Javed Akhtar feared Lagaan would fail because of Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan REVEALS why

Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan, known for taking risks when it comes to his films, says making his 2001 period drama Lagaan was scary as people around him, including scriptwriter Javed Akhtar, warned him that it could be a box office failure. The period drama, which revolves around a villager who assembles a ragtag team to defeat the Britishers in a game of cricket to avoid paying triple the tax, went on to earn an Oscar nomination.

Speaking at India Today Conclave, on Friday, the actor recalled the time he was approached for the film by director Ashutosh Gowarikar. "It was a very scary film to make. Everyone was scared. Javed sir said the film would not work even for a day," he said.

Akhtar, who wrote the many hit songs of the movie, pointed out to Khan that films on sports did not do well and Lagaan has a long cricket sequence and the film featured a voice-over by megastar Amitabh Bachchan.

Akhtar said films featuring a voice-over by Amitabh Bachchan didn't do well at the box office, a fact that even the megastar pointed out to Khan.

"Mr Bachchan told me that. He said, 'Okay Aamir, I will become the narrator but in whichever films I have given the narration, those films never worked'," said Khan, recalling his conversation with Bachchan.

But to everyone's surprise, not only did the 2001 film surpass their box office expectations, it also won the 'Best Film Audience' award at the Locarno Film Festival. Later, it made it to the top five films at the Academy Awards nominations where No Man's Land won the top prize.

Aamir Khan said he and Gowarikar had a running joke between them, a line actually inspired by one of the dialogues in the movie. In that scene, his character, overcome with doubt in a temple, says "humne kono galti to nahi ki? (Did I make a mistake?."

"Ashu and I, we would exchange that line every time," Khan said, adding that the first cut of the movie was seven-and-a-half hours. The final cut was over three hours long.

"The whole journey of Lagaan was very exciting because I always believed in the story... But I remember before saying yes to the film, I was very scared. You all think I take the risk and I am a very brave person. I take the risk but I am equally scared and I make that fear my guide," he said.

(With PTI inputs)

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