Aamir Khan, Ashutosh Gowariker Share Hilarious Lagaan Story at Red Lorry Film Festival

Aamir Khan and Ashutosh Gowariker had a captivating conversation about their iconic film Lagaan (2001) on day 1 of the Red Lorry Film Festival 2026. The two industry stalwarts shared a heartwarming and hilarious anecdote about the struggles they faced in getting the film on floors.

Ashutosh Gowariker began by saying, “Aamir and I go back a long way and there’s a certain honesty that we share. When he heard Lagaan’s story premise, he rejected it at first.” Aamir interrupted, “Let me tell them what I said. I told him, ‘Ashu, teri do flop film ho chuki hai. Ab tu teesri ki planning kar raha hai’!”

The audience laughed. Aamir continued, “He had told me the one-liner, baarish nahin hui hai, lagaan cancel karne ke liye cricket khelte hai. I told him, ‘Ashu, kya baat kar raha hai’.” Aamir then stated, “He was disappointed. Three months later, he called me. In those days, there were landlines. He told me that he had a complete script with dialogues ready. I agreed to hear it. I then asked him, ‘I hope it’s not the same cricket story?’”. He told me, ‘Tu sunn toh le’. I declined saying, ‘You wasted three months on this script. I am not going to waste even three hours listening to it’. But he persisted and I agreed. Then, when I heard the script, it just blew my mind.”

Aamir Khan revealed, “Even then, I didn’t say yes. I told him, ‘It’s an amazing script. But it’s so unusual for mainstream Indian cinema. Get me a producer who believes in it and believes in you. Don’t tell him that I liked the script. When you bring that person to me, I’ll sign the film’. That challenge lasted 1 ½ or 2 years. He went to everyone in the industry.”

Aamir Khan brought the house down as he said, “One producer told Ashutosh, ‘End mein action daal de. Bhuvan should remove the stump and beat up Captain Russel’!”

The host asked Aamir who this producer was. Both Aamir and Ashutosh refused to name the filmmaker. Aamir reasoned, “We don’t want to hurt people’s feelings.”

Their conversation is a testament to the power of perseverance and collaboration in bringing a groundbreaking film like Lagaan to life.