Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Lagaan/archive1

The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was not promoted 00:19, 27 January 2008.

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Lagaan

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I'm nominating this article for featured article because

• It recently attained GA status with little or no issues.
• With little under 4 weeks, I improved the article four-fold to ~ 51 Kb, at the same time not allowing any compromise on its quality.

I feel that it satisfies the FA criteria and if any are still found wanting, I'd be happy to address the same. I would appreciate any comments/suggestions that will help it qualify for an FA. With best regards Mspraveen (talk) 11:36, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

• Object

• The article needs to discuss the themes of the film, at the moment the article is only a fraction about the plot summary, and then it is marketing details and production details. One theme that I was surprised to not see mentioned at all is how the film compares Bhuvan and Elizabeth to Krishna and Radha - there is a scene in the middle of the film about this motif, and also the narrator talks about it at the end of the film.
• In the plot summary, the last paragraph talks about the start of the game but the penultimate paragraph is already talking about Lakha throwing the match
• Should it be pointed out that the film also involves comedy? eg eccentric soothsayer, Arjan swinging his arms over about 20 times before releasing the ball etc?
• There are some comments that may be subtly inaccurate

• "One senior officer offers them to cancel their taxes for three years if their village team beats them at cricket" - at the time of Captain Russell's wager, the village does not have a cricket team
• "Bhuvan accepts them on merit alone..." This seems to imply that there was a selection process, which there wasn't. Only 11 people volunteered, Kachra was #11, so it would be more accurate to say that he accepted all of them
• "The British Government, on learning of Captain Russell’s wager" - can you check this? IIRC from watching, it was his superiors in the army

• Perhaps the background of colonialism could be breifly explained for those not aware.
• The plot could be expanded I think. It should be pointed out that the rain starts falling immediately after the cricket match. and that Gauri and Bhuvan get married. Also when Captain Russell offers the wager, it should be pointed out that there was a scuffle when a British officer manhandled one of the villagers and then Bhuvan called cricket a "stupid game" or else it might seem that Russell offered the wager for no reason. Blnguyen (bananabucket) 00:46, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

• Object

• Parts of the prose have even more room for improvement. For example, in the reviews section, it is unnecessary to begin the sentence below with "About the film" when the word Lagaan is in italics. Better still, writing the sentence as "The BBC said the film is "anything but standard..." \

• "About the film, The BBC said "Lagaan is anything but standard Bollywood fodder, and is the first must-see of the Indian summer. A movie that will have you laughing and crying, but leaving with a smile."

• Some of the quotations in the review section should be reduced in length. Whilst it can be difficult to be selective about what to keep and what not to, it really can make that much of a difference in how professionally written the article is. The (excerpt of the) review from the Guardian, for example, can be cut down.
• There is also a typo of Rehman. If the quotation spelt this incorrectly, then rather than copy it as is, rewording or summarising the review is a much more favourable approach.
• In the awards section, it's unnecessary to mention at both the beginning and end that the film won several Bollywood awards - once is enough.
• There is some linking to other Wikipedia articles like Aamir Khan and Ashutosh, however, this could be continued to the end of the article - at least once per section (the reviews section lacks a link to Rahman for example, while the awards section lacks one to Khan to name a couple).
• It hardly seems appropriate to add an excerpt from a movie review about the soundtrack. If anything, it sounds more like a promotion. This paragraph should be integrated with the reviews section, or, a separate review section should be created specifically for the soundtrack. However, it appears that there may be a little too much focus going into reviews.

Clearly, there are issues with prose - less than brilliant. It does at times, perhaps as a result of these issues, go into unnecessary details. Expression should be tightened further where possible. Ncmvocalist (talk) 01:37, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.