Siddharth "Siddhu" Marathe, a boxing champion from Mumbai, lives an aimless life, overshadowed by his older brother Jai, the right-hand man of local gangster Raunak "Ronnie" Singh. Siddhu befriends and falls in love with Alisha, unaware that her brother, Hari, a principled social worker, opposes Ronnie's reign of terror. When Siddhu unwittingly lures Hari into a fatal ambush orchestrated by Ronnie, he is overcome with guilt but initially refuses to testify against Ronnie due to his loyalty to Jai.
After losing a boxing match on Jai's orders to protect Ronnie's illegal activities, Siddhu confronts his family's history of cowardice and resolves to fight injustice. Despite personal and emotional losses, including a breakup with Alisha and Jai's eventual murder by Ronnie, Siddhu testifies in court against Ronnie.
Siddhu challenges Ronnie to a public boxing duel, defeating him and inspiring the local community to stand against Ronnie's tyranny. The collective resistance forces Ronnie and his gang to flee, signaling the community's empowerment and Siddhu's transformation into a courageous leader.
Filming for Ghulam began in June 1997. By mid-August, a week-long schedule at a specially erected set at Film City in Mumbai was completed.[4]
Dubbing
Rani Mukerji's voice was dubbed by Mona Shetty,[5] who had a much more high-pitched voice. When asked if the director's decision to not use her voice in the film affected her, she said that her voice was dubbed as it "did not suit the character".[6][7]
Stunts
A sequence in the film shows Aamir running on a rail track towards an oncoming train, which misses him by a few feet as he jumps off the tracks. 1.3 seconds was the only difference between Aamir and the train. This stunt was actually performed by Aamir himself. At the 44th Filmfare Awards, it won the Best Scene of the Year award, but Aamir later criticized himself for taking such an unnecessary risk.[8]