'The bus left without Aamir Khan': Raghubir Yadav's memories of Lagaan 25 years on

Dubai: Twenty-five years after Lagaan made history as one of the most ambitious films ever produced in India, Raghubir Yadav who played Bhura in the film is still carrying the it with him. Quite literally, as it turns out.

In an interview with SCREEN, the veteran actor opened up about what it was actually like to spend six months in the scorching heat of Gujarat's Kutch district, shooting one of the most celebrated films of his career. What emerged was a portrait of a set unlike any other, one held together by discipline, equality and a bond that Yadav says is almost impossible to find in the industry today.

"I am able to remember the heat as the very first thing," he said. "We were there for around six months, from January to June. We got so tanned while shooting the film. But I am also reminded of how it never felt like we were shooting a movie. We all were like a family. Aamir Khan had gathered us all together. You see such a bond very less now. There was no big or small, everyone was an equal on that set."

The bus that waited for no one

That equality extended all the way to the morning commute. Every day, without exception, the cast and crew left for the shoot together by bus at 4am. The rule was simple: if you missed the bus, you found your own way.

"The bus never waited for anyone," said Yadav. "It used to leave on time. Once, Aamir Khan also got late. The rule was the same for all of us, no special treatment. The bus left and then he took a favour from cameraman Anil and came with him on his vehicle."

The bus timing was only part of a broader culture of discipline that director Ashutosh Gowariker had built into the shoot from the beginning. In a previous interview, Gowariker revealed that a fine system was in place for latecomers, with a small amount deducted from anyone who showed up after the designated time. Yadav confirmed he personally escaped the fine, but suspected his co-star was not quite so lucky.

"No, I was saved. Aamir Khan must have gotten fined though. A little amount was deducted, I think. Maybe Rs 500, nothing more than that. But the aim of that rule was to make people feel ashamed, because everyone then was aware that this person was late," he said.

An appendix removed in the middle of the desert

Yadav's most visceral memory of Lagaan, however, has nothing to do with cricket or the British or the monsoon-soaked finale. It has to do with a doctor, a new medical instrument and a surgery that did not quite go to plan.

Mid-shoot, Yadav developed food poisoning that escalated into something more serious. The unit had a doctor on standby, who determined that his appendix needed to come out. What followed was a procedure that apparently the entire Lagaan team watched on a monitor.

"The doctor had a new medical instrument and he claimed it would solve the problem within 15 minutes. He wanted to flaunt it, but he was not able to do it even after cutting three holes in my stomach," Yadav recalled. "He then put one more cut of around four to five inches and removed my appendix. For a moment, the doctor said I should be taken to Bombay for the procedure. Aamir denied and asked him to do it there only."

The recovery was slow and painful. "After that, I was in a bad condition for around four to five days. In the Radha Kaise Na Jale song, I was just lying on the cot. It took a good 15 to 20 days for me to feel better."

The scar never fully faded, in more ways than one. "Lagaan is still in my body, my stomach. I still remember the film when I see that scar."