Actor Aamir Khan has been told to pay up tax dues on land he owns in his ancestral village but film lovers this time are unlikely to be treated to a double bill: a pulsating cricket match on screen.
The British have, after all, long left India and this lagaan (land tax) is for real.
The Uttar Pradesh revenue department on Wednesday asked Aamir and members of his extended family to pay Rs 817 as lagaan on land they own in Akhtiyarpur village in Hardoi district, over 120km from Lucknow.
The amount includes Rs 158 that the actor, star of the 2001 film Lagaan (poster above), has to pay over his share of the plot.
Sub-divisional magistrate Ashok Kumar Shukla said: "There are dues of revenue of four years on Aamir Khan, son of Tahir Hussain Khan, Flat No. 5, Marine Apartment, Bandra, Mumbai west." A notice had been handed over to a lady, Sultana Begum, who lives in Aamir's dilapidated ancestral house.
Aamir's grandfather Zafar Hussain Khan used to live in Hardoi. The over seven hectares he owned was later divided among his heirs. Aamir's share is 0.797 hectares.
Nasir Hussain, one of Zafar Hussain's three sons, left the village for Mumbai in 1948. A few years after directing movies like Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon and Jab Pyaar Kisise Hota Hai, he took his younger brother Tahir Hussain with him. Tahir Hussain later produced successful movies like Anamika and Caravan.
When Nasir Hussain wrote and produced Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, he chose his brother's son, Aamir, to play the lead. That was in 1988.
Over a decade later, Aamir co-produced Lagaan, a film set in the colonial times, where he also starred as a spunky villager called Bhuvan who opposes the high land tax. An arrogant British officer challenges the villagers to a game of cricket as a wager to avoid the tax, but with a condition - if the villagers lose, they will have to pay three times the tax. Needless to say, the rag-tag village team wins the match.
Hafiz Khan, who looks after Aamir's properties in Akhtiyarpur, said the " lagaan would be paid as per the rules".
