Lagaan is a 2001 Hindi film starring Aamir Khan, Gracy Singh, and Rajesh Vivek as Lagaan cast in lead roles. It was the third and the last Indian film to get an Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Language Film category. The film just completed 21 years. Over the years, Lagaan has gained cult status, and its music refuses to age, but I bet you didn’t know these 7 facts and trivia about Lagaan!
1. The director Ashutosh Gowariker wanted to initially cast Shah Rukh Khan in the lead role!
Yes, you heard it right. In fact, it was even Abhishek Bachchan at one point of time later. But the role of Bhuvan went to Aamir Khan and the rest is history. Cool, right?
2. The first edit of the film was 7 hours and 30 minutes long! Whoa.
Even the final film is over 3 hours long! Of course, this was back when we had attention spans.
3. The cast stayed in a residential building!
The cast and crew of the film were huge and no hotel could host these many people. So, they stayed at Sahajanand Towers, a large residential building rented out, especially for the film. Although before the screening of the film, the building was destroyed by an earthquake.
4. Aamir’s first and second wife worked with him on Lagaan!
Kiran Rao, Aamir’s now-ex-wife, began her career as an Assistant Director with Lagaan. And his then wife, Reena Dutta, was an executive producer for Lagaan. Did you know that?
5. 10,000 shot for Lagaan on one day
On one particular day, a cast of 10,000, including animals and humans, shot for Lagaan – from cattle to horses to an elephant. To keep up morale, and get them to cheer when India wins the match, Aamir Khan even sang his famous song ‘Aati Kya Khandaala’. That’s how they got that shot. It’s still a part of the film.
6. A reel match and a real match
In Lagaan, India wins against British, against all odds. But, apparently, the British team was confident that if the match was held in real life, they’d have won it. And so a match was played, and they actually won! Laugh reacts, only.
7. A Time feature
Last in the list, but pretty damn cool. Did you know Lagaan made Time magazine’s cut for its list of ‘The All-Time 25 Best Sports Movies’ as the sole film representing cricket? Told ya, quite cool!