Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar
Poster
Directed by	Mansoor Khan
Written by	Nasir Hussain Mansoor Khan
Produced by	Nasir Hussain
Starring	Aamir Khan Ayesha Jhulka Deepak Tijori Mamik Singh Pooja Bedi Kulbhushan Kharbanda
Cinematography	Najeeb Khan
Edited by	Zafar Sultan Dilip Kotalgi
Music by	Jatin–Lalit
Production company	Nasir Hussain Films
Distributed by	Eros Worldwide
Release date	22 May 1992 (1992-05-22)
Running time	169 mins
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Box office	₹52 million[1]

Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (transl. The one who wins is the king) also abbreviated as JJWS 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 was inspired by the 1979 American film Breaking Away.^[4][5] It won two Filmfare Awards, including Best Film.^[6] It was remade in Telugu in 1999 as Thammudu which in turn was remade in multiple languages.^[7]

Plot

In the hills of Dehradun, a marathon cycle race is the main event at the annual inter-school sports meet. Ratan Lal of Model College, the main contender to Shekhar Malhotra, of the elite Rajput School, narrowly loses to him at the finish line. Ratan's father, Ramlal, an ex-champion himself, vows to buy Ratan an expensive new cycle so that he can compete better next year.

Ramlal saves money for Ratan's cycle from the income at his town square cafe, which Ratan also helps to run. Meanwhile, Shekhar, a rich playboy, sets his eyes on a new entrant to Queens College, Devika. He asks her out but is caught romancing her classmate, Richa. Ratan's younger brother, Sanjay, witnesses all this, and offers a ride to Devika to escape from Shekhar. He pretends to come from a wealthy family to befriend Devika, then helps her plot her revenge against Shekhar. Soon, Devika and Sanjay start going out and he starts buying her expensive gifts from his father's saved money for Ratan.

At an inter-school dance competition event, Devika learns of Sanjay's actual background after seeing him participate with the group from Model College, a modest local school. She dumps him the next day by showing up at his cafe with Shekhar. Following this, a fight breaks out between Sanjay and Shekhar's friends. One of Shekhar's party gets injured when Ratan intervenes on Sanjay's behalf. To exact revenge on him, Shekhar's friends confront Ratan the next morning, while he is out training alone. The fight ends with Ratan falling off the cliff, and landing up in the hospital with severe injuries and a coma. He awakes eventually, but will not recover in time to compete in the annual sports event.

Ramlal is dejected after already having bought the new cycle for Ratan. Sanjay starts taking more responsibility at the cafe, and also announces his intention to compete in that year's race. He is aided by Anjali, who helps him train and prepare for the race. Seeing her dedication to him, he starts reciprocating her romantic feelings for him and they fall in love.

During the race, Shekhar leads out from the field and is out by himself with his group from Rajput. Sanjay catches up and stays with them, but eventually, tangles with Shekhar to fall off-track. The two engage in another fight and fall behind. Resuming the race, Shekhar catches up with the others and emerges in the lead again. Sanjay chases everyone else down, and at the final turn, catches up to Shekhar. He overtakes him at the finish line to win the race. Ratan feels vindicated as Sanjay celebrates Model's first victory in decades.

Cast

Production

The film was directed by Mansoor Khan, and written and produced by Nasir Hussain.^[9] Akshay Kumar had auditioned^[10] and Milind Soman was signed for Shekhar Malhotra's role,^[11] 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.^[12]

Filming

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^[13] in the south of India, primarily Kodaikanal.^[14] Soman had completed 75% of his scenes before being replaced by Tijori.^[15]

Music

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Planet Bollywood	[16]

The music for the film 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 1993 Filmfare Awards. "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.^[17]

Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar was the third best-selling Bollywood soundtrack album of 1992, having sold 2.5 million units in India.^[18]

Release and reception

Box office

In India, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar net ₹40 million^[19][20] and grossed ₹52 million (US$2.01 million),^[1] equivalent to ₹927 million (US$12 million) adjusted for inflation.^[21] The film opened to good responses, and was declared a hit at the box office.^[22] 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.^[23]

Awards

38th Filmfare Awards:

Won

• Best Film
• Best Editing – Zafar Sultan and Dilip Katalgi

Nominated

• Best Director – Mansoor Khan
• Best Actor – Aamir Khan
• Best Supporting Actress – Pooja Bedi
• Best Music Director – Jatin–Lalit
• Best Lyricist – Majrooh Sultanpuri for "Woh Sikandar Hi Doston"
• Best Male Playback Singer – Udit Narayan for "Pehla Nasha"

See also

• List of films about bicycles and cycling

References

External links

• Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar at IMDb