Here’s to Shekhar Malhotra—just!

To think of it Bollywoodrsquos finest teenage romance ever Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander JJWS was entirely shelved after completing about 75 per cent of shootmdashand all the effort and money wasted Only that its director Mansoor Khan told Deepak Tijori this only decades after its release on May 22 1992When Mansoor along with his producerfather Nasir Hussain met Tijori for the first time upon Aamir Khanrsquos recommendation they only told him the filmrsquos villain had to be replaced In the same way that actors Krishma Pahuja for Pooja Bedirsquos part and Girija Shettar for Ayesha Jhulkarsquos role had been chucked out after much shoot alreadyTijori himself had failed the audition for the young schoolboy antagonistrsquos part earlier As had hundreds before him including Akshay Kumar Mansoor took Tijori over to Bandrarsquos Ketnav minitheatre to show him the rushes of what they had shotTijori was mesmerised by Archiersquos Riverdale High like world created with Aamir and his Model School friends opposite the Rajput boys headlined by supermodel Milind Soman as Shekhar Malhotra ldquowho looked like God on screenrdquoNow producer Bunty Walia was also one of the Rajput jocksboys This lot had to be replaced to start shoot altogether afresh Also Aamir as Sanju and Mamik as the brother Ratan Lal would have to play their parts all over againTijori had become quite the rage after Aashiqui 1990 On cue he began training for the cyclist championrsquos part at the gym in Holiday Inn where Shakti Kapoor would ask him to calm the hell down and do some other exercises too ldquoLook at how only your thighs are bulgingrdquoJJWS shot in Kodaikanal Cunnoor besides Bombayrsquos Film City is an uncredited remake of Breaking Away 1979 which was set and filmed entirely in Bloomington Indiana as a tribute to the small town in America that hosts the Indiana UniversityThe local poor boys in that film are disparagingly called ldquoCuttersrdquo because thatrsquos what their workingclass parents did in order to build the fancy university in Bloomington that the original inhabitants of the town can never get intoIts equivalent in JJWS are of course the ldquoPajaama Chhapsrdquo of Model School whose parents similarly service the rich kids who come to study in a boarding school town Only JJWS is a much more joyous and wholesome version of the Peter Yates Hollywood filmHow Mansoor wholly uplifted the romance and sportscycle drama besides infusing humour and Archie comics was introducing into it the warm element of sibling love between brothers Ratan and Sanjumdashsomething I havenrsquot seen explored as well or at all sinceThere was something about this filmmdashthe song lsquoPehla Nasharsquo where Shah Rukh Khan gets his hands outstretched pose from by the way Pooja Bedirsquos flying red skirt inspired by Marilyn Monroe the onstage song medley like Nasir Hussain had in Hum Kisise Kum Nahin 1977 the sincerity of Ratan or quite simply the adorable Sanju and his coed Model buddies bumbling around Ram Lalrsquos Cafeacute apostrophe is missing on their boardhellipKids boys in particular of my generation rooted for JJWS in a way that we hadnrsquot for any film before I distinctly recall as a child way past my bedtime sitting up to watch the Filmfare Awards only to cheer JJWS win Best Film Yay it didAamir did not win Best Actor Anil Kapoor did for Beta Aamir hasnrsquot attended a desi film award since There were allegations of blatant rigging Years later I asked Anil Kapoor if he had indeed rigged that yearrsquos FilmfareHe said he didnrsquot take awards seriously enough to pull off such a stunt I asked him if hersquod ever spoken to Aamir ldquoAbout this We have never spoken We are great friends and this is too small a thingrdquoMaybe hersquos right Nobody I know remembers Beta Everybody I know lovingly recalls JJWS Its beauty perhaps lies in the fact that no character in it is really a hero or a villain for that matter Everybody is as they would be and probably aremdashgoing about life based on the privileges accordedExactly 30 years since the filmrsquos release I just had to meet and tell Shekhar Malhotra Tijori that he should not have pushed Ratan Mamik off the cliff But then again Sanju Aamir would not have emerged as the championAlso that push was accidentalmdashShekhar was not a potential killer just a bratty Reggie Mantle As Ratan falls you hear Shekhar go ldquoOh shitrdquo Which wasnrsquot there in the script The stunt master too much into choreographing the action didnrsquot want Tijori to express regret Mansoor kept itRich and arrogant surely but Shekhar is actually the absolute dudemdashgreat at all sports not just cycling the school head boy and a Queenrsquos College chickmagnet of sorts In fact Tijori tells me when he first watched JJWS in Delhi along with the filmrsquos cast and crew he could sense audiences in the theatre actually supportingcelebrating Shekhar Malhotra So lsquoDelhirsquo broMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper