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Aamir Khan starrer 'Lagaan' had a 30-minute long climax scene in which the Indians defeated the British team. Recently cinematographer Anil Mehta talked about that scene.
There were difficulties in shooting the climax of 'Lagaan'.
Cinematographer Anil Mehta revealed that the experience of shooting the climax of 'Lagaan' was very tiring. He said- We shot for 30 days. Shooting the same scene again and again became monotonous and tiring. However, my work was not about the cricket happening between two teams but to show the emotions of the players on the screen. The entire team had shared their views for a long time regarding the shooting of the cricket match.
Before starting the shooting of 'Lagaan', Ashutosh Gowariker (director of the film) had promised me that he would write a complete book. How to shoot the cricket match scene – this will also be written in detail in that book. Since this sequence was very important for the film, we all had to be prepared for it in advance. But that book was not written until a day or two before the filming of those scenes.
Anil Mehta told the intricacies of shooting the scene
The filmmakers of 'Lagaan' had to take leave to discuss and write scenes for the shooting of the film. Anil Mehta further said- The entire crew was sitting in the hotel for two days. We had to take leave for two days. Because we had to write the climax scene in detail and then discuss every aspect of the scene.
Ashutosh Gowarikar, Aamir Khan and the team's supporting director and writer were sitting together. To understand how to create the scene. That climax scene was written on the set itself.
There was a debate on shooting cricket scenes in the film and not sports coverage.
Anil Mehta further said- It was necessary that the cricket match scene be planned in detail. You have to write down the calculation of each ball, otherwise you will not be able to show it properly.
Actually, the film team had thought of installing 8 cameras for this scene but Anil Mehta had decided that he would shoot this scene with only one camera. He said- That day we had just one working camera and one extra camera. There was a huge debate regarding the filming of the climax scene. It had to be reiterated again and again that we were not showing sports coverage but sports scenes in the film. This matter was being discussed till the day of shooting.
