Some movies are indeed special. They not just make a place in your heart but also set benchmark for other films to follow, especially the ones that belong to the same genre. Gupt: The Hidden Truth is one such film. It released at a time when NRI films were catching up pace. Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol had set the template for NRI love stories after Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and just about everyone from the film industry was busy taking that flight to Europe and shoot a love story. However, filmmakers Rajiv Rai, the man behind hattrick of action drama thriller successes Tridev, Vishwatma and Mohra, had different plans. He chose to make a suspense thriller, a murder mystery. He took 3 years to put together that time’s most polished film, well mounted and big budgeted film ever to have hit the big screen and gave audiences Gupt.
What happened next was something that even he wouldn’t have imagined, but before that let me share my personal experience around what truly transpired.
Movie watching was a reason to celebrate at my household. As luck would have it, in 1994 I watched Mohra after my Class 12th exams were through. Now three years down the line when I completed my B.Sc. Electronics from Delhi University, it was time to sit for entrance exams for MCA (Master of Computer Applications). That’s right, I come with technology background! Once through with that, it was time to visit theatres for that summer dose of films. This is when Gupt arrived on 4th July 1997, and I couldn’t have been happier to head for that big screen auditorium in Connaught Place, New Delhi.
The stage had been set much in advance. After all, it was a cracker of a promo that was cut by Rajiv Rai, who not just produced and directed but also edited the film. Moreover, Viju Shah’s music had emerged as a rage much in advance. Going full throttle with each and every song turning out to be a chartbuster much before release, it was time to absorb his techno tracks (albeit sampled from many international hits) like Duniya Hasino Ka Mela, Mushkil Bada Yeh Pyar Hai and Mere Khwaabon Me Tu to name a few. However the one that was at the top of the list was the title track Gupt Gupt, a rare instance of a theme number which basically plays only in the background turning out to be the best of the lot!
It was this track that I wanted to explore, as well as the rest of the background score, in theatres. After all, it was much publicised back in time that the film was presented in Dolby Digital/DTS and considering the fact that hardly any Hindi films were going beyond the ‘4 Track Stereophonic Sound’ or the ‘Optical Surround Sound’ back in that time, I was truly thrilled to check out what Rajiv Rai and Viju Shah had brought this time around after their fantastic musical collaboration in Tridev and Vishwatma, the songs of which are played till date.
Well, the wait was truly worth it as the sound pretty much competed with the best of the Hollywood as well. What made it all the more exciting was the manner in which the narrative was spun together for Gupt which had everything from a love story to emotions to corporate wars to politics to family drama to thrills and then of course the best bet that it played, murder mystery. Really, there hasn’t been a better ‘simply perfect’ suspense thriller ever since as amalgamated class and mass factors exceedingly well in Gupt which, in today’s time, would be termed as ‘class meets mass’ entertainer.
Bobby Deol brought his characteristic swag into play, Kajol was a simple girl madly in love with him, and Manisha Koirala was a femme fatale with more to her than met the eye. Then of course there was Raj Babbar as the Governor stepdad who gets bumped off right at the beginning of the film, hence setting up the stage for whodunit. Paresh Rawal as Kajol’s dad was a partner-in-crime who one didn’t see coming. However what further added a lot of layers to the suspense was an array of villains who were added to the storyline in characteristic Rajiv Rai style. So there were Prem Chopra, Sharat Saxena, Dalip Tahil, Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Mukesh Rishi, Raza Murad, Tej Sapru, Vishwajeet Pradhan and many others in the fold, most of whom carried a motive to kill the Governor.
What turned out to be a hoot though was Kajol emerging as a killer, something that was concealed so exceedingly well into the narrative that no one could see coming. Rest assured, in today’s world of social media, the timelines would have been filled about this fact after the very first show, hence resulting in the spoilers been put and killing excitement around what truly happens next. Back in time, it was the audience segment watching the film second or third time over that screamed out loud - “Kajol is the killer” when she appeared first on screen.
I still remember there were reports of certain patrons even bashed up by the fellow audiences when instances like these took place. In certain theatres, people even wrote about this on the walls of the washrooms. Amongst school and college students, pranks were played as well when the mystery around the killer were threatened to be revealed.
However for me, after I recovered from the shock post the first viewing, it was about revisiting the technical aspects of the film. I went around from one upmarket theatre to another in New Delhi to check out how did the sound system and projection justify the background score and cinematography of the film that was way ahead of its times and still so accessible to one and all. The edit pattern was amazing too, and so was the overall sound design. Not just that as I remember enrolling into MCA in Bangalore University and even though Gupt had been playing for weeks already and I had watched it seven times since then, I took that eight visit as well to check out how the film felt in Swagath theatre with a different audience base.
Over the years, the film has not aged at all, though it’s a pity that its HD quality is not available on any of the streaming platforms. This one deserves to be restored and presented in its full glory on the OTT since it stays exciting till date and even for the current generation of viewers, it stays a master class on the perfect blend of style with substance.
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