In 2001 the epic sports drama Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India made it to the big screens. Little did director Ashutosh Gowariker know that the film would turn out to be a huge hit and even after decades people would re-watch it whenever they got the chance. The movie was set in 1893 and depicted how a group of Indians who had no knowledge of cricket managed to defeat the British. While the film is widely loved today making it was a challenging task. Scroll down to read why. The epic sports drama featuring Aamir Khan in the lead required a huge budget. In this case not many producers wanted to come on board for the film. However it was Aamir who heard the entire narration from the director and felt that the movie had the potential to do well. Hence he himself produced the movie. With this Lagaan became the first film to be made under Aamir Khan Productions. Did you know that before Aamir the movie was offered to a top Bollywood actor? Yes the film was first offered to Shah Rukh Khan. However King Khan turned down Gowariker and later it was Aamir who did the film. In an interview with Rediff when Ashutosh was asked if Shah Rukh would have suited the role of Bhuvan he said Yes. But he would have made a different kind of Bhuvan. See Bhuvans definitions change—as does the script. Its like a paradigm shift. Every actor imparts his personality to a character—the moment he does something the character undergoes a bit of change. And when he does it everything around him changes. So obviously Shah Rukh would have played it differently. After planning for almost a year the shoot of the film began. Later when Lagaan was finally completed it became one of Indias most expensive films at that time. As per reports the movie was made on a budget of Rs 25 crore. Another hindrance Lagaan faced was its release. Lagaans release clashed with Sunny Deols Gadar: Ek Prem Katha. However despite the clash both films became blockbusters. While Gadar grossed approximately Rs 130 crore Lagaan also amassed Rs 65 crore at the worldwide box office. Apart from Aamir Lagaan also featured Gracy Singh Suhasini Mulay Rachel Shelley Paul Blackthorne Kulbhushan Kharbanda Raghubir Yadav A.K. Hangal Akhilendra Mishra Pradeep Rawat Raj Zutshi and Rajesh Vivek among others in key roles. On the other hand Amitabh Bachchan acted as the narrator of the film.