Josh (2000 film)

In the town of Vasco in Goa, there exist two rival street gangs - the Bichhoos (Scorpions), who are Hindu migrants and the Eagles, who are local Christians. The Bichhoos leader is Prakash Sharma (Sharad Kapoor), while the Eagles are led by Max Dias (Shah Rukh Khan). Prakash is a local enforcer, who uses his gang to engage in underhanded activities within the Vasco real estate market. Max along with his educated twin sister Shirley (Aishwarya Rai) are orphans who belong to a rowdy motorcycle crew, together with the other members of the Eagles. The gangs are sworn enemies and have demarcated the town in order to avoid altercations. They are usually stopped from fights by Father Jacob or the town Police Inspector (Sharat Saxena).

Prakash's brother Rahul (Chandrachur Singh) is a well-educated master-chef working in Mumbai. He comes to visit Vasco after two years, intending to take his family back to Mumbai with him. Rahul decides to tour Vasco and rediscovers his love for the city. While in the Eagles territory, he spots Shirley and becomes fascinated by her heavenly beauty and elegance at first sight. He eventually develops a deep attraction for Shirley and decides to settle in Vasco and opens a pastry shop. Meanwhile, he unknowingly becomes part of the Eagles - Bichchoo rivalry and gets closer to Shirley.

Prakash, in desperate need of money, plans to take over the village grounds. The grounds historically belong to Alberto Vasco, the landlord of the entire village and the man after whom the town is named. Rahul finds out that the ground was passed from Alberto to a woman named Mary Anne Louise. Unaware of his brother's schemes, Rahul visits the address listed for Mr. Vasco, and it is revealed that Mary was a renter in the villa which belonged to Lady D'Costa (Nadira), twenty-two years ago. Rahul learns that Mary is Max and Shirley's mother and the twins are the illegitimate children of Alberto Vasco, born in 1958.

Having developed a close relationship with Shirley, Rahul plans to reveal this information to her in the form of a letter, however, it falls into the hands of Prakash. Prakash plots to murder Max in order to receive Alberto Vasco's valuable land. A bloody fight breaks out between the Bichhoos and the Eagles, and Max accidentally shoots Prakash while defending himself. Max is arrested by the police and his trial puts a rift between Shirley and Rahul. Max is about to go to the gallows, but the truth is finally revealed by Rahul and he acknowledges Prakash's mistake.

Finally, Rahul and Shirley are married, Max too marries his longtime crush Rosanne (Priya Gill).

• Shah Rukh Khan as Max "Maxie" Dias
• Aishwarya Rai as Shirley Dias
• Sharad Kapoor as Prakash Sharma
• Chandrachur Singh as Rahul Sharma (Prakash Sharma's brother)
• Priya Gill as Rosanne
• Raymond Alberquerque as Alberto Vasco (a rich Portuguese who owned most of the land in the town during the Portuguese colonial era pre-1961.[6] The town is named after Vasco. )
• Vivek Vaswani as Savio (Rosanne's boyfriend)
• Ruhshad Nariman Daruwalla as Child Artist
• Sharat Saxena as Police Inspector
• Puneet Vasishtha as Michael
• Sushant Singh as Gotiya
• Nadira as Lady D'Costa (The lady who used to give bad words to Alberto Vasco)
• Suhas Joshi as Rahul Sharma's mother
• Ali Asgar as Deven
• Rajesh Khera as Matwyn
• Manav Gohil as Ganpat
• Shraddha Nigam as Prakash Sharma's Girlfriend
• Manoj Pahwa

Director Mansoor Khan was initially considering Salman Khan for the role of Max Dias, but things didn't work out as he was dating the actress and he signed on Shah Rukh Khan to avoid any fights and career destruction in future.[7] Mansoor Khan has revealed he was keen on bringing Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan together for his film "Josh", but the latter rejected the film. Aamir Khan was apparently offered the role of Rahul Sharma. "Aamir Khan wanted to change the image and he no longer wanted to play the lover boy or romantic hero Rahul Sharma," Mansoor Khan told reporters. Mansoor Khan initially wanted Kajol to play Shirley Dias but the actress rejected the offer because she didn't want the pairing up of her and Shah Rukh Khan to get repetitive.[8]

Actor Puneet Vashist, who played the role of Michael in the film, has since claimed that his screentime, as well as that of fellow co-actors Aishwarya Rai, Sharad Kapoor & Chandrachur Singh, was reduced in the editing room, with Vashist claiming that almost fifty percent of his scenes were cut out.

A. R. Rahman was signed in as the music composer first, but he opted out, due to scheduling conflicts with other films.[9] After Rahman opted out, Mansoor Khan roped in Anu Malik to complete the music fast, and release the film on time. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 18,00,000 units sold, the film's soundtrack album was the year's (2000) one of the highest-selling.[10] The song "Hai Mera Dil" is based on "Sealed with a Kiss" written by Peter Udell and Gary Geld, and "Djobi Djoba" performed by Gipsy Kings.[11]

• Josh at IMDb
• Josh at Rotten Tomatoes
• Josh at Box Office Mojo