Aamir Khan says Lagaan’s budget doubled from Rs 12 to 25 crore; recalls chaos over 3,000 extras: ‘Team upset I sided with Ashutosh Gowariker’

Aamir Khan has confessed that handling the budget for Lagaan was one of the toughest challenges of his career. The actor, who not only headlined the 2001 classic but also produced it, revealed that the film cost him twice the original estimate. He admitted, “I can’t make films on budget. Lagaan’s budget was Rs 12 crore, but it exceeded Rs 25 crore.”

Chaos over 3,000 extras

Recounting a moment that pushed the film’s expenses further, Aamir said director Ashutosh Gowariker initially demanded 2,000 background actors. But on the day of the shoot, he realised he needed 1,000 more. The production team was furious with Aamir for siding with the director, especially since the 2,000 extras still had to be paid despite not being used.

The actor recalled how they ended up losing half a day of shoot because of it. His then-wife Reena Dutta had asked him what they should do, and he told her, half in jest, that they might as well play cricket.

‘I’ve never been in budget’

Aamir admitted that his creative instincts have always come at the cost of numbers. “My decisions lie towards the creator. I am unable to stick to a budget. That’s one of my weaknesses because other producers are strict, and they tell them to stick to the budget no matter what. But till today, I have never been in budget,” he said while speaking to Komal Nahta on his YouTube channel Game Changers, adding that Aparna Purohit now oversees financial control at Aamir Khan Productions.

Producing out of compulsion

Khan also revealed he turned producer “out of compulsion” because he wanted to protect Ashutosh Gowariker’s vision from interference. As a producer, he introduced systems that were new to Hindi cinema—walkie-talkies, the assistant director structure, shooting in one schedule, and sync sound, which hadn’t been attempted in mainstream films before.



Even security became a major part of production. “I remember there never used to be security on set and junior artistes would be asked to man the set. But during the making of Lagaan, I called Ronit Roy for the security of the film set. We had 150 security guards during filming of Lagaan. Because I was the producer, I could do things that I believed in,” Aamir said.