Lagaan and Gadar will air on June 15 at 11 am and 7:30 pm, respectively, on ZEE Bollywood. (Express archive photos)It has been 20 years since Sunny Deol-starrer Gadar and Aamir Khan’s Lagaan released in theatres to an overwhelming response. While social media is afloat with messages for the teams, the cast and crew of Laagan and Gadar talked about the experience of making the period dramas.
Talking about Lagaan, Aamir Khan said in a statement, “Lagaan was, is, and continues to be, an amazing journey for me. It has been a journey in which I have met exciting new people, made new friends, started relationships that have lasted over 2 decades, shared so much with these wonderful people, learnt so much, experienced so many emotions, experienced so much. This journey has shaped me in so many ways. And in this journey, I want to thank Ashu, the entire team of Lagaan, all the different teams that took it to the various audiences across the world, and all of you who have seen the film. We have all come together in this journey, some early, some later as we went along, but all of us are fellow travellers. I want to thank all of you for being my fellow travellers, and for making this journey so unique and fulfilling for me. Thank you for your time, your love, and your generosity of emotions.”
Lagaan director Ashutosh Gowariker added, “The box office response to my first two films jolted me. It also enlightened me to come back with a story that I believed in. A story that will all encompass a cinema-loving audience. And the outcome was the script of Lagaan. And I was fortunate to have Aamir back me on this one, despite our previous film not setting the box office on fire. It is extremely difficult to convince Aamir to do a film, but once he commits, that is the greatest moment for the director. And I can’t thank him enough. Lagaan has been a most cherished and fulfilling experience for me. I thank the audiences for showering so much love and admiration to Lagaan over the years – 20 to be precise!!”
“Lagaan was a film that made sure we paid our Lagaan in full. It was a very difficult film to make. We had to face a lot of hardships, but the film also gave the team a lot of unforgettable memories, relationships and happiness,” Aamir said in the shared clip. Read more here.
Aamir Khan's production team shared a video featuring the actor where he could be seen expressing his gratitude to director Ashutosh Gowariker, the team of Lagaan and the audience for showering their love on the period drama.
"A King chooses dharam over karam and his powerless, oppressed subjects are left on their own to fight a foreign invader using everyday jugaad. When they win, even the King is relieved even though he did nothing to help them. #Lagaan is a contemporary fairytale," tweeted Varun Grover.
Composer AR Rahman and actor Aamir Khan talk about the music of Lagaan.
Trade analyst Kaushik LM shared on Twitter that the Aamir Khan movie was a hit in Chennai, and ran for several days outside of Chennai too. "#20YearsOfLagaan: This epic film is iconic and world renowned, we all know that. But it's extra special to TN. The film ran for so long outside Chennai too. #AamirKhan's films have always been redhot here & #Lagaan was the root cause for his current craze in TN. @arrahman music," he tweeted.
Film trade analyst Girish Johar shared on Twitter, "One of the 1st film which did around ?100crs at Domestic BO, unreported in those times. #Gadar is an iconic film, one of the best action love story of Indian Cinema Collision."
#MyLagaan is trending on social media marking 20 years of Aamir Khan’s film Lagaan. Many fans are sharing memories from the time they watched Lagaan and what the film's release meant to them. On 15th June 2001, Lagaan hit the silver screens and struck a chord with millions of people. It became a massive hit at the time of its release.
Aamir Khan shared how every day on the film’s shoot, he doubted if he had taken up on too big a project. “Every day I used to have that doubt. There’s a scene in the film in the second half where the Champaner team is not doing that well and the British players kind of demoralise the Indian players. Post that, there’s a scene when Bhuvan is standing inside the temple, looking disheartened and for the first time has doubt on his face. And his mother comes from behind and is surprised to see that expression on his face. He replies, ‘Maa, eeh beeda uthake humne kauno galti toh nahi ki (Have I made a mistake taking up this challenge)?’ Now, there were problems on the shoot every day. The cricket part of it was unending. We would finish 10 shots and Ashutosh would come up with five more, the film was anyway over budget. So, one day I told Ashu, ‘Eeh beeda uthake humne kauno galti toh nahi ki?’ He laughed so much and that became a running joke on our set. Whenever we would be in a problem, either he would say to me or I would use that line. Read more
The song
"Main nikla gadi leke" in the voice of Udit Narayan became a chartbuster hit and is still loved by many.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India, the cast and crew of the period sports drama are coming together for a reunion special. The reunion titled 'Chale Chalo Lagaan - Once Upon an Impossible Dream' will soon start streaming on Netflix India's YouTube channel, the streamer said in a release on Tuesday.
Utkarsh Sharma, who played the on screen son of Sunny Deol and Ameesha Patel, and was named Jeete, was around seven when Gadar happened. 20 years on, he is trying to impress the audience as a lead actor. Post Gadar, Utkarsh also acted in two other films by his father, Anil Sharma – Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyon and Apne, where he rubbed shoulders with Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra. Interestingly, in the former, he played the younger version of Bobby Deol, and then the childhood of Sunny Deol in latter. Read more on him here.
When indianexpress.com asked filmmaker Anil Sharma to share his favourite scene from Gadar, he shared, "There are so many scenes, I cannot pick one. But I’ll say the scene in the end when Jeete sings “Udja Kale Kawan” with a violin for his mother, I love that scene. Also when Tara comes to Pakistan and sings the song, Jeete picks it from a point, and Sakeena comes running to them. That’s a big moment in the film. I’d also pick the hand-pump scene and then the one of “agar mohar nahi lagi toh kya Tara Singh Pakistan nahi jaayega”. Gadar is all about moments, so picking one or two is impossible. If I have to choose one moment, I’d say just watch Gadar, because in its entirety, it’s a moment in itself."
Ashutosh Gowariker said it was his 'ultimate dream' to create something which will linger in the audience's mind and Lagaan made that possible. In a statement, he said, 'That it would be appreciated 20 years down the line is something that is unimaginable. It is overwhelming for me as well as the entire team of the film that this dream became a reality. 'Lagaan' is the story of people coming together and standing united against all odds."
Film critic Shubhra Gupta revisited the screenings of Gadar and Lagaan which were a 'riot'. She shared on Twitter, "For the record, both screenings were a riot: dancing in the aisles (yes,really) and coins being flung at the screen ( also). Bhuvan hitting the ball out of the grounds, and Tara Singh plucking that hand pump from the ground, unforgettable #Bollywood moments."
Aamir Khan shared an anecdote about the silver earrings that his character Bhuvan wears in the film: they actually belonged to his wife Kiran Rao, who was an AD on the film at that time. "I did not know her very well. We had just met once or twice. When I saw her earrings, I was like 'Yaar, ye earrings mujhe thik lag rahe hain' (they seem perfect). But Kiran said, 'If it comes to continuity, you won't have them'. I was like, 'We will give you new ones. Let me try this'. So she gave me her earrings and when I put them on, they were perfect." The actor said he has all his accessories from "Lagaan", including Bhuvan's costumes, the jewellery worn by the cast and the clapboard.
Sony Music released a few BTS snippets from the making of Lagaan's soundtrack.
Film critic Shubhra Gupta cannot forget the Friday when she watched Gadar and Lagaan back to back in the theater. She wrote on Twitter, "Those of us who watched #Lagaan and #GadarEkPremKatha back to back will never forget that Friday. Both films were about how ‘we love our India’, but one was about nationalism, the other jingoism. #TwentyYearsOfLagaan"
Lagaan’s Kachra, actor Aditya Lakhia remembered Sundays as their off days when they played badminton, table-tennis and cards. Raghubir Yadav further shared, “There was professionalism and discipline. We even got very friendly with the British cast, they had guitar so we used to sing songs. We were like a one big happy family in Bhuj.”
Talking to the journalists on the 20th anniversary of his film, Aamir Khan shared, "Gadar was at least three times bigger than Lagaan. So, today I think how did we manage to last in front of that film?’ Gadar was a tsunami. If Lagaan was even one per cent less than it was, we wouldn’t have lasted.” Read more
Ameesha Patel shared a throwback video from the set of Gadar featuring herself with late actor Amrish Puri. Along with the video, she wrote, "GADAR .. behind the scenes of the most iconic interval point of the most the most iconic film that Bollywood has seen till date .. thank u for all the love .. 20 years of GADAR .. #GADAR????"
Actor Adivi Sesh believes Lagaan is a film which "defined great filmmaking to a generation." He shared on Twitter, "#Lagaan ?? A film that taught a young kid in Calif. that He could dream. The story showed me the underdog can win. The film showed the world how to respect our films. It gave me an outsider like me the courage to dream. A film that defined great filmmaking to a generation."
While talking to indianexpress.com, Anil Sharma talked about the basic plot and core motivation for Gadar. He said, "It has the story of a father and a son. I had Ramayana in my heart, that Lord Ram has gone to Sri Lanka to bring back his Sita. This is such a huge emotion, which will remain alive even after a hundred years. It has emotions and drama have kept it fresh in the minds of people. It is still contemporary. The music had such a huge contribution by lyricist Anand Bakshi ji. I miss him today. My favourite song is “Udja Kale Kawan”.
Aamir Khan shared how weeks before he was set to begin shooting Lagaan, his friends from Bollywood — filmmakers Aditya Chopra and Karan Johar– cautioned him against two things, both of which he did during the film’s making.
“When I decided to make Lagaan, I knew I had taken up a huge challenge. It’s an unusual film and just a few weeks before I left for shooting I met with Adi Chopra and Karan Johar. I remember it was Anil Thadani’s (distributor) party and Karan and Adi are very good friends of mine and they were genuinely concerned and they were saying ‘Aamir tu itni badi film bana rahai hai as your first production and we have heard that it’s a single schedule, sync sound.’
“They asked me to not do one schedule. They said it will be a mess and you will have no time to correct your mistakes. They also advised me against sync sounds because no one has done that for the longest time and shooting will get delayed,” Aamir shared. But the actor stuck to his conviction which worked wonders for the film.
“Ashutosh had put up a sketch of 11 men in his office. He said that was his poster design, with all those actors standing in that fashion. And the final poster remained the same. That was his level of clarity,” actor Akhilendra Mishra, who played Arjan the blacksmith, told indianexpress.com, crediting Aamir Khan for his confidence in Ashutosh Gowariker.
The music of Gadar: Ek Prem Katha was a hit. It was composed by Uttam Singh and all the songs were written by Anand Bakshi.
"Congratulations to Sunny Paaji… Gadar Completes 20 years…… Gadar was such a landmark film that till date any film Sunny deol is doing will be compared with Gadar… The magic still continues to live forever….. @iamsunnydeol #Gadar #GadarEkPremKatha," film trade analyst Rohit Jaiswal tweeted.
In the midst of shooting Lagaan, Ashutosh had a back injury that left him on bed rest for a full month. At this point, the film was already behind schedule and was way over budget so the production could not imagine handling another delay. So, Ashutosh decided to direct while laying flat on his back. He would watch the monitor and continued to work.
Know more interesting facts about Lagaan here
"#Gadar and #Lagaan released at the onset of monsoon… The weeks that followed witnessed heavy downpour [several parts], but the biz continued to sky-rocket. Runtime: #Lagaan 3.40 hours, #Gadar 3 hours… But the excessive runtime was no deterrent. #AamirKhan #SunnyDeol" shared film trade analyst Taran Adarsh.
Film producer Deepak Mukut congratulated the team of Gadar as the film completed 20 years of its release. "Congratulations on 20 years of #GADAR to the entire team @Anilsharma_dir @subhashchandra @punitgoenka @ameesha_patel @ZeeStudios_ #sgaktimaan #uttamsingh" he tweeted.
Sunny Deol thanked the audience for making his film Gadar 'an event'. He wrote on Twitter, "We made a film, you made it an event! #20yearsofGadar, I express my gratitude to everyone who made our film historic. @ameeshapatel9 @anilsharma_dir @zeestudiosofficial #Gadar #Anniversary #Reels #ReelsInstagram #ReelsIndia."
Actor Raghubir Yadav narrated an interesting incident that took place on the sets of Lagaan. He told us, "I had stomach ache which was most probably due to food poisoning because of extreme summer heat in Bhuj. There was a Dr Rao on standby for our unit. He had bought his new instrument for laparoscopy, and I think he wanted to inaugurate it on some patient. He said I have an appendix problem and assured that it’ll just take him 15 minutes to operate me and resolve the issue." Read the full story here
Gadar director Anil Sharma said he was not worried about Gadar's clash with Aamir Khan starrer Lagaan. He told indianexpress.com, "I was relaxed. India has such a huge population that even if six films release together, there will be takers. People just want to get entertained. Both the films worked. Lagaan was also a good film. Gadar became a milestone too. Both had a great box office collection, but Gadar definitely has an edge."
The song "Mitwa" was sung by Udit Narayan and Alka Yagnik. It appeared in the film when Bhuvan (Aamir Khan) was trying to convince the villagers to form a cricket team to play against the Britishers.
Actor Ameesha Patel, who essayed the role of Sakeena in Gadar shared how Sunny Deol made her comfortable on the sets of the film. In a statement, she said, “Sunny Deol is my favourite co-star. I was so nervous to work with him as I was raw, new and unknown. Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai had not been released when I had started Gadar. Sunny is as much of a ‘super’ and awesome human being as much as he is a superstar. He treated me as an equal and put me at ease through the entire journey. No one could have played ‘Tara Singh’ but him. I feel so proud to be associated with this movie and it’s a milestone for all of us. Gadar will forever be in the archives as one of the iconic cult blockbusters in the history of Indian Cinema.”
In Ashutosh Gowariker directorial Lagaan, the match between the villagers and the Britishers was supposed to be a spectacle and the climax of the film required the kind of crowd that would make it look extraordinary. The makers roped in 10,000 people from the neighbouring towns and villages and brought them to shoot the crowd scenes. Dressing them all and feeding them was a logistical challenge but the team somehow got through it. To cheer the crowds and get them to react joyously as the home team wins the match, Aamir Khan sang “Aati Kya Khandala” and the director captured the crowd’s reaction, which has been included in the film.
Revisiting his big project, Gadar: Ek Prem Katha, on its 20th anniversary, film director Anil Sharma is proud to be a part of such a big project. He said, "The reactions that came in even before the anniversary are amazing. Rarely do people get to be a part of such a milestone, and I feel so proud.”
In an interview with indianexpress.com, actor Aditya Lakhia, who essayed the role of Kachra, shared how his introduction scene in the film, also his first shot for Lagaan, was the real challenge. “In the script, Kachra joins the team last. I was also the last person to start shooting. All the other character entries were done much before me, although I was in Bhuj and had to be on the set every single day in my costume.”