‘Madness in the Desert’ — An exhilarating documentary about the making of ‘Lagaan’ — the film that changed Indian cinema forever

Just watched ‘Madness in the Desert’ on Netflix. A 140 minutes documentary on the making of ‘Lagaan’ by Satyajit Bhatkal who was on the unit (whose wife Svati made the incredible ‘Rubaru Roshni’).

From the script nearly getting shelved, to Aamir Khan deciding to make it his first production, to his wife Reena being made Producer with zero film experience, to building a village from scratch in Bhuj, to getting a crew of 400+ to spend 6 months in the desert, to furnishing an entire building to house 300 people because Bhuj didn’t have hotels of that capacity, to getting 10,000 villagers for a 1-day shoot, to a British Actor dislocating his shoulder while enacting a runout, to the Director Ashutosh Gowariker shooting for a month on a bed as he suffered a slip disc, to the film’s budget going double of what was planned, to all schedules going haywire, to everything they built and treasured getting destroyed just a month later in a harrowing earthquake, to the release and eventual euphoric success of that magnum opus in that era! I had goosebumps and was in tears multiple times throughout the film.

Amongst the best documentaries I’ve ever watched, it strangely didn’t scare me one bit, it only inspired me further for the career I’ve chosen to pursue!

I feel guilty of not having watched this gem for so long, very strongly recommended, watch it ASAP!