25 years of Ghulam: From Aamir Khan’s refusal to work with Mahesh Bhatt to Rajit Kapur’s foray into commercial cinema, here are some known facts about the film

By Subhash K. Jha -

June 19, 2023 - 12:27 PM IST

The Aamir Khan and Rani Mukerji starrer Ghulam became an iconic film. Apart from its action and drama, the film also became the talk-of-the-town for its crowd favourite song ‘Aati Kya Khandala.’ As the movie turns 25 today, here are some unknown facts related to it.

25 years of Ghulam: From Aamir Khan’s refusal to work with Mahesh Bhatt to Rajit Kapur’s foray into commercial cinema, here are some known facts about the film

1. Ghulam was launched with Mahesh Bhatt as the director. But after the first schedule, Aamir Khan refused to work with Mahesh. So, another Bhatt, Vikram was roped in to do the needful, provoking Mahesh Bhatt to make that historic statement on perfection being a sickness.

2. Mita Vashisht, who played Aamir Khan’s lawyer, spoke to me about Aamir’s interference. She said, “Mahesh Bhatt put his foot down during Ghulam and did not allow Aamir Khan to dictate a particular moment in my performance. I worked with the most powerful directors including Mahesh Bhatt who directed some of my most powerful scenes in Ghulam before Vikram Bhatt took over. He just ignored Aamir’s objection to something I did in a shot we had together by saying, “Ya ya I saw it. I don’t know what she did, but it was beautiful. Okay next shot.” And he simply walked off to set up for the next shot. Directors like these make you feel ‘Yes there is a God who protects acting moments.’

3. Rani Mukerji wept buckets when her voice was dubbed by another voice, that of a professional dubbing artiste Mona Singh. They found Rani’s voice too gravelly. Rani never allowed her voice to be dubbed ever again. She was a hot favourite with Aamir Khan. She couldn’t do Aamir’s Lagaan. But jumped when (Mangal Pandey) The Rising fell into her lap.

4. Ghulam was directly inspired by Elia Kazan’s On The Waterfront, although back in those days it was fine to rip off Hollywood films without acknowledging the source material. Producer Mukesh Bhatt made another film Kubzaa based on the same story. Ghulam was the bigger hit.

5. The super-talented Rajit Kapur will never forget that it was theatre director Satyadev Dubey who recommended him for his role in Ghulam. Because of Dubey, Rajit got the important role of Aamir Khan's brother. It was Rajit’s first foray into commercial Hindi cinema.