Aamir Khan’s Lagaan Set Mishap: The Bus That Drove Off Without Him

When the crew of Lagaan set up a scene on a dusty road in rural India, nobody expected the day to end with a comedy of errors. Aamir Khan, fresh off his Lagaan prep, was supposed to hop onto a vintage bus for a crucial sequence. The plan? Simple – step onto the bus, deliver a line, and the camera rolls.

But as luck would have it, the driver, perhaps impatient or simply misinformed, hit the gear and rolled away while Aamir was still at the curb. The massive vehicle lumbered down the lane, leaving the star staring after it, half‑amused, half‑panicked.

Raghubir Yadav, who played Guran in the same film, was there to witness the whole fiasco. “We were all on set, waiting for Aamir. Suddenly the bus sputtered and disappeared. It felt like a scene from a slap‑stick film,” he recalls with a chuckle. “Aamir shouted after it, but the driver didn’t even glance back.”

The local police, who happened to be monitoring the shoot for traffic control, intervened quickly. They fined the driver a modest sum – 500 rupees – for abandoning the vehicle and causing a disruption. “It wasn’t a huge amount, but it sent a clear message,” Raghubir adds, noting that the driver’s cheeks turned as red as the desert sand.

In the end, the crew managed to locate another bus, and the scene was completed without further drama. Aamir later joked that the incident added an extra layer of authenticity to the film’s rustic vibe. “You know you’re making something memorable when even the mishaps feel cinematic,” he reportedly said.

Years later, the anecdote still surfaces in interviews, reminding fans that even legends like Aamir Khan have their off‑beat moments on set. It’s a tiny footnote in the grand saga of Lagaan, but one that captures the spontaneous, sometimes chaotic spirit of Bollywood filmmaking.