Spoilers for Lagaan (2001).
When I watched Lagaan for the first time, I kept hoping they weren’t going to have a love triangle between Bhuvan, Gauri, and Elizabeth. Once I realized it was going that route, I remember spending much of the movie worried that one of the women would do something spiteful to endanger the game. Like Gauri is rude to Elizabeth and makes her stop coming to the village before they’ve learned all the rules. Or Elizabeth realizes that Bhuvan loves Gauri, and she becomes so jealous that she stops helping them, or betrays them to her brother.
I was really, really hoping that the writers wouldn’t turn either of the lead females into catty girls, and I was so glad that they didn’t. Gauri does spend a good portion of the movie being jealous, but she doesn’t try to sabotage his friendship with Elizabeth; instead, she expresses her anger in healthy ways like cooking, singing, and dancing (ie Radha Kaise Na Jale lol). And Elizabeth is clearly heartbroken at the end, but she’s mature enough to share a hug with Gauri before leaving (although I did eyeroll a bit that apparently Bhuvan was So Awesome that Elizabeth remained his Radha all her life).
Anyone else have similar thoughts?
(They did go that route with Lakha, and I’m glad that they didn’t brush it off, that his betrayal had consequences, and he had to make it up to them. Aside: Bhuvan was way too nice to Lakha, IMO. Dude was willing to sacrifice the entire province to get the girl. Did he not realize that if they lost, Gauri would either starve or have to sell herself into slavery? I would have let the villagers beat him to death in the temple that very night.)
