Late Saroj Khan’s son Raju shares anecdotes of filming ‘Ghanan Ghanan’ from Aamir Khan’s ‘Lagaan’

Mumbai, June 19 (IANS) Choreographer Raju Khan, son of the late celebrated choreographer Saroj Khan, has spoken about the challenges he faced while shooting for the song “Ghanan Ghanan” from the 2001 Aamir Khan-starrer “Lagaan”.

Recalling his experience, Raju shared that the song was filmed during the early days of the Lagaan shoot and required extensive preparation despite tight timelines.

He said, “Kaafi stressful tha woh shoot. Jab pehli baar main set dekha, uske agle din hum gaana shoot kar rahe the. First day muhurat hua tha. Woh shot liya gaya tha jahan Yashoda maa, Aamir ki mom hai, woh kuaan se paani nikal rahi hai aur paani khatam ho chuka hai. Aur woh aasman ki taraf dekh ke, baarish aayi.”

(It was quite a stressful shoot. When I first saw the set, the very next day we were shooting a song. The first day was the muhurat (launch ceremony). The shot that was filmed showed Yashoda Maa, Aamir’s mother, drawing water from a well, but the well had run dry. Then she looked up at the sky, and it started to rain.)”

“That was the first shot taken of the Lagaan film. Aur uss hi din mujhe kaha gaya ki bahot bada set hai, jaake dekh lo set. Saare actors ke saath mila, extra primary cast. Aur phir woh gaana suna maine set par.”

(That was the very first shot filmed for Lagaan. And on that very day, I was told, ‘It’s a huge set, go and have a look around.’ I met all the actors, the extras, and the principal cast. And then, right there on the set, I heard that song for the first time.)

“Overnight humne planning kiya how it happened, even I don’t know. Approximately it took 8 days to film that song kyunki challenges toh baad mein aaye ki jab second half ke gaane mein jab baadal chhaate hai. Ab actual mein toh baadal nahi chhaate. Itne bade set ko cover karna impossible tha and you can’t show shadows because it’s overcast.”

(Overnight, we planned it all out how it happened, even I don’t know. It took approximately eight days to film that song because the real challenges came later, during the second half of the song when the clouds are supposed to gather. In reality, of course, clouds don’t appear on cue. Covering such a massive set was nearly impossible, and you couldn’t show any shadows because the scene was meant to look overcast.)

“Toh phir mujhe jo shots design karne pade, woh limited areas mein the, without showing the feet of the actresses. Aur plus mera plan yeh tha ki jitna maximum one-by-one shot le sakun, utna zyada interesting lagega gaana because itne saare actors hai,Unko saath mein laao, achha lagta hai. Alag-alag cut karke kuch matlab nahi hai. That was the challenge.”

(So I had to design the shots in a way that they were confined to limited areas, without showing the actresses’ feet. And I planned to capture as many one-by-one shots as possible because I felt that would make the song more engaging. There were so many actors involved, and bringing them together in the frame looked great. Simply cutting between separate shots wouldn’t have had the same impact. That was the real challenge.)

Raju shared that the second half of the song was shot almost entirely during sunset.

He continued, “Toh second half ka gaana aap dekhenge toh it is nearly during sunset when we have taken the shots, when the sun is gone and we have only about 45 minutes left for shoot. That is the time we could put the white, when there were no shadows. So it was quite a challenging job.”

(So if you watch the second half of the song, you’ll notice that it was filmed almost entirely during sunset—after the sun had gone down, when we had only about 45 minutes of shooting time left each day. That was the only time we could use the white covering because there were no harsh shadows. So it was quite a challenging job.)

Talking about Lagaan, the epic period sports drama is directed by Ashutosh Gowariker. The film also stars Gracy Singh, Rachel Shelley and Paul Blackthorne.

Set in 1893, during the late Victorian period of British colonial rule in India, the film follows the inhabitants of a village in Central India, who, burdened by high taxes and several years of drought, are challenged by an arrogant British Indian Army officer to a game of cricket as a wager to avoid paying the taxes they owe.

India’s Best Dancer Season 5 airs on Sony Entertainment Television and Sony LIV.

–IANS

dc/