Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar’ is one of the best movies of Aamir Khan. The film is loved for its plot, cast and also the wonderful music, especially ‘Pehla Nasha’. But did you know that there was immense trouble during the making of it. 60-70 percent of the film was re-shot entirely as the original cast was removed and the makers shot with an all-new cast. ‘Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar’ was directed by Mansoor Khan. It starred Aamir Khan with Ayesha Jhulka, Deepak Tijori, Pooja Bedi among others.Initially, Milind Soman was cast for the part which eventually was played by Deepak. In a recent interview with Screen, Mansoor has opened up on replacing the cast. He said, “I cast a bunch of people, and it was my mistake. It was the wrong cast. I actually feel I should write a book on Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar. That’s the one film where everything felt like fate, a true child of destiny. So many amazing things happened. Strangely, everyone who initially came into the project, for one reason or another, I rejected the right ones and picked the wrong ones.”He added, “We shot for 40–45 days in and around Ooty, Coonoor, then came back to Bombay and shot a lot more, including the songs. But I could see the film was going nowhere. I won’t take names, but those people were absolutely unprofessional. They made life miserable, not just for me, but for the entire crew. The film was turning out really badly, and it also nearly stalled.”Due to these reasons, Khan also thought of completely giving up on the project. He said, “I felt like giving up. But the film’s story is about getting up and winning. So in a way, life was mirroring art. We stayed quiet. We threw those guys out. They went to the press, said all kinds of nasty things about me and Aamir. But we didn’t respond. Our focus was clear, we had a film to make, and a good one. And in the end, the result is in front of you.”He added, “The person who pulled me out of it was Aamir. He said, ‘Throw these guys out. We’ll make a good film.’ I was in a really dark place then, depressed, on the verge of a breakdown. I used to wake up in the middle of the night crying during the shoot.”Mansoor also said that some of these people even came back to him later. “Some of those same people came back to me later, including Milind Soman. They didn’t understand filmmaking. They didn’t understand humility, or the director’s role, or that the film is bigger than any individual, bigger than the actor, the director, or the producer. They came in with strange ideas. But again, the mistake was mine. I shouldn’t have cast them.“The director said it was destiny that Milind went and Deepak came in. He also said that he doesn’t hold grudges or doesn’t dwell in the past. “Why I call it a child of destiny is because Milind went out, and Deepak came in. Deepak had actually tested with Milind. But Milind got the part, based on his looks and physique. I wasn’t making casting decisions properly back then.”He added, “I don’t dwell on it. I just say: Fine. You did what you did. You lost a good film. You lost credibility. You didn’t respect me, or the film, and that always comes back around.”
