It’s been 10 years since the release of Lagaan but the movies magic is evident even till date. It was on July the 15th that the movie released and it instantly changed the face of Bollywood. The movie became one of the best Bollywood movies ever as it received appreciation from critics as well as audience not just India but all over the world.
Yesterday in the bash that Aamir Khan threw to celebrate the success of Lagaan, he got candid and revealed a lot about the making of Lagaan. He said that he at 1st rejected to produce Lagaan which went on to change his career for ever.
"If you read my earlier interviews, I had always maintained that I would never produce a film. I had seen my father suffer with the making of Locket. The film went on for eight years. As kids, my sisters and I have suffered because of it," said Aamir giving reason why he rejected it in the first place.
"Ashu had come to me with the script of Lagaan. I loved it immensely. But I was in two minds. I told him that I love it but I can't do it. After three months, I heard the script again. I still did not take it on. Ashu meanwhile was narrating the script to different people. Six months after that, I heard it again, and I said 'Yaar yeh toh kamaal ki script hai, mujhe karni chahiye'," Aamir Khan said.
"Three more months went by and I told Ashu that I will act in the film. I asked him to get a producer. But Ashu couldn't find one. Finally, I asked my parents and my ex-wife Reena to hear the script. They loved it. My abbajaan told me 'Aamir achchi script bahut kam baar milti hai, aapko karni chahiye'. That's when I told Ashu that I won't just act in his film, but produce it too," the actor added.
"We wanted Javed Akhtar to write the lyrics for the film. So, I sent Ashu to narrate the script to him. The moment Ashu left from there, Javed saab called me and asked me not to do the film. He said it'll be a disaster. I was shocked. I was already scared to make a film on this scale and Javed saab just added to it. I went to him and talked about it. He wasn't convinced. But he agreed to write the songs, anyway. Finally, when the film released, Javed saab was convinced about the film's merit”, said Aamir Khan talking about the initial struggles of the movie.
When asked Javed Akhtar about it he said, “I was shocked when Ashutosh Gowariker narrated me the script. It had a long list of dont's of Hindi cinema. I thought I should protect Aamir that he should not commit this suicide. But, both he and Ashutosh treated me like an elder and did not listen to me. Since Aamir was not listening to me, I decided that I do my own job only. But, when I saw the first cut, I was taken aback,” said Javed saab.
“I remembered my younger days when Salim Javed scripts were rejected in the first instance. Zanjeer went to 20 producers and all viable stars of that time had rejected it. It is a strange paradox that things which have not been tried earlier look dangerous. Unreasonable people can make successful movies where they ask the world to look from their point of view”, said Javed Akhtar adding that movies aren’t made with cleverness but with mad passion.
Talking about another hiccup in the movie process, Aamir revealed that Amitabh Bachchan had been rejected by Ashutosh Gowariker at first.
When Aamir had approached Big B with the request to lend his voice to the movie, Big B agreed at once. But later on Ashutosh changed his mind thinking that Big B’s voice was too familiar and would not fit into 1893 period.
“I was shocked and argued with Ashutosh why this had not struck him before asking me to go and meet Amitji. But, Amitji took it so sportingly and told me that he was relieved since all films for which he had done a voiceover had miserably flopped. However, Ashutosh again changed his mind and decided finally it would be Amitabh Bachchan only for the voice over”, Aamir Khan said.
"I again went to Amitji and told him that my director has gone mad. He now wants you for the film. Amitji did not utter a word but reminded me that he was superstitious and felt that he brought bad luck. I said we are ready to take the risk because so many factors had gone against the film during the making but we had overcome all the difficulties."
Just like Javed Akhtar Big B too wasn’t so sure about the movie. And when he saw the movie for the first time he hadn’t liked it.
Amitabh Bachchan though dint say how he felt about the movie the first time.