Aamir Khan and Ashutosh Gowariker had a fascinating conversation about their iconic film Lagaan (2001) on day 1 of the Red Lorry Film Festival 2026. The host asked the duo about their Oscar journey and the reaction of the foreign press.
They were asked to react to the report by The Daily Telegraph, which described Lagaan as a film that portrayed the British as ruthless sadists. Ashutosh Gowariker said, “It was not true. In the film, there was one eccentric Englishman who was trying to be nasty to the locals. But at the same time, you had fair umpires while his senior officers were trying to correct the wrongs of the young officer. And his sister was the biggest support for the villagers.” Aamir added, “So, in our minds, it was never like that. Woh uss writer ki insecurity thi!”
When asked how much he was inspired by B R Chopra’s Naya Daur (1957), Ashutosh clarified, “Actually, that is a myth. I was not inspired by Naya Daur. I had not even seen the film at that time. I took inspiration from my childhood memories of going to my hometown, Kolhapur, visiting the farmlands, looking at how farmers lived etc.”
He added, “We had held a screening of Lagaan for B R Chopra saab. He was in a wheelchair at that time. It was probably one of the last films that he saw. His son Ravi ji was there too. Aamir wasn’t there as he was out of Mumbai on a shoot. Chopra saab just loved the film. He felt that the village life depicted in the film had not been captured on screen before. Much later, I saw Naya Daur and realized that the obvious comparison was the race between a truck and a bullock cart. It was a plot of man against machine. It was a different kind of film.”
At this point, Aamir Khan surprised the audience as he said, “Lagaan is more like an Asterix comic, if you ask me!”
Ashutosh Gowariker added, “It is not ‘like Asterix’, Lagaan is Asterix. In Asterix, you had one small village fighting the Roman Empire. Here, we have one small Indian village fighting the British Empire.”
Aamir continued, “Also, half of the villagers are fighting amongst themselves, like Bhura and Goli used to fight. For me, it was a little bit more like Asterix than anything else.”
Asterix was a French comic and Ashutosh Gowariker remarked, “Our film also did very well in France!”
More Pages: Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India Box Office Collection , Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India Movie Review
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