l The film was first planned in 1989 with Amitabh Bachchan as Mangal Pandey. When it was set to be revived in the 1990s, Sanjay Dutt was considered for the role.

l Ketan Mehta initially called the film Kartoos before going for the current title. Kartoos is, in fact, the name of a Mahesh Bhatt film starring Sanjay Dutt, Jackie Shroff and Manisha Koirala.

l Prince Charles slapped the clapstick for the inaugural shot of the film. Aamir Khan and Toby Stephens were also present on the occasion.

l Aishwarya Rai was first cast in the role of Jwala, but when she opted out citing contractual problems, Amisha Patel (picture right) was picked, supposedly because Aamir liked her IQ scores on the BBC game show Question Time India.

l X-Men star Hugh Jackman was first chosen for the role of William Gordon, but when he refused, Toby Stephens bagged the role.

l Aamir took six months to grow his moustache and 18 months to grow his hair since he didn?t want to use a wig for the film.

l Many parts of the film were shot without certain key characters and they were added through visual effects later. Like for the National Library exterior shot in Calcutta, Aamir?s figure was later added to the image.

l It is the first Indian film ever to open the Locarno International Film Festival.

l The international version, called The Rising ? The Ballad of Mangal Pandey, is just five minutes shorter due to the ?tighter English language?, says Ketan Mehta.

l Aamir generally watches three shows of his new film with the audiences. This time, one of them will be the Calcutta screening on Saturday, when he comes to the city as part of The Telegraph?s Ticket to the Stars.