpful and had the skills that could be polished and help them win.

Resolves Conflict: Sometimes conflicts arises in teams and a good leader is one who can resolve
the conflict before the situation gets worse. When Bhuvan came to know about Lakha’s deception,
he gave him a chance to redeem himself instead of cursing him.

God help those who help themselves: The team started practicing and was doing every possible
thing they could do to win the game. They also got help from Elizabeth, who was Russell’s sister
and knew about all the rules of the game. She sneaked every day for some time and helped the
villagers to make them learn all the important aspects of the game. So it showed that when there
is a will there is a way.
Spiritual and cultural support: It is all about your belief system. If you believe you can do
something, you will achieve it one day. Your belief becomes your reality.

Pride hath a fall: This movie also gives us the lesson that overconfidence is never a key to success.
Captain Russell and his team members were already familiar with the game. It is their national
game and they knew how to play it. They had all the required resources, knew all the rules but still
failed because they took it for granted. They were overconfident.