Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar
Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (transl. He who wins is the king) is a 1992 Indian Hindi-language coming-of-age sports film, directed and co-written by Mansoor Khan,[2] and produced and co-written by Nasir Hussain. The film stars Aamir Khan,[3] Ayesha Jhulka, Deepak Tijori, Pooja Bedi, Mamik Singh and Kulbhushan Kharbanda, whilst Aamir's brother Faisal Khan makes a special appearance. The music was by Jatin Lalit. Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar won two Filmfare Awards, including Best Film.[4] The movie was shot at Kodaikanal. It is based on the 1979 American movie Breaking Away.
Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar | |
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Directed by | Mansoor Khan |
Produced by | Nasir Hussain |
Written by | Nasir Hussain Mansoor Khan |
Starring | Aamir Khan Ayesha Jhulka Deepak Tijori Mamik Singh Pooja Bedi Kulbhushan Kharbanda |
Music by | Jatin-Lalit |
Cinematography | Najeeb Khan |
Release date |
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Running time | 169 mins |
Country | India |
Language | Hindi |
Box office | ₹52 million[1] |
Plot
Ramlal has two sons – the ideal, older son Ratan and the indisciplined younger one, Sanjay. Ratan competes for top honours at the inter-college sports event. He ends up losing the penultimate cycle race at the finish line to his archrival, Shekhar, by less than a cycle's length.
Over the course of the next year, Ratan and Shekhar continually keep running into each other while training, usually ending with Shekhar, who is from the elite Rajput College, mocking Ratan over his modest background. Meanwhile, Sanjay is busy chasing girls in cars that he "borrows" from his childhood friend Anjali's garage. He lies to and starts going out with Devika, a rich girl studying in Queen's College, who believes Sanjay is a millionaire's son and that he attends the elite boy's college, Xaviers. Sanjay is actually from the local Model College, like his father before him and his brother, but ends up falling in love with Devika despite Anjali's warnings. When Devika learns the truth, she immediately dumps him for Shekhar.
Sanjay, who is regularly insulted by Shekhar and his friends over his apparent poverty (as compared to them), ends up fighting with them after being dumped by Devika. Ratan intervenes and saves the day, but as a result Ramlal banishes Sanjay from the house. To make matters worse, Ratan pays the price the next morning when Shekhar's friends accost him on his training route. During the ensuing fight, Shekhar inadvertently pushes Ratan off the cliff. Ratan survives the fall but is seriously injured and will not compete in the next cycle race.
This prompts a guilty Sanjay to get his act together – he begins training hard and preparing to participate in the race. He is helped by Ratan and Anjali, who has always had a crush on him and with whom he later falls in love. At the annual cycle race, Shekhar and Sanjay take the lead but end up colliding and falling off course. They start fighting each other over the incident involving Ratan, only to rejoin the race once the rest of the field has overtaken them on the course. They both manage to chase down the rest of the field, and emerge one behind the other, with Shekhar leading. At the finish line in the last lap of the race, Sanjay overtakes Shekhar to win the race for his college, marking the first time since his father that Model College will lift the sports trophy.
Cast
- Aamir Khan as Sanjaylal Sharma a.k.a. Sanju aka Sanjay Thapar, Ramlal's younger son and Ratanlal's younger brother
- Deepak Tijori as Shekhar Malhotra
- Ayesha Jhulka as Anjali, Sanju's childhood friend and love interest
- Mamik Singh as Ratanlal Sharma a.k.a. Ratan, Ramlal's elder son and Sanju's elder brother
- Kiran Zaveri as Kalpana, Ratanlal's love interest
- Sooraj Thapar as Shekhar Malhotra's friend
- Pooja Bedi as Devika
- Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Ramlal Sharma, Ratanlal's and Sanjaylal's father
- Aditya Lakhia as Maksood a.k.a. Ghode
- Deven Bhojani as Ghanshyam a.k.a. Ghanshu
- Asrani as Mr. Dubey (Model school teacher)
- Faisal Khan in a Special Appearance (College student)
- Imran Khan as Young Sanjaylal
- Sharokh Bharucha as Young Ratanlal
- Anjan Srivastav as Race commentator
- Ajit Vachani as Rajput's Principal
- Deb Mukherjee as Rajput's Coach
- Ravindra Kapoor as Shakoor
- Jatin Pandit as Xavier's college student and performer at the college dance event
- Lalit Pandit as Xavier's college student and guitarist at college dance event
- Amol Gupte as cycle race commentator
- Girija Shettar as lead in song Jawa ho yaaron[5]
Production
The film was directed by Mansoor Khan, and written and produced by Nasir Hussain.[6] Akshay Kumar had auditioned[7] and Milind Soman was signed for Shekhar Malhotra's role,[8] before Deepak Tijori played the role. Aditya Pancholi was selected to play the role of Ratan, but the role went to Mamik Singh, as confirmed by DNA.
The plot has similarities to the 1979 American film Breaking Away. However, Mansoor Khan stated that he only became aware of Breaking Away after the likeness was brought to his attention, some time after the release of Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander. Both films have several similarities, including friendship, class barriers, bicycle racing, and parental relationship, but otherwise have different narratives, characters, motivations, treatment and racing rules.[9]
Music
Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1992 | |||
Genre | Feature film soundtrack | |||
Length | 35:01 | |||
Label | Saregama | |||
Producer | Jatin-Lalit | |||
Jatin-Lalit chronology | ||||
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Majrooh Sultanpuri chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Planet Bollywood | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The music for the movie was composed by Jatin Lalit and the lyrics were penned by Majrooh Sultanpuri. The soundtrack, the second collaboration between Jatin and Lalit, helped to launch their careers. It was nominated for Best Music at the Filmfare Awards 1993. "Pehla Nasha" was the fourth film song in Indian cinema (the first one being "Jogi O Jogi" from Lakhon Mein Ek (1971), followed by "Baare Baare" from Naagarahaavu (1972) and "Sundari Neeyum" from Michael Madana Kama Rajan (1990)) to be shot in complete slow motion. The technique was later used in many films and music videos. Pehla Nasha was the most popular track of the album and has become a cult song. Other popular tracks were "Humse Hai Sara Jahan", "Rooth Ke Humse" and "Arre Yaaron Mere Pyaaron". The song "Arre Yaaron Mere Pyaaron" was sung by Udit Narayan along with Vijeta Pandit.[11]
Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar was the third best-selling Bollywood soundtrack album of 1992, having sold 2.5 million units in India.[12]
All lyrics are written by Majrooh Sultanpuri; all music is composed by Jatin-Lalit.
No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Yahaan Ke Hum Sikander" | Udit Narayan, Sadhana Sargam, Jatin-Lalit | 5:29 |
2. | "Naam Hai Mera Fonseca" | Amit Kumar, Alka Yagnik | 4:41 |
3. | "Arre Yaaron Mere Pyaaron" | Udit Narayan, Vijeta Pandit | 5:16 |
4. | "Humse Hai Sara Jahan" | Jatin Pandit, Sadhana Sargam | 4:13 |
5. | "Pehla Nasha" | Udit Narayan, Sadhana Sargam | 4:51 |
6. | "Rooth Ke Humse" | Jatin Pandit | 5:15 |
7. | "Shehar Ki Pariyon" | Udit Narayan, Sadhana Sargam | 5:16 |
38th Filmfare Awards
Winner
- Filmfare Best Film Award – Nasir Hussain
- Filmfare Best Editing Award – Zafar Sultan, Dilip Katalgi
Nominated
- Filmfare Best Director Award – Mansoor Khan
- Filmfare Best Actor Award – Aamir Khan
- Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award – Pooja Bedi
- Filmfare Best Music Director Award – Jatin-Lalit
- Filmfare Best Lyricist Award – Majrooh Sultanpuri for Woh Sikandar Hi Doston
- Filmfare Best Male Playback Award – Udit Narayan for Pehla Nasha
Box office
In India, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar net ₹40 million [13][14] and grossed ₹52 million (US$2.01 million),[1] equivalent to ₹927 million (US$13 million) adjusted for inflation.[15] The film opened to good responses, and was declared a hit at the box office.[16] The film became a trend-setter, inspiring the Telugu film Thammudu (1999) which went on to be remade in Tamil as Badri (2001), in Kannada as Yuvaraja (2001) and in Bengali as Champion (2003). Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander was also broadcast on Disney Channel India.
Critical reception
In a review dated 29 May 1992, The Indian Express praised Najeeb Khan's photography, the sets and the performances of Aamir Khan, Ayesha Jhulka, and Pooja Bedi, but criticised Jatin Lalit's music.[17]
Locations
Though it is clearly mentioned in the introductory voice over that the movie is based in Dehradun (in fact, the first word spoken in the movie is "Dehradun"), it is mentioned twice in the movie (both times by the commentator during the cycle race) that it takes place in Kodaikanal. The movie has been shot predominantly in various locations[18] in the south of India, primarily Kodaikanal.[19]
Trivia
- Farah Khan once revealed on a TV reality show that actress Pooja Bedi was a very poor dancer so much so that they couldn't get one step right in the song 'Pehla Nasha'. With no option left, Farah devised a unique plan to put a fan under Pooja's red dress so she could pull off the scene convincingly.
- Ayesha Julkha the lead actress of the film had trouble shooting the final race portions where she expressed pain in her head. Mansoor Khan, the director decided to have her entire head covered with a red cap throughout the finale. No one noticed or bothered that she intentionally wore the cap during that scene.
- The Films Student of the Year 2 and Rok Sako To Rok Lo are adapted from the storyline of Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander with some slight changes.
- Akshay Kumar was auditioned for the role of Deepak tijori but he was rejected.
References
- "Box Office 1992". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 15 January 2013. Retrieved 25 December 2016.
- Rewind | Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar | Jio MAMI 18th Mumbai Film Festival with Star on YouTube
- "Whoa! Aamir Khan Is 'World's Biggest Superstar'!". 13 March 2018.
- Indian High Commission, Pakistan, Cine Club (2008), Programme: January to March 2008 (PDF), retrieved 2 July 2012
- "Jawa ho yaaron song- Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar". youtube. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
- "Nasir Hussain". Upperstall.com. 2002. Archived from the original on 14 June 2002.
- http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/happy-birthday-akshay-interesting-facts-about-bollywood-khiladi/
- http://www.rediff.com/movies/2000/jun/21milind.htm
- "Classic Revisited: Aamir Khan's coming-of-age in Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar". Rediff. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
- "Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar Music Review". Retrieved 17 October 2011.
- "Songs at www.glamsham.com".
- "Music Hits 1990–1999 (Figures in Units)". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 5 February 2010. Retrieved 5 February 2010.
- "Aamir Khan Box Office Collections Analysis". Indicine.
- http://ibosnetwork.com/asp/filmbodetails.asp?id=Jo+Jeeta+Wohi+Sikandar
- "Darr – Movie (1993 inflation rate)". Box Office India. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
- "Entertaining all the way". The Indian Express. 29 May 1992. p. 7.
- Filmapia.com Movie locations for JJWS
- Filmapia.com Movie Location > Kodaikanal