Bollywood actor Aamir Khan said he was disappointed when his 2001 film ‘Lagaan’ didn’t win an Oscar. The movie, directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 74th Academy Awards.

Talking to reporters during a special media interaction for the 20th anniversary of ‘Lagaan’, Aamir Khan said, “I was disappointed (when Lagaan did not win an Oscar). We would have liked to win. But many people have asked me ‘what could you have done differently for it to win?’ See, at the Oscars, it is such a difficult process to be nominated. If you have been nominated, it means the foreign language jury loved your film. They loved it so much that you (Lagaan) are in the top five.”

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He added, “In Los Angeles, all nominees are at the finish line and one person is asked to take one step forward and he is the winner. But everyone else is at the finishing line. We fail to acknowledge that the jury loved Lagaan, otherwise we would not have been there (in the nominations). They loved it – the music, the length of the film, the cricket…they loved it all. All that was loved by the jury, only then we got nominated. Do not look at it negatively.”

The actor who usually refuses to stay away from Indian film awards, says that the reason why he gives some value to Oscars is the process they follow.

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“And, it (being at Oscars) gives a window of opportunity for marketing. Lot of people watch films nominated for Oscars. For me, awards are not bigger than the appreciation of the audience,” he said, reports Hindustan Times.

Aamir was the lead actor and also the producer of the film.