Aamir Khan celebrates the 10 years of Lagaan

Aamir Khan celebrates the 10 years of <i>Lagaan</i> Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan

Aamir Khan Productions and its most notable production Lagaan turned 10 on Wednesday. On the occasion, Aamir Khan threw a bash and invited the people who have been associated with all his film productions till date.

So, the likes of Amitabh Bachchan, Javed Akhtar, Ashutosh Gowarikar and the actors and directors of other films were there, though Amol Gupte (the creative director of Taare Zameen Par) and Anusha Rizvi (the director of Peepli [Live]) were not invited.

Describing the celebration as a trip ‘down memory lane’, Aamir Khan said he was deeply touched by the presence at the party of those people who have worked with his company.

Don’t miss the complete photo gallery of Aamir Khan’s Lagaan bash

Recalling the experience of making Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India, Aamir said he was impressed by the film’s script. Aamir also recalled how director Ashutosh Gowarikar was in two minds about roping in Amitabh Bachchan for the introductory voiceover. First, Gowarikar asked Aamir to approach Amitabh Bachchan. But when Aamir did, Gowarikar said he wasn’t sure about using Big B’s voice because everyone was too familiar with it.

“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,” Aamir said.

But then Ashutosh changed his mind again and decided that he wanted Amitabh Bachchan for the voice over.

Aamir recalled: “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.”

Lyricist Javed Akhtar recalled that when he first heard about the project, he was convinced it was a sure-shot flop. He even tried to persuade Aamir and Ashutosh not to go ahead with Lagaan.

“I was shocked when Ashutosh Gowarikar narrated me the script. It had a long list of don’ts 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,” Javed said.

Today, we all know that Lagaan is among the best films of Indian cinema. It got nominated for the Oscars, though could not win the golden man.