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Mansoor Khan, director and Aamir Khan’s cousin wanted Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander to be his first film but ended up making Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak first. The entire cast even today misses Mansoor the director - he hung up his boots and shifted his base to Coonor to run a cheese-making farm there.
The entire cast of Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander reunited for Movie Mela at MAMI on Saturday to celebrate the now iconic film. Aamir pleaded Mansoor to come back to filmmaking and the ace director quipped, “only if Rajkumar Hirani writes a script for me”!
Till we wait for that magnum opus, here’s looking back at Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander and the things that make it such a great watch - we can bet you don’t know some of these trivia!
The Entire Film Was Shot Twice
Did you know that Milind Soman was cast for Deepak Tijori’s role and had shot most of the portions for the film? Akshay Kumar tested for the role but did not make the cut. Even Ayesha Jhulka was called in much later.
Farah Khan started as an assistant director to Mansoor Khan, but ended up turning choreographer as Saroj Khan didn’t turn up on the shoot.
Such and more trivia were shared by the cast and crew at the event.
The first shoot of Jo Jeeta... was very difficult in Kodaikanal. We had real trouble with the weather and the cycling was very tough. After 60 days of shoot, I went out to shoot for something else and coincidentally I was in Ooty when Mansoor called me to say that we have a problem and would have to reshoot all the scenes with Devika, who was played by a different actress that time. I was like, ‘What? That is half of what we just shot!’ Two months later, the girl who was playing Ayesha Jhulka’s part, also wanted to leave the film as she was leaving the country.Aamir Khan, Actor
Aamir, The Prankster
Aamir is a prankster. I clearly remember when we were in Kodaikanal. I was a cool girl, so was given two chotis (braids) for the film. Aamir would go and tie my ribbons so tightly every time that after every shot, it would take me at least 15 minutes to untie them. Mansoor would always tell Aamir, “What ya, not again!”Kiran Zaveri, Actor
When Aamir Pulled Down Little Imran’s Pants
Imran played the role of little Aamir in the film and what did his mamu do? Aamir reveals that Imran did not have any idea that they had planned to pull his pants down. All he was told was to stand up while he cycled and Imran, as an ambitious kid, took it upon himself to do it. And Aamir pulled down his pants. Imran was very angry after the take and started crying.
Looking back at the film, Imran shares what was it like to be a part of this madness.
Honestly, it was less about the acting and more about getting out of school at that age. It was just a whole lot of fun. We never talked about acting or anything. I remember, I would be sitting in class and I would be called to the principal’s office. I would go there to find my mom looking very serious as she would tell the principal that there is a family emergency and I would have to leave school. When I would ask my mom what happened, she would tell me that we are going to Madh Island to shoot.Imran Khan, Actor
The Climax Was A Huge Challenge
Can you believe that the grip-your-seat-edge climax was shot on director Mansoor Khan’s terrace?
The set for the climax kept becoming smaller by the end of the shoot. Eventually it was only three boys behind Mamik (Singh) on my terrace. The iconic moment was shot that way. I think the tough job was for Mamik to pretend that he could see cycles from my terrace.Mansoor Khan, Director
We think it’s time to watch the movie again, don’t you?
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