‘LAGAAN IS MY MOST UNPREPARED PERFORMANCE’
Actor-producer Aamir Khan and director Ashutosh Gowarikar relive their memories of the cult film
Aur Bhuvan ka naam itihas ke panno mein kahi kho gaya... This concluding voiceover in Lagaan (2001) is perhaps the exact opposite of what the Ashutosh Gowarikardirected film, did to Aamir Khan’s career. And 20 years later, memories of the film are still so vivid. Khan, 56, shares, “Lagaan was such a prep-heavy film that we didn’t have the time to discuss my character. So, literally the night before our first day of shoot in Bhuj, I told Ashu, ‘You have spent time with all other actors, mere saath ek bar bhi nahi baitha’. He was just assuming I’ll do it right. Though I had been preparing in my head, I never got to share it with him if he also imagined Bhuvan like that. Luckily, when we talked, we were on the same page.”
Given that Khan was turning producer with Lagaan, did that count in him getting less time to prep for his role? “Certainly, my lack of prep in Lagaan ,I can blame it on my work as a producer,” he chuckles, and adds, “It was the first film I was producing and I wanted to be sure nothing goes wrong. So, Lagaan is probably my most unprepared performance.”
However, Khan says he fully trusted Gowarikar, his script and his ability as a director. “I remember after one of the shots, Ashu told me that while the film is going on, Bhuvan is like any other villager and only when he says, ‘Sarat manjoor hai’, he becomes the leader and everyone follows him. That progression Ashu had thought of, and that impressed me a lot,” recounts the actor.
When asked about the most unusual casting, Khan went on to reveal about the casting that didn’t happen. “The role of Bhura that Raghubir Yadav did, was originally offered to (late) Ravi Baswani, but he couldn’t commit so many days due to his mother’s health. I still miss Ravi and wonder if he’d have done it, it’d have been very charming,” he says, further sharing, “Raghubir ji was cast to play Ram Singh, the translator to the Queen. When Ravi said no, we told him to do Bhura’s part and got Javed Khan for Ram Singh's role.”
Mention about the possibility of a remake if anyone comes up with an idea, Khan says why not! “I’m not possessive about these things. If a creative team wants to do so, I’d not stop anyone. It’ll rather be interesting to see their work,” he adds.
Compiled by Rishabh Suri