Lagaan was a critical and commercial success when it released in 2001. But the making of the film was not an easy task for director Ashutosh Gowariker. The director had been trying to make his film for years but no star was ready to come on board. In a recent interview, Yashpal Sharma, who played the role of Lakha, revealed several interesting facts about the 2001 classic.
In an interview with Friday Talkies, the actor revealed that nobody believed in the film and claimed it would fail at the box office. He said, “Everybody including Javed Akhtar said Lagaan wouldn’t work. Nobody will accept a village story or a hero in a dhoti and pagdi.” Javed Akhtar is the lyricist of the film with AR Rahman being its composer. Recalling Ashutosh’s struggles to make the film, Yashpal shared in the interview, “I have heard he (Ashutosh) had this script for a very long time. He had even approached Shah Rukh Khan for the project, but apparently he wasn’t convinced with the script. He then approached Hrithik Roshan for the film, but he too declined it.”
“But that film did so well that it took us around the world. It was even nominated for the Oscars. It gave us exposure”, he added. Yashpal also revealed how due to the film’s success they were in the USA for around a month for Oscars. He claimed it was around the same time as 9/11. He said, “We stayed in the USA for about a month. It was around the same time when the twin tower incident took place. The entire cast was in the USA.” Yashpal then gave the entire credit to Ashutosh Gowariker for believing in the film.
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Not just Shah Rukh and Hrithik, but Aamir too had rejected the film at first. In an interview with Pinkvilla, the actor revealed, “When I heard Lagaan, in five minutes of its narration, I rejected it. I was like it is a story of people who are not able to pay ‘lagaan’ as there are no rains and they play cricket with British people? I was like ‘What a bizarre thought is this? I told Ashutosh, ‘This is a strange story. I told him to get me a different story.'”
He added, “I loved the final script of Lagaan and found it unbelievable. I told him, ‘It is a fantastic script and it does break the record of mainstream cinema. But I am scared to say yes. I can’t do it. Later, I would often think why am I not doing the film? Then I told Ashutosh to narrate the story to my parents. They heard it and were crying. They told me I should do it.”
Lagaan was shot for almost six months with Aamir Khan debuting as a producer.
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