Aamir Khan says believed in script of 'Lagaan' but was scared to say yes

New Delhi: Bollywood actor Aamir Khan, who is known for taking risks with his films, admits that making his 2001 period drama "Lagaan" was scary because many around him, including script writer Javed Akhtar, warned him that it would be a box office disaster.

The period drama, which follows a villager who forms a ragtag team to defeat British cricketers in order to avoid paying triple the tax, received 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 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 to the top five films at the Academy Awards nominations where "No Man's Land" won the top prize.

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 of 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.

Khan said he is someone who cannot sleep at night before the release of his films.

"I become sleepless and I start bothering people around me. I don't let anyone sleep. I need company at that time. Before the release, I am very stressed. In fact, the more excited I am about the film, the more stressed I become," he said.

The actor also spoke about "Andaz Apna Apna", a comedy that has gained cult status over the years. Besides Khan, the film featured Salman Khan, Karisma Kapoor and Raveena Tandon.

The actor said Raveena and Karisma did not get on well during the shooting of the movie that was directed by Rajkumar Santoshi.

"I don't know whether I should say this but something was going on between Raveena and Karisma at the time. So when Raveena would come, Karisma would leave and when Karishma would come, Raveena would leave... The film was completed with a lot of difficulty but I always believed in that film," he said.

Aamir said that though both he and Salman were very popular at the time, the film did not do well in theatres.

"And then suddenly over time I realised (that) in home entertainment, everyone is watching it. I believe it is the number one home entertainment film. Every generation has seen it, every generation wants to show it to the next generation," he said.

Asked about his parenting style, Khan, a father of three, said the main factor for him is that his children go after their goals rather than competing in the race of becoming the first.

"I have always wanted my child to be happy... I feel we all are blessed with multiple intelligences and unfortunately we measure intelligence essentially through reading and writing," he said.

Khan's another hit film, "3 Idiots", directed by Rajkumar Hirani, was also a project he thought he would not agree to.

He said that though he liked the film's script instantly, he thought that as someone in his 40s he was old to portray an 18-year-old college student.

But it was Hirani's vision that eventually made the actor take on the film.

"He kept giving me one reason, he said, 'you (Aamir) have lived the entire theme'. His theme was 'don't chase success, chase excellence'." The actor said he drew inspiration for his character in the film from two individuals -- A R Murugadoss, the director of his film "Ghajini", whom he described as a "filterless person" and his nephew, who would never remain static.

Khan will be seen next in "Sitaare Zameen Par", a sequel to his 2007 critically acclaimed directorial debut "Taare Zameen Par".

With PTI inputs