Ashutosh Gowariker

Director Ashutosh Gowariker is back in India, in Mumbai, after attending the third annual International Indian Film Academy [IIFA] Awards held in Malaysia.

Earlier, he had spent almost five months in Los Angeles, promoting Lagaan, produced by Aamir Khan. The two -- along with their wives -- set base at an exclusive West Hollywood motel.

Nominated for the 74th Annual Academy Awards, held on March 24, in the Best Foreign Language Film category, the film lost out to 32-year-old Danis Tanovic's No Man's Land (Bosnia).

Ashutosh, for his part, is far from dejected. For Lagaan is only the third Indian film to win an Oscar nomination. Earlier, Mehboob Khan's Mother India and Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay!

Ashutosh Gowariker, today, is proud of what his film has achieved. He confesses to not having much time to think of anything else but Lagaan... even now:

It has been a great experience, right from the scripting of Lagaan; the rejection of the script by Aamir [Khan], then his acceptance; the shooting [of the film]; the highs and lows of production; the accolades and awards; the Oscar nomination. And all that we learnt about the functioning of the Oscars in Los Angeles.

I have been in LA since October or November 2001, so I haven't had time for anything else. I have received 17 offers from producers to make films, but I haven't been able to do anything about them yet.

Right now, we [Aamir and I] are busy with the release of a book on the making of Lagaan, called The Spirit Of Lagaan, and has been written by Satyajit Bhatkal, a member of the production team.

We wanted to share the trials and tribulations of what went into the making of the film. It was a lovely learning experience for us and we wanted to share it with audiences. Satyajit has represented everything correctly. We will be travelling to Delhi, Kolkata and other cities till the end of the month for the book release.

In-between, I directed the Coke commercial, now airing on Indian television screens, with Aamir. The ad has become popular with its catchphrase, Thanda matlab Coca Cola [cold means Coka Cola]. You can imagine the fun we had doing a 40-second ad, compared to the three hours 42 minutes of Lagaan!

But now the dust is settling down. We will now divert our attention to other things.

I am working on a script for Aamir Khan Productions. But no, I don't think I will direct any Marathi films.

As told to Lata Khubchandani