‘Kicked Ronit Roy, he wouldn't let me leave without Aamir Khan on Lagaan shoot', recalls Apoorva Lakhia: ‘Aamir reached 90 minutes late, wasn't angry'

Indian Express

a day ago

Aamir Khan-starrer Lagaan was a mammoth project when it was shot in the year 2000. Directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, the film was shot in Bhuj, Gujarat, and it was with this film, that Aamir introduced Bollywood to a new style of making movies. He waned to film the picture in one go, and so, he hired Apoorva Lakhia as an assistant director because he had experience in Hollywood. This was Aamir's first production and he wanted to implement some new rules while filming and insisted that the unit adhere to strict discipline as they continue to shoot. Apoorva was the man in-charge for this. In a recent interview, Apoorva shared that the first rule he wanted to implement was punctuality and so he decided that everyone would be brought to the set in a bus, and the bus won't wait for anyone for more than five minutes. On the third day, Apoorva decided to leave Aamir behind because he was late.
In a chat shared on the YouTube channel Cyrus Says, Apoorva recalled that he had direct guidelines from Aamir that he could do anything to make things stricter. 'I told them no cars, just one bus. Everyone travels in a bus, no one gets a car. Anyone who is late for the bus, the bus will not wait for them for more than five minutes. Aamir was late on the third day. I thank god Aamir was late on the third day,' he shared.
Apoorva Lakhia said that he decided to leave Aamir Khan behind but others in the bus felt like this would result in Apoorva getting fired. 'Ronit Roy was doing security. He refused to shut the door and the entire bus was looking at me to see that what is he going to do now? Let's see how he leaves Aamir behind,' he recalled and added, 'I gave a kick to Ronit Roy and he fell outside the door. We started the bus and ran from there. The entire unit and cast was looking at me and I remember Yashpal Sharma said, 'Kal Bombay bhai (Brother, you'll be in Bombay tomorrow).' So I said, 'It's okay if that is the situation, I'll leave, at least people will remember me.'
Apoorva said that since there was no other transport available, Aamir reached the set 90 minutes later. 'He didn't say anything to me. He wasn't angry. That was his way of saying, 'good,'' he recalled. Apoorva said that on the fifth day, actor Gracy Singh was also late, and she too, was left behind.
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Apoorva Lakhia shared that the scheduled that was supposed to last for almost six months, went on for almost one year, and they had to be in the desert during that time. He recalled that the film's first cut was roughly 5 hours 30 minutes as they had shot night cricket, which was later reduced to just one montage, and two innings of the match, which was all cut down.
Lagaan was one of the biggest hits of the year 2001. The film was also nominated at the Oscars in the Best Foreign Language Film category.