Apparently Roland Joffe(The Killing Fields) and Peter Rawley are the ones helping out Aamir Khan with getting as many academy members to see the movie as possible.

Roland Joffe has been signed on by a Mumbai company to direct a bilingual movie called 'The Invaders' (Ranangan in Marathi). Peter Rawley is the executive producer. Aamir Khan met Joffe at the launch party in Mumbai and they spoke about LAGAAN's chances at the Oscars. After Joffe saw the movie he suggested Aamir camp out in LA. He suggested couple of publicity companies as well.

BTW 'The Invaders' is a movie based on a battle prior to the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 wherein the Marathas waged and won a battle against the British. This is all chronicled in various library material in Britain. Extensive research was carried out before a 1500 page script was written. The same has not been pruned to a decent size and will be used for shooting the film.

Oh BTW Ashutosh Gowariker typed most of the drafts of LAGAAN in the offices of the people producing 'The Invaders'. He has even starred in an earlier production of theirs in Marathi called 'Sarkarnaama' in a special appearance. This was how he and Aamir were both invited to the launch party. Which is also why Aamir may star in the movie.

All this from reliable industry sources.

Phew that was one hell of a lot of information off my chest.



Edited By Aarkayne on Mar. 07 2002 at 13:20

OscarWatch has stamped LAGAAN as a possible surprise of the night.

which article on Osacarwatch says this? Can you post the complete URL please? thanks

If you click on the url link I've provided above, that is the direct link. Look at the side of your screen once you enter oscarwatch.com and read the catagories and its coloured legend(s) at the top.

Oscar's foreign-lingo bingo

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - It's an interesting premise for an Oscar campaign: make sure your film is seen by as few voters as possible.

Some rivals are claiming Sony Pictures Classics is using this technique in the foreign-language film race this year for its two contenders, India's "Lagaan" and Argentina's "Son of the Bride."

Sony Classics denies these charges. But the naysayers claim they're not mad at the studio: they want to see a change in Oscar rules.

Click here for more on Yahoo Oscar News

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm....scars_9

Roger Ebert talks a little bit about LAGAAN.
"Q. This year is a special one for us Indians as "Lagaan" has been nominated in the Best Foreign Film Category of the Academy Awards. Indians all over the world are ecstatic as a result. Though Indians have loved the film, I wonder how American audience and critics will react.

Yousuf Hussain,

Farmington Hills, Mich.

A. Bollywood--the Bombay Hollywood--is the world's largest producer of films, but has never cracked the U.S. market. "Lagaan," a film about how a cricket match helps settle a potentially bloody dispute over land and taxes, has been a worldwide hit, and is setting box office records in its U.S. engagements in theaters aimed at Indian moviegoers. Now it's been picked up by Sony Classics for American distribution. How will it go over? At the recent Floating Film Festival, conducted by Toronto Film Festival co-founder Dusty Cohl, it was the first film to ever win first prize both from the audience members and the critics' panel.

I bet Ebert will give it four stars.

SONY Classics has bought the rights to LAGAAN and will be releasing it in May in Theatres..
http://www.sonyclassics.com/popup/index-synopsis.html

The film is getting really popular and I hope so inroder for the world to see that Indian cinema isn't as shit as its steroytyped to be.

Also if the film becomes a blockbuster in USA (No indian film has ever been decleared in the US market - except for Gandhi) then American studios could become more active in Indian film prodcutions. They have already improved Hong Kong Cinema as it is

Here's Aamir's interview in LA acknowledging Roland Joffe's help. I paste it from TNT Movies today, since it requires a login to be able to view it.


Interviews



Actor-producer Aamir Khan took some time off his Lagaan campaign in L.A. to speak to TNT Movies.

By Anil Padmanabhan


The Wyndham Hotel in West Hollywood is the Lagaan team's base. And at the helm of it all, of course, is actor-producer Aamir Khan. TNT Movies snatched a few moments from his manic schedule for a chat:

How is it going?

It's going well. Basically, we are trying to get as many members to see it. That's what we did in the first round and let the film do the talking. It did matter to the viewers at that point of time that we did not have a big distributor (That was in January, when Sony Classics was yet to come in as a distributor; the movie is being released in the mainstream theatres in the US in May this year; last year it was only shown in Indian theaters.)

What is Roland Joffe's role and did he make any recent statements on Lagaan?

He really liked the movie and has advised us a great deal. I am not aware whether he has made any public statements recently favouring Lagaan.

Have you scheduled some private screenings to ensure that more Academy members can see Lagaan?

Neither my director nor I can be present at any of the screenings. Sony Classics is holding the additional screenings. They have scheduled two at this point. We could have scheduled more, but it may not be practical to have too many. Because there is not much time left. I would look at another five or six additional screenings. (Officially, the Academy has stepped up the number of screenings this year. It is five in L.A., two in New York and one in London.)

What has the campaign cost you so far?

Since Sony took over as distributor, they are bearing all the costs. Till our nomination into the top five, we must have spent about $50,000. This would cover the costs of screenings, advertisements and general publicity.

Have you given any interviews to trade journals like Variety?

I have given six interviews so far. They include USA Today, Variety and Hollywood Reporter.

What kind of questions have they posed?

There is a lot of curiosity about Indian cinema. Some questions are on that and some on the film.



Edited By Aarkayne on Mar. 14 2002 at 12:12

That was such a short interview and not at all insightful.
Any links to Variety and Hollywood Reporter interviews? Or any other web material?

Sunil Dutt talks a little bit on Lagaan, and remembers the time during Mother India's nomination at the Oscars in 1957

Read about Sunil Dutt's Article Here

hey guys

here's a site devoted to Lagaan's success at the Oscar's!

http://www.hindustantimes.com/htoscar20 ... page.shtml

have fun!

Raj

Here are two more sites devoted to Lagaan's success at the Oscars
http://www.rediff.com/entertai/2002/feb/13spec.htm
http://www.ndtv.com/quiz/aamir.asp

Just to let you know that CT's Lagaan is also available on R3 (Asia pacific) released by Alliance video.