The Unreal Universe of Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandar

That milk glass sequence is a classic. Odd choice for the poster though | source: IMDB

I am arguably the biggest fan of the 1992 hindi movie Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandar.

Putting together the part re-runs, I have watched the movie at least 35–40 times. Needless to say, my brain cells have been spent evaluating the absolute minutiae of the three hour long saga.

And here is my takeaway.

JJWS claims to be set in our world. But it is actually set in a universe that is, almost but not exactly, like ours.

Here is how I got to this conclusion.

The Geography is not like anything we know

The movie starts with a voiceover announcing the movie is set in Dehradun, which is indeed a city in India well known for its schools — which is what the movie is about. So far, so good.

In the first ten minutes of the movie, we are in the heat of an inter-school cycle race where the commentator announces it to be a 50km race starting from a city stadium, going through Baramulla ghats to Pillar rocks in Kodaikanal, and back to the stadium. After numerous searches, assuming that two places could have the same name, the following map appears.

Recreated using approximate locations from Google maps

That is a 7100 km stretch! Hence, the Dehradun of JJWS is not the Dehradun in India. And since there is no other Dehradun with a Kodaikanal within a 50 km radius, this is not a Dehradun in the world we inhabit.

The Gregorian Calendar doesn’t work OR time itself is warped

In the mentioned race, the following sequence appears,

So, the year is 1990. The hero’s brother Ratan finishes second in this race (ergo, he’s not Sikandar). Still no mean feat so he is felicitated by his school where his principal tells him that the next year is his final one in school so he needs to win the ultimate trophy (no pressure).

Thanks to the villainy of the rich brats from the competing school, poor Ratan finds himself in the midst of a near-fatal accident a few weeks before the next season’s race.

Ratan tries to fight against time to recover, while his younger brother Sanjay, our suddenly righteous hero, prepares to compete in his stead to give his victory-crazed father some solace. During this montage, the director gives us a lot of calendar shots building up the tension as the race nears.

Based on the fact stated above that Ratan had a single year left to compete after the previous race, this could only be the year 1991. But the calendar does not match the Oct 1991 dates.

Hold the phone! The calendar makes no sense.

There are 10 days from 21st to 31st of Oct, so if Oct 21 was a Thursday, 31st would be a Sunday. Then again, if 31st was a Saturday, 5th Nov would be a Thursday.

Stranger things are afoot

Many Bollywood movies in the 90s were male-centric — they still are. But the absence of women (mothers, especially) in JJWS is striking.

There are girls — Sanjay’s BFF Anjali, his infatuation Devika and Ratan’s love interest Kalpana. Two other school girls make a named appearance. The only non-school going woman is a teacher who berates Sanjay’s good-for-nothing friends when they try to flirt with some girls.

Ratan & Sanjay’s mother has passed away prior to the movie’s timeline— as evidenced by a blink-and-you-miss garlanded photo in the background in this scene. Anjali doesn’t have a mother in the fray either.

Two families without mothers isn’t unusual. What’s unusual is a lack of reference to any of them in the 180 minutes.

No one, absolutely no one, refers to any memory of them whatsoever. There are numerous flashbacks to the brothers’ childhood in the emotional song Roothke humse kabhi but none with a mother or any other motherly figure in sight.

Unsurprisingly, fails the Bechdel test!

So, what? The director just made a ton of goof-ups.

Possible, but unlikely.

Mansoor Khan is an IITB-Cornell-MIT graduate, and has several remarkable movies to his name. Hard to doubt his craft or attention to detail.

Sample this scene where he has taken care to ensure the differential equation on the board is solved accurately.

Aamir’s level of distraction mirrors mine when we were taught calculus!

I believe Mansoor Khan was trying to tell us something about JJWS’ world. Mr. Khan, if this piece travels the interwebs to you, please take a moment to enlighten us.

Till then, this is a rabid fan thanking you for creating the magic that is Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikander. May your tribe increase.