Kiran Rao Makes SHOCKING Confessions About Working in Aamir Khan’s Lagaan: ‘It Was a Nightmare…’

Kiran Rao opened up about working in Aamir Khan’s Lagaan. The filmmaker was one of the assistant directors on the Oscar nominated film. In a new interview, Kiran opened up about her experience on sets and said that she was given the task to ensure the actors have reached for their hair and make-up. She revealed she would have to ensure they were in their vanity vans by 4:30 and added that it was a ‘nightmare experience’.

“My job was to somehow get all the actors from makeup, hair, wardrobe to set. And in Lagaan, we had two cricket teams, plus everybody had beards, the women wore dresses. It was a nightmare. Before reaching set at 4-4:30 am, I’d be on my walkie telling them to put the toaster on. The actor who played Elizabeth (Rachel Shelley) wanted toast first thing in the morning,” she said, speaking with The Lallantop.

The director added that there were days she would wonder what was she doing on the sets of the film, espcially after having a degree from Jamia Millia Islamia. “I would be sitting in the makeup room and wondering what I was doing with my Masters in Mass Communication from Jamia. But finally, everybody has to put in their hours in all these places. But you hope that one day you leave the makeup room and find a spot near the monitor. Unfortunately, I didn’t even get to see much of the shoot, I spent most of my time in the makeup room,” she added.

She recalled that the first cut of Lagaan was four hours long and that too without the cricket portions. “We didn’t know how they’d cut it down. We thought that this would easily be a six-hour film,” she recalled. Lagaan eventually released with a runtime of 3 hours and 44 minutes. The film was a hit and was also nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.

Meanwhile, Kiran made her debut with Dhobi Ghat in 2010 and recently released Laapataa Ladies.