The Spirit of Lagaan is the extraordinary story of a thousand days in the lives of Aamir Khan, Ashutosh Gowariker and their mammoth team which made a classic film. It journeys through the dreams and nightmares, the loneliness and comradeship, the despair and exhilaration of a unit numbering thousands, drawn from the far corners of the globe, as it battled it out in the heat of the Kutch desert.

It is a story of building a dream team amidst contradictions and of creating a modern and progressive work ethic in an industry blighted by feudal methods of work. It is a tale of how the Lagaan unit became a melting pot for diverse cultures to blend with a chemistry that created magic on screen and deep bonds off it. As a case study, it offers lessons to managers in the corporate world and team leaders in every aspect of life on how ambition married with purpose, grit and above all team spirit, can work magic to make the impossible a reality.

The story of how the Lagaanites met challenge after challenge has striking parallels to the film itself…except that The Spirit of Lagaan is a true story! (Also available in Hindi and Gujrati)

Satyajit Bhatkal was born and raised in Mumbai. Son of Laila, a teacher working with children with special needs and Ramdas a leading publisher, Satyajit practiced law for over a decade. As a student and as a young lawyer, Satyajit was actively involved in important social and political causes and wrote extensively on them. He was the editor of the Marathi magazine Jagrutijwala. His experiences as an activist and as a lawyer led him to believe he had a story to tell and in his mid-thirties he quit law to work in film and television.

Satyajit was a part of the core production team of the landmark Hindi film, Lagaan and also directed India's first theatrically released documentary, 'Chale Chalo'. The English cut of that film, entitled 'Madness in the Desert' won a National Award and was also selected for the Locarno Film Festival. The films dealt with the human drama and struggle which made the film Lagaan possible. Satyajit also wrote 'The Spirit of Lagaan', one of the bestsellers of 2003, which was translated into three Indian languages.

Satyajit then wrote and directed 'Bombay Lawyers', a critically acclaimed mini-series, which dealt with important social issues in the format of fictionalized courtroom drama. This was broadcast by NDTV India.

Satyajit then teamed up with his long time collaborator Lancy Fernandes and his wife Svati to write Zokkomon, which was commissioned for production by the Walt Disney Company. The film is scheduled to release in April 2011.