‘I was constantly being yelled at,’: Kiran Rao recollects her days as AD on the sets of Lagaan

Bollywood Director Kiran Rao is currently basking in the success of ‘Lapata Ladies’ that she had directed. The film has broken the viewership record of Sandeep Reddy Vanga-directorial on Netflix. She however had to endure a period of struggle before becoming an established figure in Bollywood circuits. “I was essentially a gig worker. I’d take on jobs as they came, working as long as they paid, then I’d scramble to find the next, all while stressing about whether my savings would last and if I could cover my rent. Feature films didn’t pay. It was advertising that paid me the money to live in Mumbai. With Lagaan, the first AD system kind of started coming in,” she said in an interaction with Cyrus Broacha on his podcast show titled Cyrus Says. 

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She also recollected her days as an Assistant Director on the sets of Ashutosh Gowariker-directorial Lagaan. Bollywood actor Aamir Khan played the lead in the film whom Kiran eventually married. “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,” Kiran remarked.