Mumbai: Celebrating the Indian film fraternity’s original School of Cool and 25 years of its release, &pictures will air Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar as a special treat to usher in the New Year. Monday, 1st January, 2018 at 8PM.
Directed by Mansoor Khan and produced by Nasir Hussain, it is a coming of age school sports drama which created magic when it first released in 1992. The film redefined the generation, and set many motivational examples for the youth on how to plan their lives and destinies, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar was also widely applauded for its music which was composed by music director duo Jatin-Lalit. Songs like Pehla Nasha and Yahan Ke Hum Sikandar became anthems amongst the youth, and continues to be audience favourites even today!
Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar’s story revolves around the biggest sporting event for a school town – an annual cycling race. Schools and colleges in the town range from the highly prestigious Rajput College, moderately rich-kid schools like Xavier’s College and Queens College, and the relatively humble Model College. While Sanju (Aamir Khan) is an irresponsible brat from Model college, he dreams of making it big and often lies about his financial status. On one such instance, taking his childhood friend Anjali’s (Ayesha Jhulka) help, Sanju impresses Queen’s College’s Devika (Pooja Bedi). This leads to a rivalry between Sanju and Rajput College’s Shekhar (Deepak Tijori), because the latter also harbors feelings for Devika. This rivalry intensifies when an unfortunate accident injures Sanju’s brother Ratan (Mamik Singh), forcing Sanju to take complete responsibility of bringing home the glorious sports trophy.
Lead actor Ayesha Jhulka said, “The cool school vibe was very fresh, very electrifying and it was very naughty. Since it was a movie about school and we were barely out of school, we were very bubbly, cheerful and not very serious towards what we were doing but it turned out to be serious because eventually we were under a principal and school teachers which was of course our director and producer. It was is a wonderful memory, I don’t think that everybody gets the chance that I have been lucky, in fact all of us associated with Jo Jeeta Wohi Sinkandar; have been lucky in getting.
There have been so many memories. I think every day of our shoot was a memory in itself. We have some lovely moments with the dance and the song sequence. Madhav Kishan ji would scold us while shooing the song Sheher Ki Pariyon ke and then Pehla Nasha was a very good experience as far as the songs were concerned. Yahan Ke Hum Sikandar was just awesome because there was a scene where I just pull up my sleeves and go for the opposite party, it was so tom boyish.”
Pooja Bedi who played the antagonist in the movie said, “We were behaving like teenagers in a movie where we had to be teenagers and it was one of the most memorable films in life because till today I have been remembered for that scene where I stand on top of the car in Pehla Nasha, my red dress flies up. So that was very very memorable for me. And that’s something that I have never forgotten and neither will the people of India ever let me forget because whenever they meet me, that’s the one thing they always bring up.
Music Director, Lalit Pandit shared his experience of composing songs for the movie, “The music of Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander was created in a very energetic, happy and a carefree atmosphere. That was the reflection of the music in the film. It was energetic, it was youthful and absolutely a fresh kind of melody even at that time. It sounded very futuristic just like the film. It was absolutely memorable for both me and Jatin. We created the music in Mansoor Khan and Nasir Hussain’s farm house in Mandva, we stayed there for long to create this music. Every week or month we worked on it without being time-bound. We were free to work whenever we liked, we sat together with Mansoor Khan and made this beautiful, unforgettable music for a very iconic film whose music is timeless. People cannot forget the songs that were created including the romantic number ‘Pehla Nash’a’. It’s been a milestone in the career of Jatin-Lalit and it has been an unforgettable experience to work in Nasir Hussain’s production for Mansoor Khan’s iconic film Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander.”
