Actually, Shah Rukh Khan-Aishwarya Rai's Josh Is A Great West Side Story Adaptation

June 06, 2024

2000 was a wild year for Bollywood. Mohabbatein came out and we witnessed just how explosive Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan's combined star power can be, Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai dropped and Hrithik Roshan started a frenzy (and a dance revolution) with his criminally smooth moves and Hera Pheri led by Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal launched as comedy gold. As if that isn't enough range, Hindi cinema also got Josh that year. Directed by Mansoor Khan, the film saw a headband-wearing Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai play a brother-sister duo, twins at that. While that could have been the most interesting move Josh pulled off, the movie did not stop there. It was also an adaptation that liberally drew inspiration from the American musical West Side Story. Yup, before we had Spielberg's ambitious Oscar-nominated 2021 film, we had Josh.

As Josh completes 23 years, here's a breakdown of how the film Indianised West Side Story, gave us the banger that is Apun Bola and made Bollywood buffs fall in love with a rowdy (and slightly problematic) Shah Rukh Khan.

From New York City to Goa

The plot of the timeless musical West Side Story revolves around the rivalry between the Jets, a street gang led by Riff and the Puerto Rican Sharks led by Bernardo. The largely white Jets clash with the new immigrants in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Between their rumbles for dominance, Tony - a former Jets member spots Maria, Bernardo's younger sister at a local dance and sparks fly. Later he finds out that she is related to Bernardo. Of course, Bernardo wants Tony to stay away from Maria. As if that was going to stop them. While this sounds like a quintessential star-crossed lovers' story, West Side Story is full of socio-political truths about living in America. Josh takes this narrative and grounds it in the streets of Goa. The Bollywood film opens with Goa's liberation from the Portuguese. Years after the historic event, the fictional Vasco Town in the '80s had a real estate crisis with frequent issues between tenants and corrupt landlords. Very early in the movie, we see locals getting evicted and insidious scam deals being made over properties. This results in two warring street gangs - the Eagle gang and the Bichhoo gang.

Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai in Josh

The Bichhoos are led by Prakash Sharma (Sharad Kapoor) and the Eagles are led by Max Dias (Shah Rukh Khan). The town is divided in half with a maidan serving as a partition. The rivalry gets worse when Prakash's brother Rahul (Chandrachur Singh) shows up and decides to move from Mumbai to Goa. He not only wants to settle down and open a pastry shop, but he also ends up falling in love with Max's sister Shirley (because how could you not fall in love with biker-chic Aishwarya Rai?). Of course, he must tread lightly across gang borders. Josh romanticised Goa on screen before Dil Chahta Hai. Between the “What mans”, and the Konkani dialogues, the film immersed in Goan culture effectively localised West Side Story for the Indian audience. It was quite the feat. Moreover, the original’s melodramatic themes found the perfect outlet in Bollywood with romance, drama and old family secrets creeping up later in the movie.

Tu Meri Laila

The most memorable part of Josh (apart from Shah Rukh Khan's tiny yet badass ear cuff) is arguably Apun Bola sung by Hema Sardesai and SRK. The song revolves around Max trying to woo Rosanne (Priya Gill), his love interest with Shirley playing wing girl. It isn't just an earworm featuring SRK's own voice, it is a solid nod to Romeo and Juliet. One thing you need to know about West Side Story, if you haven't guessed it yet, is that it draws heavily from the Shakespearean classic. So "Apun bola, tu meri Laila" is a direct reference to the source material that the movie derives its plot lines. In the song, Max refers to Rosanne as his Laila/Juliet. Meanwhile, the movie finds a heroine in the stunning Aishwarya Rai. With her girl-next-door charm mixed and her rowdy demeanor, the actress played a magnetic Juliet. Chandrachur Singh made for an unconventional Romeo - a romantic hero in a movie that already stars Shah Rukh Khan. Slow claps. Josh Shah Rukh Khan Romeo - a romantic hero

Josh Shah Rukh Khan Romeo - a romantic hero

Moreover, the Sharks and the Jets or the Bichhoos and Eagles are basically the Montagues and Capulets. The Romeo and Juliet references do not stop there. If this movie was trying to be subtle about its influences, it wasn't doing a very good job because it has lines like this - "Woh tera fruit salad banayega Romeo..." a dialogue between Shirley and Rahul while they're home together and Max is away. Fearing what Max would do if he finds out that Rahul is in his home making fruit salad, Shirley tries to warn him about what could happen if he doesn't leave soon enough.

A star-studded Bollywood musical

West Side Story is a musical and if any film industry gets the essence of musicals it's Bollywood. So it comes as no surprise that Josh with music composition by Anu Malik had some great dance numbers. For starters, the rumble sequence in Sailaru Sailare by Mano and Suresh Peters which sees the Eagle gang and Bichhoo gang face off does a great job of setting up the rivalry between the gangs. The choreography by Farah Khan keeps it fun while the actors reportedly delivered the dance sequence in a single take. Later, we see a stunning sequence in the movie's version of the neighbourhood dance. In it, a masked-up Rahul dances with Shirley right under Max's nose. The film's song and dance scenes remain memorable to this date.

While the original stays true to Romeo and Juliet's tragedy roots, Josh being a Bollywood movie, opts for a happy ending. It is revealed that Max and Shirley are illegitimate children of the town's original owner Alberto Vasco. Upon getting this information, Rahul tries to relay the news to Shirley but it ends up in his brother Prakash's hands who wants to get Rahul married to Shirley and put Max behind bars. Max's arrest strains Rahul and Shirley's relationship but all ends well when the former admits his brother's wrongdoings. By the climax, Rahul and Shirley get married while Max ties the knot with Rosanne.

Over the years, many parallels between West Side Story and Josh have been found. However, the film’s makers haven’t officially addressed this. The film opened to packed theatres and went on to become the 6th highest-grossing movie of 2000. And to think we have Shakespeare and West Side Story to thank for the perfectly goonish Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai.

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