Ashutosh Gowariker went to shoot Lagaan with full head of hair, returned bald: Anurag Kashyap

He then added, “First thing was the way they were shooting the film. We heard that they were doing sync sound, and sync sound was something that was absent at that time. I think it restarted with Lagaan, and Dil Chahta Hai.” Kashyap said the film’s technical and production approach had a profound impact on him as well. “And I was very determined when I was doing Paanch, I said I also want to do sync sound. The way they went about the film changed a lot of things in this industry. A very organized way of shooting, controlling your budgets, the process of making that film has taught the whole industry a lot.”

He also revealed that Lagaan was one of the most anticipated films within the industry during its production. “I think six to eight months of shooting, and we were waiting for Lagaan to finish and come out for I think more than a year. Sitting at Prithvi at that time, Aamir was producer of the play that I was doing with Makarand Deshpande and the whole team that had gone into Lagaan.” Recalling the first time he watched the film, Kashyap said, “When the film came out, I went first day at Gaiety Galaxy to watch it and we were very scared. Like it’s three hours and forty minutes long film, how will this happen, what will happen? We had heard a lot of stories. But when we went into the film, we suddenly, like by the midpoint, found ourselves not just being an audience to the film, but we were spectators in the film, and we were cheering for the team.

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‘This is going to the Oscars’

He said he was certain the film would go all the way to the Oscars. “And when Kachra comes to bowl and all that, we were like literally off our seats. And I was literally excited and I said this film is going to go to the Oscars.” Kashyap also said he was delighted to see Lagaan gain traction despite releasing alongside Gadar. “And that was like a joke. And then after that we heard that it was screening at Locarno at Piazza Grande, and from that screening the noise that it created was something else. And we were very happy because you know the film had released with Gadar. And most of the mainstream popular audience was going for Gadar. And for us, we were like rooting for Lagaan. We were happy that Gadar is doing very well, but we were rooting so much for Lagaan. And we wanted it to expand, but because of the duration of the film, it did not have more than three shows.”

Reflecting on the film’s enduring legacy, he said, “But it was always like you’re in the stadium watching, you’re in the film. And this was the first film that had that kind of an impact in a very, very long time. If Lagaan had not worked, then we as filmmakers would not have been able to make films like Wasseypur and all. That kind of duration, length, like if you hold on to the story of the film and you don’t feel like it’s three hours and forty minutes. Today the industry that we are working in are like children of Lagaan in a way.”