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Milind Soman Was Dropped From Aamir Khan's Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar For Being Unprofessional: Director
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Mansoor Khan reveals Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar was semi-autobiographical, based on his US-return guilt, and shares how recasting Deepak Tijori saved the film.
In a recent interview, director Mansoor Khan revealed that Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar wasn't a mere Bollywood remake—it was deeply personal. Speaking to SCREEN, Khan explained:
'The film is actually semi-autobiographical. A lot of Aamir Khan's character, Sanju, was actually derived from my own life."
He traced Sanju's spirit back to his own return from the US after dropping out of MIT. 'I dropped out of MIT and came back from the US, and when I came back, I was a lost soul. And basically, I was feeling this guilt, that I had wasted so much of my parents' money. And now I was acting like an angry young kid who's angry with the whole world, but actually, he should be angry with himself," he said.
That feeling led him to create an entire hour‑and‑forty‑minute video film in 1982 about a young man who just wants to laze around—a precursor to his feature debut. The production, however, nearly derailed early on. Khan admitted he had cast poorly and those decisions soon took a toll on the production. '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."
He even considered giving up after 40–45 days of shooting. He recalled, '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."
Some of those replaced tried to return later, including Milind Soman, but Khan stood firm. '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 turning point came when Deepak Tijori replaced Milind and brought the story back on track. 'Why I call it a child of destiny is because Milind went out, and Deepak came in. Deepak had actually tested with Milind… I wasn't making casting decisions properly back then."
First Published:
June 25, 2025, 13:45 IST
