Aamir Khan says Lagaan cast would begin their day with Gayatri Mantra every day: People wanted English songs, I insisted

Aamir Khan recalled his memories of Lagaan during the film's screening at the Red Lorry Film Festival in Mumbai. Here's what he said.

Actor Aamir Khan recently attended the screening of his 2001 hit Lagaan at the Red Lorry Film Festival in Mumbai. While there, he spoke about how each day, the film’s cast would begin their day with a Gayatri Mantra. He said this while recollecting his memories of shooting the Ashutosh Gowariker film 25 years ago.

Aamir Khan at the screening of Lagaan during the Red Lorry Film Festival in Mumbai. (AFP)

Aamir Khan about Lagaan cast beginning day with Gayatri Mantra

Speaking about how they would listen to Gayatri Mantra instead of English songs on the way to set everyday, Aamir said, “Akhilendra Mishra (who played Arjan) would play Gayatri Mantra when we would travel in the bus. Some people wanted to listen to English songs, but I insisted we listen to the Gayatri Mantra. For six months, we would listen to it every day before reaching the shoot location.”

He stated that listening to the chant every day helped them get into a meditative state of mind. “When you go to work, it's important to understand, to know the state of mind we are in. In the bus, it would be dark, as we would travel before the sun would rise, and we would listen to Gayatri Mantra,” said the actor. He also spoke about the love the film received, stating that watching the last ten minutes makes him emotional. “Everyone works hard work but very few films get this kind of love and respect,” he said.

However, Aamir says that if he were to do something different now, he would opt for an unshaven look for his character, Bhuvan, and speak pure Awadhi, like Dilip Kumar in Ganga Jamuna.

About Lagaan

Lagaan tells the story of a villager, played by Aamir, who assembles a ragtag team to defeat the Britishers in a cricket match to avoid paying triple the tax. The film received widespread acclaim and commercial success upon release. It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Aamir rejected the Lagaan script several times before giving the nod, after his father, Tahir Hussain, advised him not to forgo a good script. Lagaan also featured Gracy Singh, Rachel Shelley, Suhasini Mulay, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Rajendra Gupta and Raghubir Yadav, among others.

Recent work

Aamir's last lead role was in the 2025 film Sitaare Zameen Par, which he also produced, and he also appeared in a cameo in Rajinikanth’s Coolie. He produced Happy Patel: Khatarnak Jasoos this year and has his son, Junaid Khan and Sai Pallavi’s film, Ek Din, coming up as a producer, apart from Sunny Deol and Preity Zinta’s Lahore 1947.