We have done it, we have done it," exulted director Ashutosh Gowariker last evening, minutes after the announcement of Lagaan's Academy Awards nomination. Gowariker and the entire Lagaan team were at Aamir Khan's Pali Hill residence celebrating as though there were no tomorrow.

"Everybody's going berserk here," Gowariker told us over the phone even before we reached the venue and he wasn't wrong. Phone rings and loud laughs rent the air as the Lagaan unit hugged, kissed and exchanged greetings. "All of us sat together at my house and watched the team win. We're thrilled," Khan told us, before answering another phone call where he whispered, "I don't believe this, man."

The 'Lagaanites' as they chose to call themselves - hummed songs from the film while Ghooran (Rajesh Vivek) broke into a battle cry, chorused by all. 'Sach aur sahas hai jiske man mein, Anth mein jeet usi ki rahe' repetitions of this slogan echoed the air as Khan complained, "My throat's sore."

"This is a practice session before the real celebration," said Arjan (Akhilendra Mishra) amidst the laughter of his team members, of whom only Kachra and Lakha were missing, because they were out of town. The team had spent the entire day together with Khan and Gowariker's crew - who were shooting for a Coke ad. "We have been praying through the day for this moment," said Bagha (Amin Hajee).

Gowariker looked obviously relieved, standing in a corner and speaking on his mobile phone. "It hasn't stopped ringing for a while," he smiled.

Did it take a lot of effort to get this far - top five amongst 51 competing films from all over the world? "Our emphasis was essentially on creating a buzz. We thought the academy members should at least see our film once - what they think of it is another issue," Gowariker added as he was in a rather thankful mood.

"A lot of people helped us. Roland Joffe, Ismail Merchant, Ashok Amritraj, Parmeshwar Godrej and our point man in America - Madhu Kapoor," he rattled off, in a seemingly Oscar-style thank you speech.

And what does he think of Lagaan's chances of being the chosen one? "The competition is tough. All the competing films are great. I've seen a couple of them," he said. The other films nominated in the best foreign film category include Amelie from France, Elling from Norway, No Man's Land from Bosnia and Son of the Bride from Argentina.
But this is only the third time in history - after Mehboob Khan's Mother India and Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay - that an Indian film has reached so far at the Academy Awards.

As one of the 'Lagaanites' put it, "It is almost as if the Lagaan team has won the World Cup for India."