Aamir Khan recalls Ashutosh Gowariker was asked to change ending of Lagaan to Bhuvan stabbing British officer

After much back and forth, Aamir Khan asked Ashutosh Gowariker to pitch Lagaan to other producers and actors. He recalled, “I asked him to approach other actors with the script in case they say yes. He went to every actor in the industry, every producer and he would tell me about it. Someone suggested him that Bhuvan should stab the British officer in the end. But they were very few people who actually said that this is a great script.”

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Aamir said that a year after he had passed it on, he found himself frequently wondering why he had given up on the film. “Every three months, I would think why am I not doing this?” he said. The actor-producer said that at this point, he thought about Bollywood legends like Bimal Roy and Guru Dutt and wondered how they took risks while making movies, and breaking the mold of mainstream cinema. He felt that he was finally in a place to try something new and this was his chance to be in the same bracket as them.

Aamir then called Ashutosh and asked him to narrate Lagaan in front of his parents. The narration worked wonders as both his mother and father were in tears by the end of that narration. “They were crying throughout. My father said that I don’t know if this will work or not but I know that when you make a film, it should be a great story and this is it. Mother said you should do this and it gave me the confidence,” he shared.

Lagaan became one of the biggest hits of Aamir Khan’s career. The film was also nominated at the Oscars in the Best Foreign language film category.