Lagaan is one of the best movies of Aamir Khan. When the actor decided to back Ashutosh Gowariker’s film the decision wasn’t immediate. He went through many phases of doubts and could not find the courage in himself to take up the film all by himself. He even asked Ashutosh to approach other actors and producers before making it his maiden production.
In a video shared by ViralBollywood’s YouTube Channel, Aamir Khan can be heard recalling how he was not ready to be a part of Lagaan and said, “I told Ashutosh that your script is unbelievable but I don’t have the courage to do your film. This is so different, it is breaking so many rules of mainstream cinema but I don’t have the courage to do this. I also wondered who would produce this. I couldn’t imagine a producer who would do this sincerely. Go to England, find all the British actors, and give this the scale that it needs.”
He further recalled how people asked Ashutosh Gowariker to change the ending of Lagaan and said, “I asked him to approach other actors with the script in case they say yes. He went to every actor in the industry, every producer and he would tell me about it. Someone suggested to him that Bhuvan should stab the British officer in the end. But there were very few people who actually said that this is a great script.”
He then recalled being impatient after passing on the film and kept on wondering why he gave up on the film. The actor then thought of legends like Guru Dutt and Bimal Roy and how they took risks with films. He called Ashutosh to narrate the script in front of his parents.
He then recalled how he got the confidence to do this film and said, “They were crying throughout. My father said that I don’t know if this will work or not but I know that when you make a film, it should be a great story and this is it. Mother said you should do this and it gave me the confidence.”
Lagaan became one of the biggest hits of Aamir Khan’s career. The film was also nominated at the Oscars in the Best Foreign Language Film category. Not only this, at the 49th National Film Awards, the film won eight awards, including Best Popular Film.
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