SHOLAY - 40 YEARS SINCE RELEASE NOT LOST SHEEN
Over the last 40 years technology
of movie making changed by leaps and bounds, but the popularity and
entertainment value of SHOLAY has not diminished a wee bit. I lost count the number of times i saw this movie, mouthed the dialogues and sang songs. When the digitalised version of the movie was released in January, 2014 I took my entire family to the movie and I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed it when I saw it for the first time in
Leela Mahal in Visakhapatnam in 1975 when I was doing my 10th class.
Sholay is one of the most nostalgic adolescent stage memory which will stay on with me forever specially this photograph with cut out of Amjad kha. I had to stand in the long Q in the exhibition for my turn to get photographed with the cut out of cult character Amjad khan. The funny part is that i was to take the photograph with Amjad khan and a curtain was to be put on the curtain with the painting of Amitabh and Dharmender which the assistant in the studio forgot but to my luck i was standing in the middle and all four of us came in the frame
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| At a Delhi Theater on 5.1.14 |
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| My photo with SHOLAY characters in 1975 |
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| Leela Mehal, Visakhapatname where i saw Sholay in 1975 |
What Amjab Khan once said is so
true that no one including Ramesh Shippy can claim that they can make a movie
like SHOLAY or re-create a character like Gabbar Singh (incidentally he was
having a dig at Ramesh Shippy who claimed that the character `Shakal’ in Shaan created
by him will be better than Gabbar Singh) .
What worked for SHOLAY (all most everything)
Screenplay and Dialogues : Though there was hardly any story what worked for Sholay was its very tight screenplay and dialogues. Incidentally whatever very thin story line was there, it was heavily borrowed from MERA GAON MERA DESH (though not publicized much and reported to be adopted from Seven Sumarois or Magnificent seven). The only difference between these two movies is MGMD has Dharmendra against Dharmendra and Amitabh hired to catch the dacoit. by Jayant (incidentally father of Amjad Khan in real life) loses one hand in MGMD as against Sajeev Kr. loosing both hands. Can you imagine in MGMD the daku was named Jabbar Singh (fantastically essayed by Vinod Khanna) and in Sholay it was Gabbar Singh immortalized by Amjad Khan. But what really worked for Sholay was so many mini-sub plots and assembly of so many great characters and their charterisation.
Dialogues : The duo Salim-Javed have more than made for lack of story by penning all time super hit dialogues not only that of Amjad Khan which was a rage, but every character, whether it is fun-loving variety of Dharmendra,measured crisp variety of Amitabh, motor mouthed Hema Malini or the most dignified dialogues of Sanjeev Kumar. Understandably, there was no looking back for the super hit pair of Salim Javed till they decided to part their ways for no ones benefit. Sholay has the unique distinction of being the first movie whose dialogues were released as audio cassettes
Action : Special mention should be made the way the action scenes were choreographed by Ravi Khanna with the help of many foreign technicians (ably assisted by Veeru Devagan father of current heto Ajay Devgan). Those were the days when no cables were used nor were there any special effects, all the stunts were absolutely raw stunts done by stuntmen. The Train chase scene with racing horses was highlight of the movie which could not be replicated in the last forty years. He assembled best of the horses and horsemen who really broke their bones falling from the horses at very high speeds. For ages they stood as bench mark for all Indian movies and though I saw thousands of movies over the last four decades but action scenes of no Indian movie could reach anywhere near Sholay even with the help of cables and hi-tech gadgets. This is one Indian movie which demonstrated that director can do wonders with the help of the Action-director in creating most captivating stunts which synchronized so well with the movie. John woo (Broken Arrow, Face off and Mission Impossible II fame) is another director who stages the action scenes in a brilliant manner which become the highlight of all his movie.
Cinematography : The action scenes were really elevated to the level they were by the fantastic cinematography by Dwarka Dwivichar (who died immediately after this movie). He used so effectively ground level shots, very uncommon and unique camera positioning - wheels of the rails and galloping horses simultaneously captured, the fantastic rocky landscapes, dacoits falling from horses and from high rocks in slow motion were breath taking in those days.
Music : In 70s great music means churning out super hit songs, but in Sholay for the first time apart from songs (couple of songs Yeh Dosti and Mahbooba being hits and other just manageable), RD concentrated more on background music and produced very specific and fantastic pieces instead of using stereotyped recorded pieces being used in many movies of that era. Starting from the title music (which is still used by many as their caller tunes), the melodious piece on sarangi and mostly on Mouthorgan in the scenes between Amitabh and Jaya, the fast tabla beat in horse chases specially while dacoits chasing Bansani and most importantly very special music when Gabbar Singh enters ( i still could not make out by which instrument he created that kind of shrill and chilling music) which enhanced his menacing dialogues. He also sang the memorable Mehbooba Mehbooba. The stereophonic sound enhanced the value of action scenes to dizzy heights.
Acting : One of the rare movies where the entire cast has put up commendable performance. Both Dharmendra and Amitabh had exhibited sizzling chemistry and the veeru-jai dosti is legendary and always remained as a reference point for friendship, Hema Malani's Chatpatar Bansanti role, the restrained performance of Jaya, the dignified essaying of Thakur role by Sanjeev Kr. and above all thunderous and towering performance of Amjad Khan. It was really destiny that Amjad khan bagged the role on a rebounce. First many names considered like Sunil dutt, Shaturghan Singh not getting finalised and ultimately Danny who was finalised and signed could not start shooting since he committed the dates to Firoz Khan for Dharmatma. Even those who have just 5 to 10 minutes roles like Asrani, Jagdeep, Helan, Kesto and AK Hangal left long lasting impression. Who can forget Asrani’s `Hum Angrejoki Jamane ke Jailer hai’ and Jagdeep’s Surma Bhupali act and Hangal’s `Itna sannata kyo hai bhai’ `baap ke khamdepe bete ka janaja' dialogues. Halen’s item number Mehbooba Mehbooba can put `Chikni chemili’s to shame.
Production and Direction : GP Sippy has not spared any effort in making the movie into one of the biggest multy starer and backed his young son Ramesh Sippy who was in his early 30s. Ramesh Sippy has done great justice to the confidence reposed by his father. He simply woven magic and it appears he lost all his tricks after this movie because none of his subsequent movies were not a patch on Sholay.
What worked for SHOLAY (all most everything)
Screenplay and Dialogues : Though there was hardly any story what worked for Sholay was its very tight screenplay and dialogues. Incidentally whatever very thin story line was there, it was heavily borrowed from MERA GAON MERA DESH (though not publicized much and reported to be adopted from Seven Sumarois or Magnificent seven). The only difference between these two movies is MGMD has Dharmendra against Dharmendra and Amitabh hired to catch the dacoit. by Jayant (incidentally father of Amjad Khan in real life) loses one hand in MGMD as against Sajeev Kr. loosing both hands. Can you imagine in MGMD the daku was named Jabbar Singh (fantastically essayed by Vinod Khanna) and in Sholay it was Gabbar Singh immortalized by Amjad Khan. But what really worked for Sholay was so many mini-sub plots and assembly of so many great characters and their charterisation.
Dialogues : The duo Salim-Javed have more than made for lack of story by penning all time super hit dialogues not only that of Amjad Khan which was a rage, but every character, whether it is fun-loving variety of Dharmendra,measured crisp variety of Amitabh, motor mouthed Hema Malini or the most dignified dialogues of Sanjeev Kumar. Understandably, there was no looking back for the super hit pair of Salim Javed till they decided to part their ways for no ones benefit. Sholay has the unique distinction of being the first movie whose dialogues were released as audio cassettes
Action : Special mention should be made the way the action scenes were choreographed by Ravi Khanna with the help of many foreign technicians (ably assisted by Veeru Devagan father of current heto Ajay Devgan). Those were the days when no cables were used nor were there any special effects, all the stunts were absolutely raw stunts done by stuntmen. The Train chase scene with racing horses was highlight of the movie which could not be replicated in the last forty years. He assembled best of the horses and horsemen who really broke their bones falling from the horses at very high speeds. For ages they stood as bench mark for all Indian movies and though I saw thousands of movies over the last four decades but action scenes of no Indian movie could reach anywhere near Sholay even with the help of cables and hi-tech gadgets. This is one Indian movie which demonstrated that director can do wonders with the help of the Action-director in creating most captivating stunts which synchronized so well with the movie. John woo (Broken Arrow, Face off and Mission Impossible II fame) is another director who stages the action scenes in a brilliant manner which become the highlight of all his movie.
Music : In 70s great music means churning out super hit songs, but in Sholay for the first time apart from songs (couple of songs Yeh Dosti and Mahbooba being hits and other just manageable), RD concentrated more on background music and produced very specific and fantastic pieces instead of using stereotyped recorded pieces being used in many movies of that era. Starting from the title music (which is still used by many as their caller tunes), the melodious piece on sarangi and mostly on Mouthorgan in the scenes between Amitabh and Jaya, the fast tabla beat in horse chases specially while dacoits chasing Bansani and most importantly very special music when Gabbar Singh enters ( i still could not make out by which instrument he created that kind of shrill and chilling music) which enhanced his menacing dialogues. He also sang the memorable Mehbooba Mehbooba. The stereophonic sound enhanced the value of action scenes to dizzy heights.Production and Direction : GP Sippy has not spared any effort in making the movie into one of the biggest multy starer and backed his young son Ramesh Sippy who was in his early 30s. Ramesh Sippy has done great justice to the confidence reposed by his father. He simply woven magic and it appears he lost all his tricks after this movie because none of his subsequent movies were not a patch on Sholay.
As can be expected Sholay created
unbreakable records all over India. Gabbar Singh has become a cult figure and
for more than four decades his character has been used for many advertisements and
even till date in many Comedy shows Gabbar singh character is adopted. Apart from seeing Sholay many time in theater
in its first release over the 100 days run it had in Visakhapatnam, we used to
go to the theater frequently to listen to the songs and dialogue played in the theater
premises by Polydor music company. The characters
of Sholay became so popular that in local exhibition in Vizag apart from top
Telugu stars like NTR, Krishna, etc., cut out of Characters of Sholay were put to take
photographs.
.
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| with wife in Delhi Theater on 5.1.14 |
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| with wife and kids at Theater |
Right from Ramesh Shippy’s next
venture Shaan to many more action movies till today are tipped to be one up on
Sholay but none could be pale shadow of Sholay.
What Sholay means to me
It will be in the top of my chart of favourite movies in any language not only for what it was but for the nostalgic value of it. Those were the days i was seeing almost every Hindi movie released in Visakhapatnam to improve my Hindi (basics of which i picked up in my one yeear i stay in delhi in 1973). Nothing helped me more than Sholay with so many characters and every character speaking the language in its own different style, Basanti, Veeru, Jai, Thakur to Gabbar Singh. Leela mahal in Vizag used to be very near to my jr. college BVK college, Daba Gardens. Polydor, which released the music of sholay, has set up a big stall in the premises of the theater and throughout the day used to play the dialogues and songs of the movie. Daily i used to go to the theater with friends while returning from the college and listen to the dialogues and by heart them. Many of my Telugu speaking friends, though used to enjoy the movie were not able to follow the dialogues specially of Gabbar singh and heavy dialogue like `baap ke khande pe bete ka janaja' type and i used to be the translator to them. Though Hindi movies of top stars had all India market even in those days but no movie has every been accepted by all the way Sholay was accepted. It had a 100 days run in cities like Vizag silver jubilee in Hyderabad and second highest weeks run in Bangalore (just behind Bombay). I lost count the number of time i saw the movie in theaters and on video cassettes and disks and never i got bored or found a dull moment in the movie I am sure i will keep seeing Sholay many more times and keep enjoying it. For me, even for next 100 years to come, there can never be another SHOLAY like the way they can never be another Moghale Azam or Telugu movie Dana Veera Sura Karna (the first one for the dialogues of Dilip Kumar and Pritvi Raj Kapoor and second one for the dialogues of NTR occupying screen presence for 3.30 hours out of 3.45 hours movie in triple role of Krishna, Karna and Duryodhana).
What Sholay means to me
It will be in the top of my chart of favourite movies in any language not only for what it was but for the nostalgic value of it. Those were the days i was seeing almost every Hindi movie released in Visakhapatnam to improve my Hindi (basics of which i picked up in my one yeear i stay in delhi in 1973). Nothing helped me more than Sholay with so many characters and every character speaking the language in its own different style, Basanti, Veeru, Jai, Thakur to Gabbar Singh. Leela mahal in Vizag used to be very near to my jr. college BVK college, Daba Gardens. Polydor, which released the music of sholay, has set up a big stall in the premises of the theater and throughout the day used to play the dialogues and songs of the movie. Daily i used to go to the theater with friends while returning from the college and listen to the dialogues and by heart them. Many of my Telugu speaking friends, though used to enjoy the movie were not able to follow the dialogues specially of Gabbar singh and heavy dialogue like `baap ke khande pe bete ka janaja' type and i used to be the translator to them. Though Hindi movies of top stars had all India market even in those days but no movie has every been accepted by all the way Sholay was accepted. It had a 100 days run in cities like Vizag silver jubilee in Hyderabad and second highest weeks run in Bangalore (just behind Bombay). I lost count the number of time i saw the movie in theaters and on video cassettes and disks and never i got bored or found a dull moment in the movie I am sure i will keep seeing Sholay many more times and keep enjoying it. For me, even for next 100 years to come, there can never be another SHOLAY like the way they can never be another Moghale Azam or Telugu movie Dana Veera Sura Karna (the first one for the dialogues of Dilip Kumar and Pritvi Raj Kapoor and second one for the dialogues of NTR occupying screen presence for 3.30 hours out of 3.45 hours movie in triple role of Krishna, Karna and Duryodhana).
Thanks RAMESH SIPPY and entire CAST AND CREW of SHOLAY for such a memorable experience called SHOLAY
S. PRABHAKAR
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