Lagaan at 25: the night cricket and cinema shared a stage

Twenty-five years ago, a film about a village cricket match became one of the most loved sports stories ever told. Lagaan, Aamir Khan’s tale of a team that had never played the game taking on the might of an empire, earned an Academy Award nomination and did something rarer still: it made millions of people who’d never watched cricket care, deeply, about every ball.

This month, the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne opened its 17th edition by celebrating the film’s 25th anniversary. Our co-founders Steve Waugh and Tim Thomas were there, alongside Aamir Khan, festival director Mitu Bhowmick Lange, and Australia’s Minister for Home Affairs and the Arts, Tony Burke.

Lagaan was never really about cricket. It’s about a community making a game its own, and that’s a story we recognise.

“Aamir Khan showed a generation that storytelling through cricket can bring the world closer together, and bring art and sport closer to each other. That’s the spirit we’re building the Flames in.”

Tim Thomas, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Amsterdam Flames

Cricket and cinema have always been neighbours, and where worlds meet, something new gets made. We’d know. It’s on our homepage.