It's no secret that Gupt is seeing renewed popularity today after Aryan Khan's The Ba***ds of Bollywood made a stylish entry into the pantheon of films and series. Be it Bollywood or Hollywood, every now and then film people love depicting their world on the screen.
The plot of The Ba***ds of Bollywood was hidden for a really long time, just like THE secret in Gupt. And what's common between this latest Netflix series that people can't seem to get enough of and the 1997 action thriller film is Bobby Deol.
Cinephiles and millennials whose love affair with a well-made, massy and entertaining Bollywood thriller like Gupt goes back to their ahem childhood didn't take a beat to realise that Aryan Khan had spoofed Gupt as 'Sailaab' in his directorial debut The Ba***ds of Bollywood, which premiered just last week.
From the poster showing Bobby Deol's superstar Ajay Talwar in those uber popular golden shades in top producer Freddy Sodawalla's office to the AI-recreated version of the party banger Duniya Haseenon Ka Mela which has made the original song go viral all over all, Gupt is here, there, and everywhere today. It's the next '90s Bollywood film that Gen Z must watch.
And Gupt, directed by Rajiv Rai the man behind superhits such as Tridev, Vishwatma, and Mohra, was not one of those 1990s films that didn't do well at the box office. Mounted at around Rs 10 crore, the film -- also starring Kajol and Manisha Koirala -- raised over Rs 33 crore in reported earnings at the time. Its lifetime earnings, if adjusted to today's value of rupee and inflation, would be Rs 544.50 crore.
It was a true-blue Bollywood potboiler that had everything working for it, including its goldmine of a soundtrack by composer Viju Shah and veteran lyricist Anand Bakshi.
Gupt starts with its unforgettable title song, sung by Kavita Krishamurthy and Hema Sardesai, and we are hooked, booked and cooked. We meet bad boy Sahil, played by Bobby Deol, a young man who's high on life, booze, and women dancing to Duniya Haseenon Ka Mela.
We soon realise drinking and pubbing is his post-puberty way to attract attention from his mother (Priya Tendulkar) who remarried and that to the governor of Mumbai (Raj Babbar). Sahil reconnects with his childhood sweetheart and daughter of his stepfather's employee Isha (Kajol) but his stepfather wants him to marry bade ghar ki modern beti Sheetal (Manisha Koirala).
Childhood love hits hard and Sahil rebels against his stepfather and refuses to marry Sheetal. A few days later, his stepfather is found murdered in cold blood with a dagger. Everyone suspects Sahil, who runs for his life but somehow lands into it and makes the Great Escape, much like how we saw in The Shawshank Redemption, with the single aim to prove his innocence and catch the real killer.
The movie, which had stellar performances by supporting cast featuring veterans like Paresh Rawal, Om Puri, Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Prem Chopra, and Raza Murad, was one of those rare 1990s movies which received 'A' certificate from the Censor Board.
Yes, there's a love triangle at the centre of Gupt, with both Manisha Koirala and Kajol vying for Bobby Deol's attention, but there were no explicit vulgar scenes in it. What brought on the much-feared 'A' certificate were the themes of murder, violence, and blood in the climax scenes and also the fact that the hero is accused of killing his stepfather.
The film, situations, and songs move hand-in-hand, just like how it used to be in the good ol' times. As tensions and body count mount, we watch and listen to some of the best soundtracks of the '90s. Besides the secretive Gupt Gupt and the flirty, youthful Duniya Hasino Ka Mela, there's also an intense Mushkil Bada Yeh Pyar Hai, a track that shows Isha and Sheetal's contrasting love for Sahil in different landscapes in the genius Mere Khwaabon Mein Tu, the waiting-for-the-mess-to-begin track Ye Pyar Kya Hai, a sultry number in Yeh Pyasi Mohabbat, and the sappy Mere Sanam Tujhko. There was a song for every mood and genre in Gupt.
Some of us eagle-eyed viewers sensed something was off between Mona Singh's character Neeta, who is The Ba***ds of Bollywood hero Aasmaan Singh's mother, and Bobby Deol's superstar Ajay Talwar in the very first episode of the series.
But no one imagined that Aryan Khan and his team would recreate Duniya Hasino Ka Mela superimposing Mona Singh's face on Bhanu Khan, one of the top background dancers in '90s Bollywood. What a fun and madcap ride this has been.
Gupt, which becomes 'Sailaab' in The B***ds of Bollywood, was also full of twists and turns and none of them were too hard to believe.
Towards the climax, when Sahil's stepbrother, played by Just Mohabbat breakout child actor Harsh Lunia, finally manages to open the locket, the collective gasp of the audience finding out Kajol is the killer is something that filmmakers, even Saiyaara's, would kill for today.
How the makers turned the whole idea of goodness on its head.
We started out with Kajol's Isha as the middle-class, sweet, shy, and miss goody two shoes who is heartbroken after her childhood love is being snatched away from her by the high and mighty, more influential people. Manisha Koirala's Sheetal, on the other hand, is this upper class, modern, refined and opinionated woman who goes after what she wants. And, we all know who the killer was.
On the 25th anniversary of Gupt in 2022, Kajol spoke about playing an obsessive lover-turned-serial killer in the 1997 film.
"It was the shock value of the film, the character and the fact that nobody expected it to come. It was gutsy at that time to do it. It's the story and role that's what really got me to do it... It's difficult to recreate the success of Gupt in the age of streamers.
"... It was also the time when there was nothing else (mediums). A big film would definitely be a hit as we didn't have social media and had no other form of entertainment, except cinema. So, for a film to do 25 weeks or a golden jubilee was much easier then. There is so much competition with a big screen today," Kajol told PTI in an interview.
She said director Rajiv Rai was "a little nervous" because he was not sure whether she would do the film.
"He sat for a two-hour narration and was sweating profusely. But by the end of it, both Tanisha (her sister) and I were like 'I have to do this film'. There was no question about it, it was perfect for me," she recalled.
Receiving high praise from her mother and veteran actress Tanuja's praise for the film was another special moment.
"I remember my mother telling me, 'Oh my God, what a film!'. And that's the highest accolade that I can get because my mother rarely likes my films, she would like my performances but not films," said Kajol, who became the first female actor to win a Filmfare for best villain for Gupt.
That Gupt is back in pop culture in what is Bobby Deol's 30th year in Indian cinema is all the more heartening.
Also Read | Who Is The OG Duniya Haseeno Ka Mela Girl Replaced By Mona Singh In The Ba***ds Of Bollywood?
