An Academy Award nominee for best foreign-language film, Lagaan introduced the long-standing traditions of mainstream Bollywood to what was arguably its largest Western audience. After the rains have failed to produce a bounty for the farmers of a small Indian village at the height of the Raj in 1893, the townspeople organize a formal complaint, asking for a repeal of the colonial land tax known as "lagaan." Instead, the sneeringly racist local British commander challenges the townspeople to a game of good English cricket: if they win, the hated tax will be repealed; if they lose it will be tripled. Seasoned with ebullient musical numbers and featuring Indian heartthrob Aamir Khan, Lagaan tones down the anti-colonialist rhetoric while remaining firm in its critique of British policy and allowing the spectacle of song and dance to emerge as its most winning asset.