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Actor Yashpal Sharma is fondly looking back at the period when he shot for Lagaan in the scorching heat of Bhuj, Gujarat for about six months at a stretch. The movie was released 20 years ago on June 15.
Actor Yashpal Sharma tells he wouldn’t have played any other character but Lakha in Lagaan, even if given a chance. “The two main roles of hero and villain – Bhuvan and Captain Andrew Russell, were already given to Aamir Khan and Paul Blackthorne. After that, the only character that was worth doing was Lakha,” Sharma exclusively told indianexpress.com.
“Lagaan’s casting had already been done. It was only in the end that I got a call from Aamir Khan Productions. I thought someone was playing a prank. But I got to know Ashutosh Gowariker wanted to see me. I met him at Aamir’s office and in four hours, he narrated the entire story to me while walking around the room. I’ll never forget that because you won’t find a director who’s injected the story so deeply inside him, that he didn’t even look at the script,” Sharma said while recollecting how he was amazed at Gowariker’s clarity about the story.
Lakha, a woodcutter, was one of the central men of the village, who had his eyes on Gauri (Gracy Singh) and did everything to impress her.