Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander at 30: Akshay Kumar was rejected for this Aamir Khan film, Pooja Bedi’s red skirt sequence acquired a cult status

Mansoor Khan’s youth drama released on May 22, 1993. The filmmaker, who made his filmmaking debut with Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak in 1992, always intended Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar to be his first film. At the Mumbai Film Festival (2016), he had shared with film critics Anupama Chopra and Rajeev Masand how the film panned out. He began by sharing how he was inspired to write Sanju’s character from his own life; it was an autobiographical role that was played by Aamir Khan.

Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar released in 1992. (Photos: Express Archives)

He had also revealed why it took him so much time before he could finally start filming Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar. He had said, “I was not able to write it. Because I didn’t know how to write a subject like this, and also I was not really a cinema person. So, I was not very fluent with what works with the audiences and what doesn’t, but I knew what I wanted. If you see what I was writing then, it was a completely different script. There was no father’s character, there were two brothers where the elder brother was almost like a father, so I was exploring different relationships, it was quite a wacko zone. So, it was a good thing that I gave up on that, and my dad (Nasir Khan) told me, since you are working on your script so why don’t you work on mine, I want to launch Aamir. Actually I had Aamir in mind even for Jo Jeeta, but he is lucky that I didn’t make that first. Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak gave me a real sense of where I should be going, and that experience I dropped in here.”

The rivalry between Model and Rajput schools represents the rivalry between classes.

Mansoor’s assistant director, actor Deven Bhojani, who played Ghanshyam or Ghansu in Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, calls the film a life-changing event. In a candid chat with indianexpress.com, Deven shared, “We all had just passed out of college, and it was like a holiday when we shot for Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar. Aamir (Khan) and I were in the same college, and I had done Gujarati theatre, so Aamir knew me from that time. He had seen and liked my work in Kaafila and Malgudi Days, so he made sure I was a part of Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar. The film, in a way, changed my life. I was not only cast in the film as Ghanshu but I was also an assistant director to Mansoor Khan on the film. That’s where my journey as an actor and a filmmaker started; people started taking notice of my work. Before this, of course, people saw me as an actor, but my ‘director banne ka keeda’ was there from the very beginning and this film gave me that window of opportunity.”

Aamir Khan and Ayesha Jhulka in a still from Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar. (Photo: Express Archives)

He added, “I started getting acting offers mostly after Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, and gradually started doing TV as well. Whatever I learnt from Mansoor sir, came in handy later when I directed Sarabhai V/s Sarabhai and other shows. I then decided to go to the US to pursue filmmaking and film direction.”

Deven has fond memories of working with Aamir. He shared, “We spent a lot of time together as a unit while shooting the film. We mostly shot in Ooty and Kodaikanal and Aamir and I, both, were quite fond of chess, so we used to play the game in our free time.”

When asked what is that one memory of his co-star — Aamir Khan — that he remembers vividly till date. He shared, “There was a puppy in Ooty that Aamir really got attached to. He would play with it all the time and spend a lot of time with it. When we were finishing the shoot of the film, he asked around about the puppy and if he could adopt it. People were quite happy about it and Aamir even brought the pup with him to Mumbai. He named him Peanut, the dog was with him for a very long time after that.”

A still from Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar.

While Aamir is known to be a serious method actor, he is also quite popular for his pranks on set. Deven shared one such instance. “Since I was quite young on set, and as an assistant director, I was in charge of checking continuity supervisor (member of a film crew who oversees the continuity of the motion picture including wardrobe, props, set dressing, hair, makeup and the actions of the actors during a scene). Aamir would pull my leg all the time, he would ask me questions like ‘did I make two or three folds of my shirt’s sleeves?’ ‘what coloured socks I had work in the last shot?’ and I would say, ‘I don’t care about the colour of the socks as they aren’t seen in the scene and I don’t care about the sleeves, they should just be above the elbows’,” shared Deven.

Pooja Bedi, who played a bratty Devika in the film, was termed a ‘gold digger’ by Aamir’s Sanju in the film, but the latter disagrees and called the set-up more like an ‘Archie Comic’. In the discussion at MAMI, Pooja had shared how she was the bratty Veronica and Aamir was Archie, here nobody was “bad”, but just “playful” and “colourful”.

About the film, Pooja had shared in an interview with indianexpress.com how she feels proud to be a part of a film, so remarkable, yet so fun and clean. She had said, “It’s a film that is fun, clean and filled with nostalgia about school days, friendships, love and crushes that resonate with each of us. The songs have immortalized the film especially Pehla Nasha, which plays on radio in original and numerous remixed versions till date. It’s the simplicity and relatability of the characters and story line that has kept it evergreen.”

“The film was a mega point of my career and my flying red dress in Pehla Nasha atop a car has kept me larger than life and in people’s memories for three decades. If one has seen Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, one cannot ever forget that flying red dress in the song has immortalized me. It was so much fun shooting the film and the best thing that ever happened to my public image and to keep me in everyone’s memory.”

Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar was the more relatable college or school dramas that we have today. While the starcast of the film has aged like fine wine, the memories and the songs of the film stay young even till date.

(Inputs from Mimansa Shekhar)