Filmmaker Kiran Rao recalled memories of working as an assistant director on the modern classic Lagaan, directed by Ashutosh Gowariker and starring her former husband, Aamir Khan. Kiran said that she’d have moments of disillusionment, where she was tasked with ferrying actors from makeup rooms to the set. She also recalled that Aamir put together a cut of the film that ran four hours long and didn’t even have any cricket scenes.
Released in 2001, Lagaan was a critical and commercial success, and remains the last Indian film to be nominated in the category formerly known as Best Foreign Language Feature. Kiran said in an interview with The Lallantop that she would be expected on set at 4:30 am, and that her first order of business was to get toasts prepared for Rachel Shelley, who played Elizabeth in the film. “My job was to somehow get all the actors from makeup, hair, wardrobe to set. And in Lagaan, we had two cricket teams, plus everybody had beards, the women wore dresses. It was a nightmare. Before reaching set at 4-4:30 am, I’d be on my walkie telling them to put the toaster on. The actor who played Elizabeth wanted toast first thing in the morning.”
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Kiran said that only the producer had a mobile phone, and he’d get signal in one location, a hillock near the temple where some scenes were filmed. Asked if she ever felt any ‘frustration’ on set, considering the education she came with and the job that she was doing, Kiran said, “I would be sitting in the makeup room and wondering what I was doing with my Masters in Mass Communication from Jamia. But finally, everybody has to put in their hours in all these places. But you hope that one day you leave the makeup room and find a spot near the monitor. Unfortunately, I didn’t even get to see much of the shoot, I spent most of my time in the makeup room.”
Kiran said that they had no idea that Lagaan would become as monumental as it did. In fact, they were very concerned about the length. While the movie is already relatively long, with a run time of 224 minutes, Aamir oversaw an early cut that made everybody think that they had a six-hour film on their hands. She said, “Aamir showed us one cut that was four hours long, without the cricket. Four hours! Without the cricket! We didn’t know how they’d cut it down. We thought that this would easily be a six-hour film.”
Kiran had made consistent progress since the Lagaan days. She made her feature directorial debut with Dhobi Ghat, which was released in 2010. Her latest film, Laapataa Ladies, is currently playing in theatres to mixed commercial response but positive critical and audience reception.
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