picture courtesy: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Two decades have been passed since the release of two legendary movies- Lagaan and Gadar. Both Lagaan and Gadar had released on 15th June 2000.
Even after a clash between the two, both were a big hit and became highly popular among the masses.
The Ashutosh Gowariker film, Lagaan won many awards including an Oscar nomination. While Gadar became the highest grossing film ever in Indian cinema at the time.
While talking about the fuss both the movies had made at the time, Director Anil Sharma said to BollywoodLife, “The date, 15th June 2000, was a festival for cinema. Lagaan was also a very good film, I had seen it in the theatre, really enjoyed it and clapped a lot – it was really a great film and brought India a lot of honour. So it had worked very well, Gadar had also worked very well and a festival atmosphere was created throughout India. If people used to watch the 12 pm show of Lagaan, they’d go and see the 3 pm show of Gadar, and if they’d watch the 12 pm show of Gadar, then they’d see the 3 om show of Lagaan (those days, only single theatres ran with fixed timings), making it a craze, a festival for cinema all over India, created a lot of love for cinema in the country, and motivated many people to make good films. So, it wasn’t as much a clash as it was a celebration.”
The Gadar director further added, “I wish that this happens every year, that we get two such films yearly, but films are not clashing anymore. Nowadays people are afraid to clash – either your film should come or mine is their thought. Those days, both makers were confident about their films and were so sure that forget two, even six films could release simultaneously and work, who’d want to see them, would see them. Today, too, people watch 6-8 episodes on OTT in a stretch at home during lockdown, so they still have the stamina to watch, they watch if they wish to. But, filmmaker don’t have the same confidence now, they want to make a whack with their initial in three days and be satisfied. Earlier, people used to look forward to their film running a minimum of 25 weeks, now they’re not even interested in them running for three weekend, why are they so scared? It’s not like we don’t have good filmmakers today, we do, but somehow that perception, that feel, that mindset has changed. But we’ve seen it can still happen with an Avenger and a Baahubali. People no longer have faith on their own capacity, their capacity only has become zero.”
Anil Sharma concluded by revealing his wish that the revival of celebration of the cinema must happen again every year, “I hope that those days of festivals and celebrations of cinema happen again every year, we all should hope that. At least, one film a year like Lagaan and Gadar should come on a Friday, where makers aren’t afraid which films they clash with. Instead, such films would compensate each other, hug each other and move forward, praise each other, and then you see how much fun everyone would have – public, cinema halls and the industry, all would have fun, that’s the atmosphere we need to create, that’s the dreamy atmosphere which had occurred between Lagaan and Gadar. I wish this atmosphere takes place at least once every year.”