An epic tale of colonial India stuffed with song-and-dance numbers, "Lagaan" has turned into an unlikely hit for distrib Sony Entertainment Television Pictures.

Despite a running time of 223 minutes, mostly Hindi dialogue and an abundance of bootleg copies of the pic in the Indian community, "Lagaan" has quietly grossed more than $1 million in North America since June 15. It's also nabbed more than 1 million [pounds sterling] ($1.5 million) in the U.K. and had big runs in Europe and South Africa. India's pick for the foreign-lingo Oscar race, "Lagaan" is an entertaining stew of oppressed farmers, villainous Brits, revolt, romance -- and cricket.

Rave reviews and A-list fest kudos helped it cross over to non-Indian auds. "It's clearly been the most successful film that Sony Entertainment Television has distributed," says Michael Grindon, prexy of Columbia TriStar Intl. TV.
SET India also has other pics in the works. "We're looking to expand that activity. Our primary focus is what will work in India, and if we find a film that will work well throughout the world-- that would be terrific," says Grindon.