Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar

In the hills of Dehradun, Uttarakhand lives Ramlal Sharma, a working-class coffeehouse owner having two sons - the principled, older one Ratan, and the indisciplined, younger one Sanjay, who both are from the lower middle-class Model College. Ratan is hardworking and is most appreciated by his father, while the extremely lazy Sanjay consequently fails in classes and spends most of his time hanging around with his close friends - Ghanshu and Ghode. As the significance of the film, Ratan competes for top honours at the inter-college sports event, but ends up losing the penultimate bicycle race miserably at the finish line to his archrival Shekhar Malhotra by less than a bicycle's length and placing second. Over the course of the next year, Ratan and Shekhar keep running into each other while training, usually ending with Shekhar, who is from the elite Rajput College, mocking Ratan over his modest background.

Meanwhile, the carefree Sanjay is busy chasing girls from the cars that he "burrows" from the garage of his childhood friend Anjali. One day, Sanjay and his group meet Devika, a rich, attractive girl studying at Queen's College. Sanjay falls in love at first sight with Devika and begins to grab her attention using some of his clever tricks. Also, he poses as Sanjay Thapar, the son of a highly respected millionaire in the town, who attends the another elite Xavier College in an effort to impress Devika. Much to his delight, Devika falls for Sanjay's lies and begins to like his company. It does not take time for Devika to develop a crush on Sanjay, and the two eventually confess their love for each other, much to the distraught of Anjali, who also always had a crush on Sanjay, and was under the impression that he has the same feelings for her.

A couple of months later, however, Sanjay's plan goes awry when Devika is shocked to discover his true identity during the inter-college dance competition, after seeing Sanjay with the group of Model College during his performance. A disgusted Devika severs ties with him and joins hands with Shekhar, much to Sanjay's dismay. That night, a furious Sanjay confronts Devika over hiding her truth of being a gold-digger, to which, she responds with a slap as a sign of complete uninterest left in him. Sanjay, who and Ratan are regularly insulted by Shekhar and his friends over their apparent poverty (as compared to them), in a fit of rage, gets into an intense fight with the group after being dumped by Devika.

Ratan - who is called in by Ghanshu and Ghode to the scene on time - intervenes and saves the day but raises his hand at Sanjay for his ill-advised actions. As a result, Ramlal banishes Sanjay from the house as he used his savings needed to be deposited in the bank for the purchase of a costly necklace that he gifted to Devika. The next day, Ramlal leaves for Delhi to purchase an imported, costly bicycle (from his savings and owing some debts) for Ratan - who tries to reconcile with Sanjay for his behaviour - but he refuses to acknowledge him as his older brother. However, things take a drastic turn when Ratan, during his bicycle ride, is attacked by Shekhar and his friends on a mountain street as a revenge for Sanjay's actions, and is accidentally pushed off the cliff by the group during the commotion.

Fortunately, Ratan survives due to immediate medication and is successfully recuperated by Sanjay, his friends, Anjali and Ramlal over the next few months, but is sadly unable to participate in the inter-college sport event as a result of his injuries. This development prompts a guilty Sanjay to get his act together – he begins training hard and preparing to participate in the race. He is helped by his friends, Ratan and Anjali, whom he later falls in love with and also confesses the same to her. On the day of the annual bicycle race, Shekhar and Sanjay take the lead but end up colliding and falling off course. They pick a yet another fight of rage each other over the incident involving Ratan, only to rejoin the race once the rest of the field has overtaken them on the course. They both manage to chase down the rest of the field, and emerge one behind the other, with Shekhar leading. At the finish line in the last lap of the race, Sanjay overtakes Shekhar to win the race for his college, marking the first time since Ramlal that Model College will lift the sports trophy.

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]

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]

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"

• List of films about bicycles and cycling

• Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar at IMDb