Siddharth "Siddhu "Marathe (Aamir Khan) is a Mumbai tapori, a boxing champion. His brother, Jaidev "Jai" (Rajit Kapur),is the accounts manager and right hand man for Raunak "Ronnie" Singh (Sharat Saxena),a former boxing champion who ostensibly runs a travel agency but in reality rules the local community by terrorising people and stealing money from innocent merchants. Other than his boxing practice, Siddhu leads a relatively aimless and wanderlust life. In his spare time, he hangs out with friends, occasionally stealing money from rich people. Siddhu is financially dependent on his elder brother Jai, who lives in Raunak Singh's house but occasionally visits Siddhu and tops up his finances.

Bhatts have known to remake Hollywood films from time memorial though they have given several great films. In 1990s Mahesh Bhatt directed many films, many worked like Aashiqui(1990),Dil Hai Ki Maanta Nahin(1991) which were not that great, while Hum Hai Raahi Pyaar Ke(1993) was a superb film and worked well too, he gave flops too like Criminal(1995),Chaahat(1996),Duplicate(1998) and many more. Ghulam directed by Vikram Bhatt who earlier worked with Bhatts in films like Fareb, Jaanam, Bambai Ka Babu, got his first hit reportedly with this film. The film is a remake of On The Waterfront(1954) which was earlier remade by the Bhatts as Kabzaa(1988) and Vidhu Vinod Chopra too borrowed a chapter from it in Parinda(1989) and other films too. Ghulam starts off well, Aamir's character though may seem close to his Rangeela character is different, he plays the typical thug with a heart of gold who does dirty work as told by his brother and then changes his life. The film also has Aamir's most dangerous stunt, the train stunt which he did himself and missed the train by a second. The first half focuses more on establishment of characters and does waste a bit more time on romance but the twist in the tale is superb, The second half focuses more on how Munna changes and seeks revenge The ending may be a bit hard to digest but yet is well executed Comparing with On The Waterfront may be tough, the film does copy most of the film but adds it's own masala, love and all but yet it's watchable Direction by Vikram Bhatt is good Music by Jatin Lalit is superb, All songs are seeped in melody, be it Kumar/Alka's songs Aankhon se Tune and Jaadu Hai, or Udit Narayan's superb Ab Naam Mohabbat Ki or the crowd puller Aati Kya Khandala which was sung by Aamir for the first time

Aamir Khan portrayed a tapori earlier in Rangeela(1995) but he doesn't repeat himself, he does a superb job as always and brings in the difference, He conveys a lot through his expressions. Rani with a dubbed voice is okay though she doesn't get much to do Mita Vashisht is superb in her role, Rajit Kapoor is superb Sharat Saxena is effective, Akshay Anand who also starred in Mahesh Bhatt's ZAKHM in the same year is good in his role, Raju Kher is okay in a short role,Deepak Tijori has just 1 scene, perhaps to recreate the JJWS success Amongst rest Bhatts Favourite Ashutosh Rana and Dalip Tahil have cameos

I first saw this in a theater in the late 90s. Revisited it recently. The film is an unofficial remake of On the Waterfront. While this one aint no masterpiece like the original, it has lots of action n thrilling moments. The most iconic one is the train sequence. The final showdown between the hero n the villain is a solid one too. The performance by the lead actor Aamir Khan is the highlight. Rani Mukherjee looked stunning throughout n very nice in the last scene with her black tshirt. Deepak Tijori's sideburns n his jacket is a big lol. The film does have its flaws.

The boxing match looked clearly rigged n not at all an official championship one. One of the fighter is not landing punches or defending himself but jus stayingin in one place, hands behind the rope n suffering punches by the opponent. The house/bldg doesn't have any safety hedge or any grill around. The jackets worn by the bikers are pathetic. Some of the side characters who played the bikers looked uncles n not at all youngsters.

Siddhu, a tearaway and ned, is a boxing champion. His elder brother is the accountant and henchman for a slumlord. The slumlord is a former boxing champion who rules the local community by terrorising people, extorting money from local shopkeepers n hoteliers n sometimes by match fixing. Siddhu convinces a social worker who reminds him of his dead father, into an ambush, preventing the social worker from persuading the local people to sign a police complain against the slumlord. Siddhu assumed that the slumlord's henchmen were only going to have a talk with the social worker to pressure him into not convincing the local people to file a police complain against the slumlord but is shocked when the social worker is killed.