''Aaj Ka Arjun'' is a 1990 Hindi-language crime drama film, directed and produced by K.C. Bokadia and starring

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; born as Amitabh Shrivastav; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor, film producer, television host, occasional playback singer and former politician known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of the most succe ...

and

Jaya Prada Jaya Prada Nahata (born Lalitha Rani; 3 April 1962) is an Indian actress and politician. She is hailed as one of the most iconic and influential actresses in both Telugu and Hindi film industries in late '70s, '80s and early '90s. Jayaprada i ...

. The film follows the crux of the epic Mahabharata, but with its modified storyline through the perspective of

Bhima In Hindu epic Mahabharata, Bhima ( sa, भीम, ) is the second among the five Pandavas. The ''Mahabharata'' relates many events that portray the might of Bhima. Bhima was born when Vayu, the wind god, granted a son to Kunti and Pandu. Af ...

and

Arjuna Arjuna (Sanskrit: अर्जुन, ), also known as Partha and Dhananjaya, is a character in several ancient Hindu texts, and specifically one of the major characters of the Indian epic Mahabharata. In the epic, he is the third among Panda ...

, a deviation from the Vyasa's original version of the epic Mahabharata The film was a hit and was the 3rd Highest-grossing film of 1990. The film premiered on 10 August 1990 in Mumbai and was filmed in Rajasthan. It is a remake of 1988 Tamil film '' En Thangachi Padichava''.

Controversy

was initially reluctant to play the titular name-

and suggested

for the character instead. Bachchan cited personal reasons for not keeping the name- Arjun, saying that he has been frequent with the great epic- Mahabharata and didn't find the character of Arjuna much interesting and cringeworthy, though really liked the character of Bhima, stating— “''Bhima is the only warrior in Mahabharata who could come close to Karna in valour and heroism”'' Making a contemporary version of the Mahabharata through Bhima's perspective, the director Bokadia in a magazine interview stated:

“ It is often said, that ‘history is written by elder brothers’ but what about younger brothers-
Bhima In Hindu epic Mahabharata, Bhima ( sa, भीम, ) is the second among the five Pandavas. The ''Mahabharata'' relates many events that portray the might of Bhima. Bhima was born when Vayu, the wind god, granted a son to Kunti and Pandu. Af ...
and
Arjuna Arjuna (Sanskrit: अर्जुन, ), also known as Partha and Dhananjaya, is a character in several ancient Hindu texts, and specifically one of the major characters of the Indian epic Mahabharata. In the epic, he is the third among Panda ...
, they also have a story to tell. So, this is basically a contemporary version focusing on Bhima and Arjuna, this has nothing to do with the storyline or plot of the original epic. After the telecasting of BR Chopra Mahabharata on television, names like Karna and Krishna became extremely popular. In the 80s and 90s, each and every household, a child’s name would be ‘Karan’. You would see parents keeping their son’s name like - Karan, Karandev, Karanjeet, Karangopal etc and simultaneously Ramayan was also telecast on television. Also names like Rama, Lakshman became cult and popular in households after telecast of Ramayana. Such was the influence of TV on people. After so much cult of Hindu epics, even films began taking inspiration from Mahabharata. See blockbuster Thalapathi of Rajnikanth and Vijaypath of Ajay Devgn, Kalyug (1981 film) starring Shashi Kapoor. These films are based completely on the original Mahabharata where the storyline and plot both have been inspired by the actual epic itself but in these adaptations, Arjun and Bhima are often sidelined. In some film adaptations, they are ‘as good as not in the film even’. I too had thought of making a film on Mahabharata but now everybody had already become familiar with Mahabharata through Doordarshan. So, it seemed boring to narrate the same heroism of Karna which are taught in school books, shown in innumerous serials, worshipped in temples. An idea clicked in my mind to make the epic through Bhima and Arjun’s point of view which would be new to the audience. But Amit (Amitabh)was reluctant to keep the name- Arjun, thus played Bhima. My mission is to create films on those mythological characters who have been historically sidelined or didn’t get enough representation in history. My next project would be on Indrajeet etc.”

Cast

as Bheem Singh "Bheema" *

as Gauri * Raadhika as Laxmi Singh * Suresh Oberoi as Mohan * Kiran Kumar as Lakhan * Anupam Kher as Police Inspector * Amrish Puri as Thakur Bhupendra Singh * Rishabh Shukla as Ajit Singh * Asrani as Chikoo * Priti Sapru as Mohan's Wife *Baby Guddu as Kanhaiya Singh

Soundtrack

The music for the film was composed by Bappi Lahiri, one of the leading music directors of the time. The film has a memorable number "Gori Hai Kalaiyaan, Tu Laade Mujhe Hari Hari Choodiyaan", music of which was copied from the original composition of music director Shankar–Jaikishan, with voices lent by Lata Mangeshkar and Shabbir Kumar, which earned great popularity that year. During those days, when cable television and Dish TV facilities were not as popular in India as they are today, this song was often telecast in some programmes of

Doordarshan Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest bro ...

as a trendy track of that period. Picturised on Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Prada, the song charmed the listeners, and today it is considered as one of the evergreen songs of the 90s. Lyrics written by Anjaan.

Awards

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0098976, Aaj Ka Arjun 1990 films Films scored by Bappi Lahiri 1990s Hindi-language films 1990 crime drama films Hindi remakes of Tamil films Films about landlords Films directed by K. C. Bokadia Hindi-language crime films Indian crime drama films