Kiran Rao is basking in the success of her directorial movie Laapataa Ladies. Amid the success, the filmmaker recalled the time she was an assistant director on Lagaan. She remembered her role in the crew was managing the huge cast comprising two cricket teams which needed hair, makeup and other essentials to be taken care of. She detailed the challenges she faced on the film set. 

Kiran Rao details the challenges she faced on sets of Lagaan 

Kiran Rao, in a podcast with Cyrus Broacha, spoke about being an assistant director on Lagaan. The filmmaker spoke about the tough time she had on the sets of the Oscar-nominated movie. She said, “I was a minion. A general dogsbody.” 

Kiran Rao mentioned that she used to get coffee and manage everything on the set. She also revealed that director Reema Kagti was also an AD with her and she too hustled on the project. Kiran shared, “I used to get coffee, get shouted at if anything went wrong. I was constantly being yelled at. Reema Kagti was a horrible secondary, she would constantly be on my case. She was doing all the running around. We were just four ADs running around on a giant-a** set. The film was shot on live sound. It was one of the first big films. It was all outdoors. We were so away from everything.” 

Will Kiran Rao venture into Kiran Rao commercial cinema?

As she continues to promote her acclaimed movie, Kiran Rao sat down for an exclusive conversation with OTTplay where she expressed a keen interest in venturing into commercial cinema. She revealed her eagerness to explore scripts that embody the quintessential Bollywood elements of song and dance while maintaining a socially responsible approach. 

Kiran enthusiastically stated, “Absolutely. I'm looking for the right script. I would love to see a film like that. I feel like what we term commercial should be anything that does well. Yes. And I do think that I would like to make films that are super entertaining as well, which have... Which could be action, comedy, thriller, romance, whatever the genre. I would love to make super successful, commercial, masaledar movies as well. I just do think that they should leave you with something once you leave the cinema.”