Director Alfred Hitchcock

Cast James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes

Plot Suffering from acute acrophobia, former police detective Scottie Fergusson (Stewart) is hired by an old friend to watch his wife Madeleine (Novak), reportedly possessed by the spirit of her ancestor Carlotta. He?s drawn towards her but can?t save her from jumping to death from a tall tower. Scottie then chances upon a Madeleine lookalike and the plot thickens...

l Hitchcock originally had signed Vera Miles to play Madeleine, but her pregnancy swung things in favour of Novak.

l Second-unit cameraman Irmin Roberts, not even credited for the film, invented the famous ?forward zoom, reverse track? shot, now used extensively, to capture the sense of vertigo.

l Vertigo is the only film where Hitchcock?s legendary musical collaborator Bernard Herrmann wrote the score but did not conduct it himself. A guild strike debarred Herrmann from conducting anywhere in the world.

l The film is one of the ?Five Lost Hitchcocks? along with The Man Who Knew Too Much, Rear Window, Rope and The Trouble with Harry which were unavailable for decades with the rights left by Hitchcock as part of his legacy to his daughter. It was only in 1984 that audiences around the world could return to the Vertigo trip. The film was also restored for a new DVD edition.

l Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac wrote the novel D?Entre les Morts (From Among the Dead) specifically for Hitchcock to adapt and make it into a film. And although the adapted screenplay is credited to Alec Coppel and Samuel Taylor, Coppel didn?t write a single word for the final draft and was credited for contractual reasons.

Lagaan (2001)

Director Ashutosh Gowariker

Cast Aamir Khan, Gracy Singh, Rachel Shelley

Plot Set in the late 19th century, the villagers of Champaner strike a deal with the British ? to have their taxes waived if they beat the goras in a game of cricket. Bhuvan (Aamir) leads the desi team and also gets involved in a love triangle with village belle Gauri (Gracy) and memsahib Elizabeth (Rachel).

l Although considered to be his directorial debut, Lagaan was the third film of actor-turned-director Gowariker. He had earlier called the shots for Pehla Nasha (Deepak Tijori, Raveena Tandon) and Baazi (Aamir, Mamta Kulkarni).

l The film has many parallels with Mrinal Sen?s Bhuvan Shome with both films shot in Gujarat, Amitabh Bachchan as the narrator, lead characters named Bhuvan and Gauri, and Suhasini Mulay being part of the two projects.

l Music director A.R. Rahman had earlier used the tune of the opening lines of Ghanan ghanan in the interlude of a song named Bol re sajani in Doli Sajake Rakhna.

l The village of Champaner is a fictional place located somewhere in Madhya Pradesh. But there is a place named Champaner near Vadodara in Gujarat, which is now declared a world heritage site.

l Several actresses were considered for the role of Gauri including Nandita Das, Amisha Patel and Rani Mukherjee but newcomer Gracy finally landed the role.