Ashutosh Gowariker and the Epic Set
Ashutosh Gowariker made Lagaan and Jodhaa Akbar, then three costly misses. His period films and what his biography records.
Few Hindi directors have built sets as large as Ashutosh Gowariker's: a Victorian-era village, a Mughal court, an Indus Valley city. His career has been a run of period films that range from awarded successes to costly misses. This piece follows his Wikipedia biography and reports both sides.
An actor first
According to the biography, Gowariker was born into a Marathi-speaking family in Kolhapur to Ashok and Kishori Gowariker, and attended St. Theresa's High School in Bandra. He began as an actor, debuting in 1984 in Ketan Mehta's Holi, on whose sets he met Aamir Khan. He then appeared in television serials including Kacchi Dhoop (1987), Circus (1989) and C.I.D. (1998), and in films including Naam (1986), Goonj (1989), Chamatkar (1992) and Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa (1993).
Two false starts
His first films as director were the thrillers Pehla Nasha (1993) and Baazi (1995). Both received negative reviews and were commercial disasters.
Lagaan
Lagaan (2001), produced by and starring Aamir Khan with debutante Gracy Singh, follows villagers in Victorian India who stake their future on a cricket match against their British rulers. Reviews praised its direction, soundtrack, performances and anti-imperialist stance. It earned him the Filmfare Award for Best Director and for Best Story, and the film won Best Film and the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, the third Indian film to be nominated after Mother India (1957) and Salaam Bombay! (1988).
Swades and Jodhaa Akbar
Swades (2004), starring Shah Rukh Khan and debutante Gayatri Joshi, follows a NASA project manager who returns to an Indian village and takes on education, healthcare and infrastructure. Critics praised it, but it failed at the box office; the biography says it has achieved cult status over the years.
Jodhaa Akbar (2008), starring Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai, depicted the political marriage of the Mughal emperor Akbar and the Hindu princess Jodhaa Bai of Amber. It was a major commercial success, grossing Rs 115 crore, and earned him a second Filmfare Award for Best Film and Best Director. The biography notes that the British Film Institute cited it among "10 Great Bollywood Films of the 21st Century".
The harder years
What's Your Raashee? (2009), based on Madhu Rye's Gujarati novel and starring Priyanka Chopra in twelve roles, premiered at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival to mixed reviews and was a below-average grosser. Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey (2010), about the 1930 Chittagong armoury raid, was a commercial disaster.
After a six-year hiatus he made Mohenjo Daro (2016), set in the Indus Valley Civilisation, with Hrithik Roshan and debutante Pooja Hegde. It received negative reviews and was his second consecutive disaster. Panipat (2019), about the Third Battle of Panipat with Arjun Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt and Kriti Sanon, was his third.
Back in front of the camera
He returned to acting as the lead in the Marathi comedy-drama Ventilator (2016), produced by Priyanka Chopra and called critically acclaimed in the biography. In 2024 he chaired the international jury at the 55th International Film Festival of India. His next announced film, starring Aamir Khan, is a sports drama about the cricketer Lala Amarnath and the 1952 India-Pakistan Test series.
Reading the record
Gowariker's best-known films are all large productions where the setting is central to the story. He is married to Sunita, with whom he has two sons, according to the biography. The grosses quoted here come from that biography and, for the oldest films, may not reflect later revisions; they are best read as approximate.
Sources
*Cover photo: Megha Thakker, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).*