Lagaan director Ashutosh Gowariker reveals the one ‘correction’ he’d make to the film in hindsight

Filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker has revealed the one ‘correction’ that he would want to make to Lagaan, were he to direct it today. The Oscar-nominated Lagaan, which starred Aamir Khan in the lead role, celebrated its 20th anniversary on Tuesday.

In an interview, Ashutosh Gowariker was asked if there was anything he’d want to add or remove from the film, if he were given the opportunity to make it today. He said that he would want to make one change in particular, but it would affect the film’s current 224-minute run time.

He told The Quint, “I would definitely make it exactly the way I made it, but there would be one ‘correction’ that I would like to do. And the correction is that when we made the film then, it was four hours and five minutes, the first cut that we had. And we had removed 18 or 20 minutes of an entire track, which was Captain Russell arresting the villagers and putting them behind bars, and framing them, and then Elizabeth coming and rescuing them.”

He continued, “It was a very interesting track, with a lot of romance that was entwined between the three of them — Bhuvan, Gauri, and Elizabeth. That had to go. Today if I have to make the film, I would somehow try to keep it inclusive of the three hours 44 minutes, so that audiences are able to enjoy that also, which is a tall order, but I would have loved to do that.”

Also read: Aamir Khan recalls ex-wife Reena Dutta scolding him on Lagaan sets: ‘Uss din itni daant padi’

Lagaan remains one of only three Indian films to have been nominated in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Oscars, the others being Mother India and Salaam Bombay!.

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