As Ashutosh Gowarikar’s spirited epic completes 21 years, we bring you some intriguing trivia on its making...

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21 years of Lagaan: A nostalgic look back at the Aamir Khan classic; lesser-known facts & memorabilia

CE Features

Updated:15th Jun, 2022 at 3:14 PM

Made on a then-unprecedented budget of 250 million, the movie was the maiden project from Aamir Khan Productions.

Aamir and director Ashutosh Gowarikar had previously collaborated on Baazi (1995). They were also co-stars in Ketan Mehta’s Holi (1984)

Ashutosh struggled to secure the film’s then-enormous budget (around Rs. 25 crores). Finally, Aamir agreed to produce it after hearing the final script

Lagaan was co-produced by Jhamu Sughand, who also backed films like Satya, Aks and Chachi

Lagaan was inspired by the 1957 Dilip Kumar-starrer sports film Naya Daur,directed by B. R. Chopra, & written by Akhtar Mirza and Kamil Rashid

Lagaan was released in 260 theatres of India.

The role of Bhuvan was turned down by Shah Rukh Khan and Abhishek Bachchan

The setting was of 1890s pre-Independence India was created in the Kutch district of Gujarat

Although the fictional village of ‘Champanir’ is identified in Madhya Pradesh, there is another village of that name in Gujarat

The script demanded a dry location: an agricultural village where it had not rained in several years. To depict the 1890s era, the crew also required a village that lacked electricity, communication

Kutch faced the same problems at that time and hence the villages of Kunariya and Kotah, located a few miles away from Bhuj, Gujarat, was chosen

The area was later devastated by the 2001 Gujarat Earthquakes six months after the shoot

Lagaan was shot by acclaimed cinematographer Anil Mehta

British actor Rachel Shelly played Elizabeth. The antagonist Captain Andrew Russell was essayed by Paul Blackthorne

A Hindi tutor was hired for Paul and Rachel for six months

Lagaan holds the record for the maximum British actors in a Bollywood film

Sonali Bendre, Rani Mukherji, Nandita Das and others were considered for the role of Gauri. Ashutosh eventually picked debutante Gracy Singh

Aamir got an ear-piercing for the part of Bhuvan

Bhuvan and Gauri are also the protagonists of Mrinal Sen’s Bhuvan Shome (1969). Both films were shot in Gujarat

Suhasini Mulay, the female lead of Bhuvan Shome, played Aamir’s mother in Lagaan

Lagaan was the third Indian film to be nominated for foreign language Oscars, after Mother India (1957) and Salaam Bombay! (1988).

The spectators in the matches were people neighbouring villages

There were no big hotels in Bhuj. The majority of the crew stayed in a hired residential building

All actors were required to report on set at 5am. Aamir was left behind on one occasion for reaching at 5.05am

Ashutosh got a slip disc during the shoot and was advised rest for a month. A monitor was set up near his bed to oversee production

The Lagaan soundtrack is rated among A R Rahman’s best works. The lyrics were penned by Javed Akhtar

The english portions of O Ri Chhori were reportedly written by Farhan Akhtar

Filmmaker Apoorva Lakhia was an assistant on Lagaan

P. Sainath's book Everybody Loves a Good Drought was a source of reference for Aditya Lakhia, who played Kachra

The cricket matches were shot in 48 degrees heat with thousands of extras

Late actor AK Hangal suffered from acute back pain but continued shooting

Oscar-winner Bhanu Athiya designed the costumes for Lagaan

Aamir met his present wife Kiran Rao on the sets of the film

Lagaan was one of the first Hindi mainstream films to use synchronised sound. Aamir had previously shot with sync sound on Deepa Mehta’s Earth

The film had a major box-office clash with Gadar: Ek Prem Katha

Lagaan was the first Indian film to premiere in China

The Awadhi dialect of Hindi was picked for linguistic authenticity. It was mixed with Bhojpuri and Braj Bhasha

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