Born in 2001

Lagaan stunned the world — an Indian film about cricket under colonial rule, nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It lost, but the global attention was extraordinary. The September 11 attacks in America sent shockwaves everywhere.

India expressed sympathy but was also fighting its own battles: a devastating earthquake in Gujarat had killed 20,000 people in January, one of the worst natural disasters in Indian history. The country's capacity for resilience was being tested constantly.