Article from Express India -

Mumbai, January 4: On Sunday night, star-producer Aamir Khan and director Ashutosh Gowariker will hop on a flight to Los Angeles, to commence the first leg of their big Oscar campaign. The two-man core team behind Lagaan is right now sitting in the actor’s study at his Bandra apartment, where a stray copy of Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone lies alongside biographies of such eminent personalities as Satyajit Ray, Marlon Brando and Harrison Ford, among others. ‘‘I’m reading the book to my son Junaid,’’ Aamir says of the J K Rowling bestseller which he says he’s immensely enjoying himself. ‘‘I saw the film too, but I think the book’s better.’’ Having stayed away from the studios for almost a year now, Aamir says he’s been spending more time with his family, and clearly, he’s put on some weight during the sabbatical. ‘‘But it hasn’t been a holiday,’’ he says of his time away from the sets. Both the director and the actor insist that planning the strategy for the Oscar campaign is an exhausting job. Although Ashutosh is enjoying the attention his film has been basking in for the last six months or so, he admits he’s anxious to see how the Academy will respond to their three-hour, 42-minute opus. ‘‘The feedback we received on our last trip to LA was that the Academy members tend to skip Indian entries because they have been disappointed by the kind of films that were sent for consideration in the past,’’ Aamir reveals. He is confident, however, that Lagaan will appeal to members of the Academy if they come to see it in the first place. They explain that there are two rounds of voting in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Oscars. In the first round, a 300-member team from the Academy will shortlist five of the 54 entries that have been submitted from across the world, and in the second round, the thousands of Academy members will pick their favourite from among the five shortlisted films. ‘‘While voting in the first round, it is a rule that the members must see 80 per cent of the entered films, so our first task is to make sure that they don’t skip Lagaan,’’ Aamir says. For that, both Aamir and Ashutosh realise that it’s essential to create an awareness of the film in Los Angeles, where the Academy is largely based. ‘‘We’ve hired a publicist in America who will organise interviews and meetings with the media, we’re placing advertisements in trade dailies, and we’re organising several screenings of the film for Academy members,’’ Aamir says, shedding light on their game-plan. The actor says an Oscar endorsement means a lot to him, ‘‘but not in terms of appreciation, because we’ve received that from the people for whom the film was meant.’’ He reveals that there’s a hidden agenda behind the whole Oscar hoopla. ‘‘I want Lagaan to get a mainstream crossover release in the United States, and that’s possible only if we make a mark at the Oscars,’’ he says. Although the film was originally released in America by Sony Entertainment Television in June 2001, Aamir says that was only a limited release, and a typical Hindi film release at that, not the big international release he’s hoping Lagaan will receive across the US again, if it emerges victorious at the Oscars in March. Ashutosh and Aamir both say the competition in the Best Foreign Film category is stiff, but insist they have confidence in their product. ‘‘We had a screening for Americans in LA last month, and they loved it. In fact, they said that half our battle would be won if the Academy came in for the screening,’’ the actor reveals. Nevertheless, neither Aamir nor Ashutosh has lost much time in sussing out the competition. While the director says he’s seen three of the 54 films that are vying for the same award, Aamir has seen only Amelie from France, which he knows is a favourite with most audiences. Aamir confesses that he’s taking the Oscar build-up quite seriously, and is anxious to know if they will make the cut. He says he’ll be up bright and early on February 12 when the shortlist is finally announced. ‘‘What’s scaring me is that every Indian seems confident that Lagaan will win. But they aren’t aware of the whole procedure and the formalities involved,’’ he says. Pitching Lagaan to the Oscars has put the actor back by a few months as far as his next film is concerned. He’s committed to star in a movie for A B Corp, and directed by Mansoor Khan, but says the script is still being worked out. Before he airdashes to LA, he’s in the process of getting himself insured. ‘‘The LIC mentioned that I’m worth Rs 50 crore and I shouldn’t go in for a policy for any less than that amount, but I’ve left it to my chartered accountant,’’ Aamir says, visibly embarrassed to discuss finances. He’s also excited about having gifted a print of Lagaan to Kabul, a non-commercial transaction that he recently learnt has generated much excitement in Afghanistan. ‘‘I was keen to go there myself and take the film with me, but the Ministry of External Affairs said they couldn’t ensure safety, so they suggested I send a print instead,’’ he reveals.