New Delhi: One of Bollywood’s most iconic villains is back on Indian Instagram. Actor Paul Blackthorne, who played Captain Andrew Russell in the 2001 film Lagaan, appeared in a recent reel from Mumbai by actor and vlogger Shenaz Treasurywala.
“Teen guna lagaan (triple the tax),” Blackthorne said in the video, delivering his famous line from the film.
“Pay your taxes,” he added, laughing with Treasurywala.
Treasurywala mentioned in the reel that she happened to meet Blackthorne at the Gateway of India by chance. Ironically, the vlogger ran into the actor who played a coloniser at a monument that encapsulates the British Raj. And her first instinct was to make him apologise.
“Please mujhe maaf karo (Please forgive me),” Treasurywala made the actor say.
She wanted to play Blackthorne’s tour guide and make him say things in Hindi.
“Yeh Gateway of India hai (This is the Gateway of India),” Blackthorne said, playing along. “Yaha se British queen aayi thi (This is where the British queen came from).”
At every other sentence by Treasurywala, Blackthorne would quip in “teen guna lagaan”.
“He speaks amazing Hindi,” said the influencer.
At the 2002 Screen Awards, Blackthorne was nominated for Best Performance in a Negative Role (Best Villain) for his part in Lagaan. Fans also recognise him as Captain Quentin Lance across several DC shows: Arrow, The Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow.
‘Amazing actor’
The comments were full of adoration. “Our fav childhood villain,” wrote Gibran Noorani. Actor Shanvi Srivastava added that no one can deliver the line better than Blackthorne. The dialogue has been immortalised in India’s meme culture.
Some, however, have another favourite. “His best line was, Yardley knock his bloody head off,” read a comment.
“Paul Blackthorne ran game on everyone in Lagaan! Absolutely made us hate him which tells us what amazing actor he is!” a fan wrote.
Others were political with their humour.
“Don’t worry sir, nowadays the govt takes more tax,” wrote Bhaskar Saikia. The comment had over 3,600 likes.
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