Aamir Khan on 20 years of 'Lagaan': Film gave us happiness, memories and relationships

In the clip, the 56-year-old actor was a dressed as an army officer, his new look for upcoming drama Laal Singh Chaddha for which he is currently shooting.Khan thanked Gowariker, the cast and crew of Lagaan and seniors from the industry who supported the film.

Superstar Aamir Khan on Tuesday said making his blockbuster ''Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India'' 20 years ago was an unforgettable experience as the film later paid the team endless dividends for the efforts they put in. Directed by Ashutosh Gowariker and produced by Khan, the film scripted history at the box office and earned massive critical acclaim upon its release on June 15, 2001. ''Lagaan'' (Tax) follows the story of Bhuvan (Khan), a villager from Champaner, Gujarat, who is challenged by an arrogant British officer, played by Paul Blackthorne, to a game of cricket, as a wager to avoid paying the taxes they owe.

In a video posted on the official Instagram page of Aamir Khan Productions, the actor quipped that the film was so challenging to shoot that it ensured it recovered ''full Lagaan'' from the cast and crew. ''It's a day of immense happiness for us. 'Lagaan' was a film that made sure we paid our 'Lagaan' in full. ''It was an extremely difficult film to make, we faced a lot of challenges and the film recovered a lot of 'Lagaan' from us but it gave us back that much too- happiness, memories, relationships,'' Khan said in the video. In the clip, the 56-year-old actor was a dressed as an army officer, his new look for upcoming drama ''Laal Singh Chaddha'' for which he is currently shooting.

Khan thanked Gowariker, the cast and crew of ''Lagaan'' and seniors from the industry who ''supported the film''. ''The journey started with Ashutosh, then I joined and finally the audience. The journey is still on. I want to thank all of you. The film has given me a lot, for which I'm grateful.'' The actor said he was looking forward to virtually meet the ''Lagaan'' team on Tuesday night. ''When I pack up and go home, the 'Lagaan' team will meet virtually. It'll be a lot of fun, I'm looking forward to that. Thank you,'' he added. ''Lagaan'' composer AR Rahman later took to Twitter and posted a picture of the virtual video meet, which featured Khan, Gowariker, actors Paul Blackthorne, Rachel Shelley, Akhilendra Mishra, Suhasini Mulay, Pradeep Singh Rawat and Yashpal Sharma. ''#20YearsOfLagaan an emotional and proud team!'' Rahman captioned. An ensemble drama, ''Lagaan'' also featured Gracy Singh, Raj Zutshi, Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Raghubir Yadav.

The movie represented India in the best foreign language film category at the 74th Academy Awards. It was the third film from the country to be nominated in the category after ''Mother India'' (1957) and ''Salaam Bombay!'' (1988).

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