22 years of Lagaan:
6 interesting facts about
Aamir Khan film
DNA WEB DESK
Lagaan: Once Upon A Time In India was released in cinemas on
June 15, 2001.
As the film completes 22 years of its release today, here are six interesting facts about the epic sports drama.
Aamir Khan first refused to act in Lagaan when Ashutosh Gowariker gave him a four-line idea about the film. When Ashutosh completed the script and narrated it to Aamir, he found it so amazing that he decided to produce it himself and launched his banner Aamir Khan Productions.
Made on a budget of Rs 25 crore, Lagaan was the most expensive Indian film at the time of its release.
Lagaan was shot in an ancient village near Bhuj. The entire apartment complex, in which the cast and crew stayed in Bhuj during the shooting, was destroyed in the 2001 Gujarat earthquake. Khan kept his promise and screened the film in Bhuj before its theatrical release.
Chale Chalo - The Lunacy of Film Making, with the English title Madness in the Desert, is a must-watch documentary on the making of Lagaan. It is streaming on Netflix.
The makers also released a comic book titled Lagaan: The Story after the huge success of the film.
Lagaan became the third Indian film to earn an Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Language Film category after Mother India (1957) and Salaam Bombay! (1998). No other Indian film has been nominated since then.