Lagaan Actor Amin Hajee Bagha Career Destroyed Swades Co Writer Ashutosh Gowariker

While director Ashutosh Gowariker’s Lagaan (2001) became a landmark movie in the history of Indian cinema and marked a turning point in the careers of pretty much everyone associated with it, it wasn’t exactly the case for actor Amin Hajee, who still believes the Aamir Khan-starrer “destroyed” him. However, it isn’t that the epic period sports drama did any harm to him per se, but rather raised the bar for him so high that even he couldn’t surpass it later.

Although it’s been 25 years since the movie hit the screens, Amin still believes that he never received a role as impactful as Lagaan’s Bagha, the mute drummer, afterwards. “The truth is, Lagaan destroyed me,” he said during a conversation with news agency PTI.

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The actor then quoted verses from legendary composer-singer Jagjit Singh’s “Hazaron Khwahishein Aisi” to elaborate on his situation. “Hazaron khwahishein aisi ke har khwahish pe dam nikle… Bohat niklay mere armaan, lekin phir bhi kam nikle (Thousands of desires, each worth dying for… Many of them I have realised, yet I yearn for more),” he noted.

Though Amin kept receiving offers after Lagaan, he pointed out that none of them, be it his character or the whole subject, was even remotely as good as the Aamir Khan-starrer. “Once Lagaan was done… I didn’t even want to act… I was getting offers, but neither the script nor my character arrived even a mile near Lagaan. At one point, Ashutosh and my wife Charlotte asked me, ‘Then what will you do from now on?’ So I said, ‘You tell me,’ because I didn’t want to do this (whatever he was receiving),” Amin said.

He continued, “I basically didn’t want to spoil the respect I had earned. Plus, I’m not a great actor. I managed to give a good performance thanks to Lagaan’s script, director, and the team. They all helped me.” Amin was scared that he would be exposed on other sets and people would ‘realise’ that he isn’t a great actor.

Seeing this, director Ashutosh made a proposal and asked if Amin would be interested in writing a movie with him, which was none other than the Shah Rukh Khan-led Swades (2004). “Will you write Desh with me?” the director asked him.

Amin said, “It was called Desh then. I asked, ‘Ashu, every writer in the world would give their right arm to work with you, and you’re asking me?’ He replied, ‘You’re a great bouncing board. You’re honest, and I have narrated scripts to you. You have worked on Lagaan with me, given me your reactions. I think you’ll do a great job. Why don’t you think of becoming a co-writer with me on Swades?’ I was not ready to believe it.”

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He added, “I didn’t act after that as much. I’ve done a handful of films. But I became a writer because of Lagaan and Ashutosh. Then, by the grace of the universe, I directed my first film, Koi Jaane Na (2021). So, Lagaan has really been a great university for me. It didn’t teach me about other things; it taught me about cinema.”

Amin Hajee also co-wrote movies such as Haunted – 3D (2011) and Dangerous Ishq (2012), both directed by Vikram Bhatt.