Introduction

The title, Lagaan, translates to “taxation,”. The film is set in 1893, during the late Victorian period of
India's colonial British Raj. The story revolves around a small village in Central India, wherein farmers
are burdened by high taxes, and several years of drought, find themselves in an extraordinary
situation as an arrogant British army officer challenges them to a game of cricket, as a wager to
avoid paying the taxes they owe. The narrative spins around this situation as the villagers face the
arduous task of learning a game that is alien to them and playing for a result that will change their
village's destiny. In this movie we have tried to understand the team dynamics involved while
forming the team, maintaining the team and the challenges they face in the process of reaching their
goals which was getting a rebate from paying taxes for a period of 3 years.

Movie Summary
In the village of Champaner in 1893, Captain Andrew Russell has brought some devastating news. He
has imposed a large sum of tax on the villagers, who are already struggling to make ends meet due
to an on-going drought. With the leadership of the charismatic village youth Bhuvan, they ask Raja
Puran Singh for help, who is sympathetic, but says that his hands are tied. On their return after this
unsuccessful venture, Bhuvan spots a game of cricket being played by the British and mocks it. To
this, Russell comes up with a challenge for the villagers. He tells Bhuvan, that if they can beat his
team at a game of cricket, he will relieve them of taxes for three years. However, if they lose, they
will have to pay three times the amount. Bhuvan agrees instantly without consulting the others,
believing it to be the only way of earning their freedom. With the help of Russell’s sister Elizabeth,
who sees the injustice being meted out to the villagers, Bhuvan manages to get together a team,
from people who have no clue about the game.

Theme of the movie

Lagaan as a movie is a classic example representing various management skills in a practical
scenario. It emphasizes how a leader (Bhuwan) forms a team with individuals having different
characteristics, personalities and skills and motivates them to overcome their limitations and
differences to ultimately achieve their common goal.

The movie is about Bhuwan and his team, who depicted an exemplary spirit of teamwork and team
dynamics against all odds and fought for their pride, land, country, and emerge as winners.

Team dynamics are the unconscious psychological forces that influence the direction of a team's
behavior and performance. It consists of the nature of work, personalities, relationships, and the
environment. It helps to improve the overall team's performance. With respect to the movie, team
dynamics played a major role in shaping the success of the team as different personalities and their
relationship helped them to overcome the barriers which a team comes across during the
achievement of a particular goal. This movie gives a great understanding of how a team leader acts
as the backbone of a team uniting all the members together who are having their own unique way of
doing things and applying their specialization with utmost effectiveness to contribute to success.

Character Analysis using DISC

DISC theory, researched by Dr. William Moulton Marston at Harvard University, is a method of
identifying predictable actions and personality traits within human behavior. Marston narrowed
these predictable personality traits into four DISC personality types. There are many factors that can
influence the effectiveness and performance of a team, but the team members' personalities will
clearly be among the most important of these. If we create a DISC profile for every member of a
team, then it becomes possible to model the workings of that team, and to anticipate the ways the
team will operate. A quick overview of the basic DISC styles:

 Dominance: direct, strong-willed, and forceful (fast-paced and skeptical)

 Influence: sociable, talkative, and lively (fast-paced and accepting)
 Steadiness: gentle, accommodating, and soft-hearted (moderate-paced and accepting)
 Conscientiousness: private, analytical, and logical (moderate-paced and skeptical)

Organizations embracing DISC may benefit from improved communication, less misunderstanding,
shorter meetings, less conflict, effective teams, more cooperation, more productivity, and improved
financial performance.

Bhuvan
Leading the villagers is a handsome young man named Bhuvan, who challenges them to a game of
cricket, a game that is to be played by veteran British cricket players, versus villagers, including
Bhuvan himself, who have never played this game before, and do not even know a bat from a piece
of wood.

 Takes Action: The British ruler, Captain Russell offers a proposition to Bhuvan : to cancel the
taxes for three years, should the villagers beat his men in a game of cricket or he’d impose
three times the amount of the normal taxes, should they lose the game. Bhuvan accepts this
wager on behalf of all the villagers, without their consent. Though he was aware of the risks,
he weighed the risks against the possible gains and made his decision. The only vision he
held in his mind was the possibility of a marked improvement in the quality of life of the
villagers, when they win the cricket match.
 Dream Big but Set Clear Goals: When Bhuvan accepted the challenge, his dream was three
years of no tax for the villagers. For the common man, it seemed too unrealistic & arduous a
task, to learn an alien game and playing it for a result that would change the village’s
destiny. But isn’t that what dreams are all about? Dreaming is about imagining a distant
future that does not exist today. As the German philosopher Goethe put it: “Dream no small
dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men”.
 In case of Bhuvan, he not only dreamt but also put in place a clear strategy/ short term
goals, to make that dream a reality. As a leader one should have a passion for the mission,
the grit to make it happen and the faith to see it through. Also, the leader should be able to
paint the picture in front of others of a shared future that can be reached by all who
endeavor to. This is what moves teams.
 Builds The Right Team: For a leader, it’s always about ‘us’- not ‘me’. Building a team is
always easier said than done. It calls for selecting the right members, channelizing their
energies in a positive way, highlighting everyone’s contributions, taking everyone along and
finally giving words of assurance and comfort to everyone in the team that, what Bhuvan
did. One team member (Kachra, the sweeper) was crippled. Bhuvan’s observation helped
him identify the talent in a disabled untouchable. While the entire village was hostile to this
decision, Bhuvan saw in him someone who could spin the ball magically. Another team
member (Bhura, the murgiwalaa) had spent a sizeable portion of his life in hounding behind
the hens and catching them with perfection. He saw his quick reflexes when this person
caught the ball, which nobody even thought of it. The movie highlights several another
 examples of how Bhuvan shaped his team with keen observation and went from one to
eleven.
 Never Give Up: With one ball to go in the match and 5 runs to win, Bhuvan finds himself at
the non-striker’s end, with the partly handicapped Kachra facing the ball. It looks like a lost
cause. But Bhuvan does not give up. When Kachra touches the ball, he runs and takes a
single. As it turned out, the delivery was a “no-ball”. That single created the opening for
Bhuvan. If he had not taken that run assuming that they could not have won, the extra ball
would not have made a difference.Leaders don’t ever give up.
 Adapts to changing requirements and leads by example: Remember the scene when Bhuvan
makes his own bat and ball and walks into the village for the first time? He explains that
cricket is similar to Gilli Danda, a game played by the villagers for years. He goes a step
further and demonstrates how to bat despite a couple of failed attempts to hit the ball.
What’s interesting is he picks Tipu a boy who is typically considered young and
inexperienced to show the villagers that it is possible to play the game. A successful Product
Leader too leads by example even if it is a new domain, technology or market by leveraging
existing expertise and willing to get his/her hands dirty initially to demonstrate capability.
The capability to build confidence especially while treading in new waters is extremely
important when the industry is dominated by specialists who have worked on a domain or
technology for several years. Successful Product Leaders build small but successful
prototypes even with inexperienced teams to demonstrate capability outside and inside the
organization.
 Understands Strengths, Weaknesses and is a continuous learner: Bhuvan realizes early that
he lacks full understanding of the game and hides behind bushes to learn the game of cricket
from the English team. He has a sound understanding of the strengths of his team based on
their profession for example the drummer has strong arms to bat, the slingshot expert has a
good aim and can bowl well, the guy who manages to catch hens would have sharp reflexes
to field etc This helps him build and form a strategy accordingly that brings out a winning
team. For instance, he shares that the batting has to be taken care by first 5 batsmen as their
lower order is weak. When the ball does not spin early on, he changes the bowling order and
experiments on a bowling order that suits the situation. Later on when the ball starts
spinning he re-introduces the spinner. A Product Leader has SWOT fully figured out and
orchestrates the team accordingly towards the goal. Successful Product Leaders know when
to shift gears, make tactical changes like re-prioritization of requirements based on market
dynamics, competition or technology trends. A Product Leader armed with a mindset of a
learner ensures that the product is relevant at all times in spite of entry of new players, or a
new disruption or a shift in customer behaviour .

Lakha
Not open to new challenges, Criticism and not acceptance, Cynic and had an orthodox point of
view.Also tried to inform the britishers about Elizabeth helping villagers.

Kachra
Natural talent of spinning the ball. Always afraid and under confident due to social oppression

Captain Russel
He is an arrogant, sadistic and capricious man who wielded the power of life and death over the
villages under his jurisdiction. He heads the British cantonment near Champaner and is quite reckless
with the political decisions he make. Russell is fond of dares and wagers, always with the object of
humiliating Indians and forcing them to adopt British habits. He loves to poach animals (which
greatly angered Bhuvan) and picks on Indians when he sets in pissed moods, even went far as killing
them. He is the stereotypical evil villain who looks down on people’s capacities, ultimately bringing
him into embarrassment. He does political blackmail to maintain that iron fist the cantonment
keeps. He highly despises Bhuvan, which started when Bhuvan drove his poached animals to
distractions, and intensified when Bhuvan made a matter-of-fact commentary on the British
engagement in absurdities such as playing cricket. Because of his decision to cancel lagaan for 3 if
the Indians win in the cricket match that will be staged in 3 months, the British Provincial Center
expressed their resentment to his political incapacity and “preposterous idea”. They challenged him
to pay all the taxes of Champaner and the whole province using the money from his own pocket and
pack off to Africa.

Elizabeth
 Graceful and good natured lady. Had the ability to differentiate between right and wrong
without a biased point of view. Empathethic and helping
 Bridges the gap between barriers to communication by learning hindi and perceptional
factors effecting team dynamics by making bhuvam team aware about the real way of
playing the game.

Five Stage Model

Dr Bruce Tuckman published his Forming Storming Norming Performing model in 1965. He added a
fifth stage, Adjourning, in the 1970s. The Forming Storming Norming Performing theory is an elegant
and helpful explanation of team development and behaviour.

Forming : The first stage of group development is known as the forming stage. The forming stage
represents a time where the group is just starting to come together and is characterized by anxiety
and uncertainty. Members are cautious with their behavior, which is driven by the desire to be
accepted by all members of the group.

In the first stage, Bhuvan – via much convincing and cajoling — gathers together his team, a motley
crew that includes a Bagha (Physical strength), Ishwar Kaka (all rounder player), Bhura(fielding),
Ismail(great batsman), Arjan(Good batsman and bowler), Goli(bowler), Deva(bowler) and
Guran(Strategy and fielding). Along the way, Bhuvan also picks up Lakha, a gifted athlete, and
Kachra, a crippled Untouchable (India’s much-condemned, lowest caste) with the dazzling ability to
spin the ball as he’s hurling it.

Storming : The second stage of group development is known as the storming stage. The storming
stage is where conflict and competition are at its greatest. This is because now that group members
have an understanding of the task and a general feel for who they are as a group and who group
members are, they feel confident and begin to address some of the more important issues
surrounding the group.

Not surprisingly, in the second stage, the team storms away uncontrollably. Bhura and Arjan,
traditional enemies, nearly come to blows. Bagha couldn’t even catch a ball to save his life. And no
one wants to go near the Kachra(Untouchable).

Norming : The norming stage is the time where the group becomes a cohesive unit. Morale is high as
group members actively acknowledge the talents, skills and experience that each member brings to
the group. A sense of community is established and the group remains focused on the group’s
purpose and goal. Members are flexible, interdependent and trust each other.

Eventually Bhuvan sorts out all these issues with his usual bravado and nudges the group towards
the norming stage, where they’re actually playing cricket and doing it at a medium level.

Performing : At its peak, the group moves into the fourth stage of group development, known as the
performing stage. The performing stage is marked by high productivity. Group members are unified,
loyal and supportive. Competence in all members is seen, allowing for a high level of autonomy in
decision making. Problem solving, experimentation and testing possible solutions are high as group
members are focused on task completion and achievement. The overall objective of the group
during the performing stage is to complete their mission.

When the actual performance begins, they face heat from the Britishers as Lakha underperformed
and the Britishers were smart enough to understand their techniques and use it against them. But
then the team re-unites again after Lakha admits his mistake and promises to perform his best. On
the second day, the team beats the Britishers and creates history.

Adjourning : For permanent work groups, performing is the last stage in their development.
However, for temporary committees, teams, task forces, and similar groups that have a limited task
to perform, there is an adjourning stage. Even the most successful groups, committees, and project
teams disband sooner or later. Their breakup is called adjournment, which requires dissolving
intense social relations and returning to permanent assignments. The adjournment stage is
becoming even more frequent with the advent of flexible organizations, which feature temporary
groups.

As the team was a temporary one formed to fulfill a particular requirement, after winning the match,
the team adjourns and disperse to their normal routine happily as they do not have to pay Lagaan
for the next three years.

Conlficts in Lagaan
Case 1 Description : The Case
The villagers were practicing for the match against the British. However, they were still short of one
more player for their team. Bhuvan, the captain assigned bowling to Deva and batting to Isar Kaka.
While playing, Isar hit the ball, which ran along the ground. The ball stopped at Kachra’s feet.
(Kachra was an untouchable by class.) Bhuvan, who was chasing it, paused and asked Kachra to
throw the ball towards him. A confused Kachra threw the ball from his dysfunctional hand. Bhuvan,
in amazement, asked him to do that again. Kachra grew nervous and asked for reassurance. Bhuvan
reiterated his point and asked all the villagers to gather around to witness something remarkable.
On his command, Kachra threw the ball again, with his able hand first, and then, on being asked to
do so, he threw it again from his disabled hand. An impressed Bhuvan managed to get Kachra into
the team by convincing the teammates and villagers, who opposed to the idea as Kachra was an
untouchable. He had faith in him, and hence, fought for him which was rewarded by Kachra playing
a significant role in the win.

Learnings:
 To tap into one’s potential - Bhuvan, being an individual who could comprehend the skills and
competencies of individuals correctly, saw potential in Kachra while all the villagers thought
that he was good for nothing merely due to the class he was born into. He went ahead to
include him in the team, purely basis his talent.
 Risk taking and assertiveness - Bhuvan’s assertiveness played a key role in deciding the
structure of his team. Despite strong resistance from the team members, he went ahead and
banked upon Kachra for his bowling abilities. The risk he took bear rewarding fruits.
 Good leadership - One of the key learnings from this case, or the movie, is how to lead from
front-line and work relentlessly towards the pursuit of a common goal. In this specific scene,
Bhuvan personified kindness and justice while drafting Kachra to join the team. He held his
ground firmly and showed what a good leader should be like.
 Setting differences aside to move towards a common goal - Hostility of the whole team
towards Kachra wore off as they were successful in keeping their differences at bay. They
learned to treat him with equality and equity, keeping his disabilities aside and accepting him
who and how he is.
 Motive is vital to keep your team on toes - For Bhuvan and his team ending the Lagaan system
was a motive. And time again when people try to divert the attention like on-boarding of
Kachra, he makes everyone remember that it does not matter who is or who is not with him, it’s
the motive that should get accomplished. Identify the motive for each task and explain the
motive to your team. A better motive set means better performance of the team.

Case 2 Description : Case:

Bhuvan saves Lakha from the villagers killing him due to betrayal.

From the beginning of the movie, Lakha was jealous of Bhuvan. He always criticized whatever
change Bhuvan tried to bring about. This resulted in him conspiring with the Britishers against the
villagers. After the first day of the match, Elizabeth found him at the palace talking to Russel. She
informed Bhuvan immediately. The villagers try to kill Lakha saying that he was a serpent that needs
to be crushed. Bhuvan talks to Lakha and sees that he realized his mistake and did all this because of
jealousy and hatred towards Bhuvan. Lakha asked for forgiveness and Bhuvan granted it given that
he proves himself in front of the villagers by performing his best in the match.

Learnings:

 Putting personal rivalries aside- What Bhuvan did was best for the team as he knew that
Lakha was a wonderful player and would be a terrible loss for the team. He did not let his
personal feelings towards Lakha let it affect the team’s effectiveness.
 Motivating- Lakha was apologetic but he felt dejected by all the other players. Bhuvan
motivated him to prove himself and asked him to treat the dejection as a fuel to what he
wanted to achieve which was success and no tax for the next 3 years.
 Acceptance- The team members should have accepted the apologies of Lakha and moved on
as it would take the entire effort of the team to win the game and the game was most
important to them as they had to win.
 Should not be afraid of tough decisions- Letting Lakha play, was a tough decision for all team
players. But they in the end decided to let him play and prove himself.

Conflict Management :
Conflict can be defined as a difference that exists between needs, values, and interests of
individuals or groups in an organization. Conflict management is the practice of being able
to identify and handle conflicts sensibly, fairly, and efficiently. Since conflicts in a business
are a natural part of the workplace, it is important that there are people who understand
conflicts and know how to resolve them. This is important in today's market more than ever.
Everyone is striving to show how valuable they are to the company they work for and at
times, this can lead to disputes with other members of the team.
The types of organizational conflict are -:

 Intrapersonal Conflict-The intrapersonal conflict is conflict experienced by a single

individual, when his or her own goals, values or roles diverge.

 Interpersonal Conflict-interpersonal conflict is conflict due to differences in goals,

value, and styles between two or more people who are required to interact. As this
type of conflict is between individuals, the conflicts can get very personal. We can
see interpersonal conflits arising at several places in the movie ‘lagaan’. For example
in the beginning of the movie we see Bhuvan getting into an Interpersonal conflict
with captain Russell, where Captain Russell was trying to target a deer and Bhuvan
tried to distract and let him miss his target. This triggered anger in Captain Russell
who threatened to punish him with dire consequences.

 Intragroup Conflict- Intragroup conflict is conflict within a group or team, where

members conflict over goals or procedures. For instance in the movie Lagaan
Elizabeth who was the sister of Captain Russell had a soft corner for the villagers and
went against her brother to help the poor villagers as she knew that her brother was
wrong. This represents Intragroup conflict .

 Intergroup Conflict-Intergroup conflict is when conflict between groups inside and

outside an organization disagree on various issues. Conflict can also arise between
two groups within the same organization, and that also would be considered
intergroup conflict. In this movie we can see conflicts coming to such a stage that
two groups get seriously involved. For the villagers paying the tax was next to
impossible because the rains had failed and the crops did not come out well. The
villagers wanted to get exempted from paying the tax, Captain Russell saw his
chance of taking revenge. He told Bhuvan and the villagers to beat his team in the
game of Cricket to which the Indians were completely alien. Thus Intergroup Conflict
in the form of game arouse between the English and the villagers

Leadership Style of Bhuvan ( With theory) : Gargi

Johari Window
A Johari window is a psychological tool created by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham in 1955. It’s a
simple and useful tool for understanding and training:

 self-awareness
 personal development
  improving communications
 interpersonal relationships
 group dynamics
 team development; and
 inter group relationships

It is one of the few tools out there that has an emphasis on “soft skills” such as behaviour, empathy,
co-operation, inter group development and interpersonal development. It’s a great model to use
because of its simplicity and also because it can be applied in a variety of situations and
environments.

We can see that the Johari Window concept can be applied to Lagaan as well.

The philosopher Charles Handy calls this concept the Johari House with four rooms.

 Room one is the part of ourselves that we and others see. This we can see in Captain Russel
as everyone including him knows that he is arrogant, aruguable and is drunk with power.
 Room two contains aspects that others see but we are unaware of. Everyone saw Bhuvan as
a leader but he never knew that he would lead the villagers away from misery.
 Room three is the private space we know but hide from others. This part can be perfectly
seen in lagaan wherein Lakha knows that he is conspiring against his own villagers with
Captain Russell.
 Room four is the unconscious part of us that neither ourselves nor others see. This we can
see in Kachra, the oppressed one. His talent was never seen by villagers who always saw him
as the untouchable and never let him near themselves. Even he did not know that he had a
talent to spin the ball like no one could due to his crippled hand which he always thought of
as a demerit.

Social Loafing : Social loafing refers to a psychological phenomenon which has brought forward
a different side of human resource. It states that the employees working in a group, underperform a
given task in comparison to their potential, ultimately hindering the group performance. This is
because they develop a casual attitude towards the assigned responsibilities by putting in their least
contribution and thus, relying upon the efforts of other team members.

Following are some of the measures which can be adapted to disrupt social loafing in an
organization:

 The management must frame the tested goals and objectives which are possible to be
accomplished within a given period and but also challenges the group efforts. Moreover,
these goals should be simple to understand and well explained to every individual.
 The group performance should be regularly evaluated under the benchmarking strategy, and
then comparing it with the standards set or the past performance to fill the gap.The groups
 teams should be formed wisely by including a limited number of individuals; also, there
should be a group orientation to develop unity and team spirit among them.
 Specify the contribution of each employee in goal accomplishment, by defining his/her task,
roles and responsibilities to provide individual recognition.
 Regular feedback sessions should be carried out to monitor the work of each in a team,
along with taking up colleague’s review on individual performance through a collegial
feedback process.
  There should be an open communication system in the organization. The individuals should
feel free to put up their problems or queries in front of the management. It develops a scope
of improvement in their overall efficiency.
 If the individual efforts are assisted and necessary steps are taken to solve their problems,
they tend to improve their performance while working in a group.
 The team constitutes of individuals, and if each will be aware of his/her duties and
responsibilities in achieving a group objective, it will keep them engaged.
 The employees must be placed in a group or team by analyzing the individual skill sets and
matching it with that required for the achievement of desired group goals. It ensures proper
utilization of the human resource.

Social loafing can be easily identified if the manager regularly takes round in the work area. It would
help him/her to figure out the behaviour, attitude, contribution and participation of each individual,
during the group activities and team efforts.

Stress Management: What is stress management and why it is important?

Stress management is a wide spectrum of techniques and psychotherapies aimed at controlling a

person's level of stress, especially chronic stress, usually for the purpose of and for the motive of
improving everyday functioning.

Effective stress management helps you break the hold stress has on your life, so you can be happier,
healthier, and more productive. The ultimate goal is a balanced life, with time for work,
relationships, relaxation, and fun—and the resilience to hold up under pressure and meet challenges
head on.

Stressful situations faced by Lagaan team

 Crops have been dried due to delayed monsoon.

 Forced to pay double tax.

 Challenged Bhuvan and the villagers to beat the British at cricket in return for cancelling
three-years worth of tax.

 Losing against the British will mean paying triple-tax in a year when they are struggling to
pay the regular amount.

 The indigenization of the sport Cricket could be seen taking place within the structure of the
sport itself.

 Lakha pretends to join the village team while secretly reporting details of their match
preparation to Russell.

 Lakha's betrayal is uncovered.

 The village batsmen losing quick wickets and falling prey easily to British tactics and
responding with needless aggression.

Ismail surprisingly getting run out and Bhuvan is now faced with single-handedly getting the
remaining runs.

Decision making
Decision making by lack of response -

In one of the scenes, all the villagers went to the King and Captain Russell to ask him to exempt their
lagaan because they were unable to make enough income due to the drought. Russell was averse to
this idea, as a result, the villagers started negotiating with him. However, all the villagers were
proposing different ideas - a few wanted a little more time, the others wanted complete exempt.
There was no prior organized discussion between villagers. As a result, they were unable to convince
the Britishers and the previous decision stood valid.

 Decision by authority rule - When the whole team got to know about the betrayal of Lakha,
they were furious and tried to punish him violently. However, at this point, Bhuvan
intervened and single-handedly decided to give him another chance so that he can redeem
himself by continuing to play for the team, faithfully.
 Decision by minority - When Kachra threw the ball at Bhuvan and this led to him becoming
one of the members of the team, there was a disagreement between Bhuvan and Elizabeth
and the rest of the villagers. However, Bhuvan managed to convince them into believing that
Kachra’s presence in the team is important and him being an untouchable, is not.
 Decision by unanimity - During one of the scenes, when Bhuvan proposed the idea of talking
to the King of the village for Lagaan exempt, the whole village unanimously agreed to the
idea, and decided to head towards the Palace.

Final Performance
 RISK TAKING ABILITY: It is very rightly said that If you dare nothing, then when the day is
over, nothing is all you will have gained. When Bhuvan was challenged by Captain Andrew
Russell to beat them in cricket in return for cancellation of three-year worth of tax, he
accepted the challenge. The challenge involved high risk but Bhuvan focused on the reward
aspect and took it as an opportunity to make use of available resources for greater good of
their community.
 Goal fixation and Role definition: Once the challenge was accepted, they defined the goal (to
get exemption from taxes by scoring more runs than the British Army team in cricket match).
Fixing of goal facilitated clarity to devise strategy to make it reality. Role of each member of
team was clearly defined i.e who is responsible for scoring runs, taking wickets.
 Team before self: It was Bhuvan who took up the challenge but it was not for his own
benefit rather it was for the team (entire community). Even tough he was the leader of
team, he never asserted dominance over team members and always motivated other
members to bring out the best from them. His selfless leadership led to gain support of
entire community.
 Never Give Up : It was the “Never Say Die” attitude that led them to victory despite all odds.
They faced a lot of setbacks before and during the match but they never lost confidence and
were always determined in the face of adversity. This was the most important quality which
helped them to achieve the end goal.

Conclusion
As Bhuvan puts it in his legendary dialogue “We’ll make a fist”, the movie seems to be all about the
power of a group. It’s is easy to break off one finger, but when all five come together to form a fist,
they form an invincible unit. Perhaps that is why the British were so successful in colonizing India
with their cunning policy of divide and rule.
We see here a primeval collection of highly diverse people, all with their separate goals, but they
came together to fulfill one common goal. The group formation here displays marks of Social
Psychological Theory. The reward being tax relief for a period of three years and the group being
linked through propinquity clearly subscribe to the above theory.

The importance of a good leader for the success of a team is portrayed brilliantly through the movie.
Captain Russell, with his usual autocratic way so peculiar of the militia, simply lays down orders for
his team. Bhuvan, on the other hand, assesses the individual capabilities of his team members and
teaches them to play to their strengths.

Like all five of our fingers are different, so are the members of the team, but together they make an
invincible fist.