New Sholay - Ram Gopal Varma

After taking a lot of flak from the media and critics alike, Ram Gopal Verma finally speaks his mind over the debacle of his recent release ‘Ram Gopal Verma Ki Aag’.

Ramu maintains that ‘Aag’ was only a homage to Sippy’s Sholay and not intended to outdo it. He went on to say that the film only had the plot taken from Sholay which laid basis for several other films, successful and non-successful that followed Sholay.

Ramu was a touch dissapointed with the legal issues that surrounded the film prior to its release and went on to say that Ramesh Sippy was his inspiration in filmmaking.

“I owe my bread and butter and whatever I am today to Mr Ramesh Sippy. If he didn’t make ‘Sholay’ I’d have never become interested in filmmaking. I’d have remained a civil engineer,” said Ram Gopal Verma.

So, is that the aftershock guilt speaking up or was the media really harsh? Well, picking up characters and having starking resemblance to a classic is not always advisable.

At  last after occupying miles and miles of newsprint by sycophant-scribes all through its making, Ramgopal Varma’s Aag has bit the dust. In recent times no other film has perhaps received as much flak as Aag has. Poor Ramu will now think not once or twice but at least a hundred times before he sets out to make a remake once again, thanks to his bitter experience with Aag. Even Amul hoardings have not spared the poor guy. It says Ab Tera Kya Hoga Ramu?- Amul Ki Butter.

Ramu who had called me to watch his film Satya at a private trial a decade ago at least one month before its release because he was confident about his project, did not even bother to ask his p.r person to call me for the trial of Aag this time. My friends tell me that In should thank Ramu for not calling me to watch Aag because they had slept through the film even before the interval came. I thanked Geerish Wankhade, of Cinemax for not calling me to watch the premiere of the film Aag at Versova this time.

Besides Aag, the other remake of the week- Anant Mahadevan’s Victoria No. 203 also came and vanished from the turnstiles before you could even blink. Earlier last year Jyoti Prakash Dutta’s remake of Umrao Jaan had left him bleeding at the box office in spite of the presence of stars like Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, because people simply refuse to digest the new versions of the remakes. Phir Hera Pheri, Neeraj Vohra’s sequel to Priyadarshan’s Hera Pheri clicked because it was not a remake but a sequel to Hera Pheri, which in turn was the hit remake of the Malayalam hit Ramoji Rao Speaking.
One thing baffles me as far as Ramu is concerned. It is okay he wanted to call his film Ramgopal Varma’s Sholay when initially he had planned to make the remake of Sholay and the Sippys had raised a valid objection because he had not bought the rights from the Sippys who were naturally miffed. Why did he persist in calling his film Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag instead of calling it just Aag? The joke is that in the north a lot of people especially in the Bhojpuri belt went to watch the film presuming it is a action vendetta involving three heroes- Ajay Devgan, Prashant and Amitabh Bachchan playing the three characters Ram, Gopal and Verma but were disappointed.

Thank God that though PRO Raj Gandhi had announced almost two years ago that he was all set to launch the remake of Guru Dutt�s Chaudhvi Ka Chand with PRO Anusha Sameer Gill as the director, things did not progress since Ajay Devgan who Anusha thought of roping in for the project did not show keen interest in being a part of the remake of the legendary hit though the same Ajay could not say no to Ramu when Ramu had asked him to be part of his Sholay.

Pritish Nandy has now legally bought the rights from Sasha Sippy for remaking Sholay. How is Nandy going to remake Sholay now remains to be seen since he has not announced who the director is going to be and who  the actors are who are going to play the legendary characters of Gabbar Singh, Veeru and Jai or for that matter Thakur. Pritish will have to think a hundred times before he embarks upon the launch of the remake though I feel he will be a winner when it comes to his animated version of Sholay because animation films are the order of the day and as such the animated version of Sholay will definitely be a big hit.

The joke circulating in the industry nowadays is that after watching his films like Aag and Darling, the cine-goers may revolt and tell Ramu Go. Incidentally Go is Ramu�s next release after Darling!

Two remakes of two huge hits - both coincidentally from the 1970s - are released in one week to great expectations… but sink without a trace. So, the question arises - do we really need remakes?

The most memorable remake fiasco was by none other than mighty Ram Gopal Varma. His “Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag”, made with an obscenely high budget and big stars, is a re-styled and re-modelled version of Ramesh Sippy’s 1975 cult film “Sholay”. But it sank at the box office without a trace.

The same week, another remake, “Victoria No 203″ of the 1972 film of the same name, had a similar fate. Most halls running these films were going empty on the very first day.

There are two types of filmmakers crowding Bollywood - one the ambitious and experimental types who have succeeded in luring Hollywood to be a partner in their creative journey, and others who are traditional craftsman besotted with formula films and are making futile attempts at glory by reproducing old classics.

Going by the fate of “Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag” and “Victoria No. 203″, it seems the good intention of filmmakers in reviving old memories is not quite working out. A case of expectations gone awry?

“We don’t need remakes. If we want to see some old classics, we can watch them on CDs and DVDs as they are easily available in the market. The multiplex tickets burn a hole in our pockets. Going for ‘Aag’ was absolutely a waste of money. I’m really angry with the director for making such a bad film and hyping it,” said Gayatri Gosain, a student who regretted buying tickets for Varma’s “Aag”.

“The film is too gimmicky to be effective. ‘Sholay’ had worked because of its dramatic sweep and narrative simplicity. RGV’s style in ‘Aag’ is too self-conscious, as if he is out to prove a point. That makes the film come across as rather laboured,” said Saibal Chatterjee, editor of Indian Express Sunday Supplement.

If viewing such poorly made films pinches a viewer’s pockets, it is an expensive business for filmmakers too.

While “Aag” was made at a mammoth budget of Rs.300 million, J.P. Dutta invested about Rs.200 million in his remake of the 1981 classic “Umrao Jaan”. Despite the presence of Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan, Dutta’s interpretation of Mirza Hadi Ruswa’s novel went awry. The film’s failure meant financial loss to investors as well as distributors.

Shah Rukh Khan’s starrer “Don”, a remake of Chandra Barot’s hit 1978 action thriller which had Amitabh in the lead, was made at a cost of Rs.350 million. It did comparatively reasonable business at first but couldn’t keep the cash registers ringing for long.

“I think it’s not a good idea to go for remakes. Personally, I don’t believe in remakes. I feel that it is difficult to create the same magic. Because when a film is made, so many people are involved and it is difficult to get that kind of mind work,” said Indra Kumar, whose “Dhamaal” releases this week.

“Except for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Devdas’, all the remakes have met with criticism. There is a reason behind the success of Bhansali’s ‘Devdas’ - most people had forgotten the earlier ‘Devdas’, otherwise it would have also been compared and condemned,” added Kumar.

Many are disappointed with Varma’s “Aag” and oppose the idea of remakes unless it is worth making.

“Remakes are alright as long as the film being remade is not as big as ‘Sholay’, which still lives in our collective memory. It doesn’t need to be updated. Remaking a film like ‘Don’, for instance, is fine because for one, it wasn’t a perfect film, and two, it had begun to drop out of public memory except for the songs,” added Chatterjee.

Ashima, of Ashima-Leena designer duo, told: “If directors don’t use the same storyline and if the content is completely different from the original, then they should make a new movie, instead of calling it a remake. There is no comparison between ‘Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag’ and ‘Sholay’. Remaking such a cult film lowers its market value.”

That’s exactly what David Dhawan did when he churned out hits like “Aankhen” and “Hero No. 1″. Though the two films were inspired by old classics, “Do Phool” and “Bawarchi”, respectively, the director presented them as fresh movies. Both the films turned out to be gold spinners for the director.

Dharmesh Darshan’s triangular love story “Bewafaa” too was inspired by B.R. Chopra’s “Gumraah”. The film didn’t go very far in terms of box office success but the director never called it a remake, which actually kept the dignity of the original film intact.

This was not the first time Darshan was taking inspiration from an old classic. His successful film “Raja Hindustani” was a remake of “Jab Jab Phool Khile”.

And the list of movies that have been remade without acknowledging the original doesn’t end here. There are more.

Pankaj Parashar’s romantic comedy “Chalbaaz”, starring Sridevi in a double role, was inspired by Ramesh Sippy’s blockbuster “Sita Aur Geeta”. Ravi Tandon’s “Khel Khel Mein” inspired Abbas-Mustan’s action-thriller “Khiladi”.

Sooraj Barjatya struck gold at the box office with “Hum Aapke Hai Kaun”, a remake of Rajshri’s earlier Bhojpuri drama “Nadiya Ke Paar”. But Barjatya was not so lucky when he attempted a remake of his banner’s “Chitchor” titled “Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon”. It bombed.

The same happened to Ahmed Siddiqui’s mythological drama “Jai Santoshi Maa”, a remake of the 1975 hit mythological film of the same name. It also wilted.

In recent times only the remakes of “Devdas” and “Parineeta” have enjoyed a good run at the box office.

First it was Mallika Sherawat - and now it’s Urmila trying her best to give it a makeover! Yes, we are talking about the classic ‘Mehbooba Mehbooba’ that has inspired a cult-like following, and the two sultry sirens stepping into the shoes of the original Mehbooba girl to recreate the magic of legendary item number from the film ‘Sholay’.

But emulating the yesteryear stunner Helen in the 70s blockbuster is no easy task, and we asked the woman who should know best - Helen herself - about what she thinks of the song’s image makeover.

Helen said, ” I’ve neither seen Mallika nor have I seen Urmila. I just had a glimpse of them in the promos and I think they are good in their own way. The audience is enjoying the song. You have to enjoy the song and be happy about it.”

Helen danced to the tunes of R D Burman with great panache and with Mallika and Urmila getting into the groove to set the screen on fire just like Helen, we wondered who she thought would have been the right choice for the sizzler.

The dance diva of yesteryear was quick to add that her daughte -in - law, Malaika Arora would have done a great job as she has ” the figure, lalent and the look” to carry the song.

Well, maybe neither Mallika nor Urmila is Helen’s favorite, but we think it won’t be difficult for us to decide who’s better out of Helen, Mallika and Urmila - and we are sure the decision would be a unanimous one!

‘Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag’ has been panned by critics and audiences, but the maverick filmmaker insists that his aim was to pay homage to Ramesh Sippy’s classic ‘Sholay’ and not to outdo it.

‘I was not trying to outdo ‘Sholay’. I was doing a homage to ‘Sholay’. And it would be foolish of me to think I can better the original,’ he told IANS in an interview.

Varma said he wasn’t extremely disappointed that the film’s title and names of characters had to be changed because he ‘never intended to remake ‘Sholay’ exactly the way it was’.

He added that he would have avoided calling it ‘Sholay’ right in the beginning if he had known it would lead to so many legal hassles. Varma also said that Ramesh Sippy was his inspiration to become a filmmaker in the first place.

‘I owe my bread and butter and whatever I am today to Mr Ramesh Sippy. If he didn’t make ‘Sholay’ I’d have never become interested in filmmaking. I’d have remained a civil engineer.’

Excerpts from the interview:

Q: A sense of disappointment that the film’s title and the characters were changed?

A: The point is I never intended to remake ‘Sholay’ exactly the way it was. ‘Sholay’ had created a benchmark for technical excellence, background score, sound design … If ‘Sholay’ catapulted Hindi cinema into the new age it wasn’t because of its plot which had been done earlier in films like ‘Mera Gaon Mera Desh’ and later in ‘Karma’ and ‘China Gate’. I can think of 25 films with the same theme.

It was the genius of Ramesh Sippy and the finesse with which he put together the plot that created an enduring impact. The story of a man taking revenge by hiring mercenaries is a genre done earlier in the Japanese ‘The Seven Samurai’ and as a spaghetti western in ‘The Magnificent 7′.

‘Sholay’ is a full-on formula film …The cumulative impact (of the performances) was stunning on the whole country, most of all me. I’ve never met anyone who has interpreted ‘Sholay’ better than me. I’m the biggest aficionado of ‘Sholay’. But I did not set out to make ‘Sholay’.

Q: You didn’t?

A: No. Like I said the theme has been done umpteen times. It’s not the story that gets dated, it’s the packaging. ‘Aag’ took in view the new times, new technology and new tastes and proceeded from there. I was not trying to outdo ‘Sholay’. I was doing a homage to ‘Sholay’. And it would be foolish of me to think I can better the original.

Q: So why did you name it ‘Sholay’ earlier?

A: I wanted to draw attention to my intention of paying a homage. But because of the legal hassles I decided to call it ‘Ram Gopal Varma Ka Sholay’, just as ‘Devdas’ was Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s interpretation of the original. But then the legal procedure would have taken time. So I decided on ‘Aag’, but we couldn’t get that title either.

I think a film by that title with Govinda in the lead was released seven-eight years back. So we had to go by ‘Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag’.

The title gives the project that formulistic feeling which I wanted. The whole film from the background score to the dialogues and characterisation has a very retro-feeling.

Q: Please explain.

A: ‘Aag’ is the kind of cinema I grew up on. So I’ve applied new-age technology to age-old formulas of filmmaking. The reason why those earlier films were called ‘formula’ films was because they had something for everybody. I believe ‘Aag’ has it too. I wanted to recapture that old lost feeling of enjoying a full-on formula flick.

Q: If you knew problems would have cropped up, would you have avoided calling it ‘Sholay’?

A: Yeah I would have avoided it. I never expected so many problems. My intentions weren’t underhand. I owe my bread and butter and whatever I am today to Mr Ramesh Sippy. If he didn’t make ‘Sholay’ I’d have never become interested in filmmaking. I’d have remained a civil engineer … When I saw ‘Sholay’ in 1975 at the Ram-Krishna theatre in Hyderabad and saw Ramesh Sippy’s name on the posters I decided then and there that this is what I wanted to do.

Q: Pooja Bhatt apparently thinks those who care about what’s happening around us should see her ‘Dhokha’ rather than your ‘Aag’.

A: I’m sorry I don’t buy that. We can’t decide what the audiences want to see. They aren’t animals in a zoo, caged, labelled and ready to be transported at the zookeepers’ command. Today the audience is so open to every kind of cinema. I don’t see why they’d want to choose one over the other.

Yesteryear dream girl Hema Malini , who dazzled in the role of ‘Basanti’ in the cult classic Sholay , says that it is impossible to recreate such a classic.Talking to newspersons after inaugurating a jewellery showroom in Bangalore on Wednesday, she said it could happen only once and any such attempt would end up as mere imitations.

She said though she had not seen the recently released Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag , the remake of ‘Sholay’, directed by Ram Gopal Varma , ”Nobody can recreate the characters and the plot, as the time and ambience of the 1970s mega hit film could not be repeated.”Hema said it was all right for the directors to be ambitious of producing a better version of the old hits, but ego could be bad. ”Some directors have ambitions that they can surpass the quality of old hits . It is fine if they are confident, but the egoist attitude and lofty claims will not help. Even Ramesh Sippy cannot make another Sholay, that can match the original,” she said.She regretted that the ‘mystery and value’ of yesteryears’ heroines was missing in today’s leading actresses.”During our time, the heroine never used to be seen outside. There was that exclusivity among them during my time. That value is lost now. This is mainly because of over exposure on television and the starlets becoming brand ambassadors. My time was the golden era that cannot come back,” she said.

Hema was not happy with ‘exposure’ and obscenity in ‘dance numbers’ in the films being produced these days. ”This is not good. People have forgotten classical dances and can’t see beyond ‘filmi’ dances. Children are obsessed with such a style and even their parents seem to be happy about it. It is sad,” she said. To ‘lift’ the people’s taste, she was conducting dance ballets based on popular themes that had a classical touch, she said.”I produced a ballet on ‘Krishna Ras’ in Delhi on Saturday. Though it looked modern, it had elements of classical dance and people received it very well. The Indian classical dance originated from temples but unfortunately it has lost most of its connoisseurs and people are happy with the present day ‘filmy’ dances.””I have decided to include dances with good taste in the three films, I am planning to produce. I know people will not like pure classical dance. It will be a moderated version,” she added.

Hema was planning to produce three films with her daughter Esha Deol as the leading actor in all of them. ”I am trying to rope in frontline heroes for the films, but finding it difficult because they are so busy.””The first film will have a big budget. Thanks to corporate funding, I need not worry about finances and will concentrate on creativity. I want to launch the first film in November,” she said.She felt sorry for the new crop of heroines, who find it difficult to maintain their body shape. ”In our times it was not so difficult. I was hardly doing much physical exercise. I used to have good ‘nashta’ (breakfast) and go straight for the shoot. I was quite active and did not face any problem in maintaining a slim figure,” she said.

His last film may have fizzled at the box office, but Ram Gopal Varma is raring to go. Quite literally. Go is the name of the next film to roll out of RGV’s Factory.

And Varma has put the past week’s brickbats behind him, and seems to be taking even Sholay director Ramesh Sippy’s criticism in his stride.

“It’s foolish he said. And he waited till the release of the film to say that,” Varma said matter-of-factly.

Upping the celeb quotient at the event was actor Zayed Khan who was there to show his support for his childhood friend Gautam, who makes his debut with Go.

And Zayed played the good pal role to the hilt. “He is my friend and he deserves all the success. I have seen a few shots of the film and they are great,” Zayed said.

Varma is once again playing his bets with Go, a fast paced road movie made of largely newcomers. The music is also by a newcomer, Sneha Khanwalkar and if that comes as surprise to you, well then you’re not alone.

“She came to me chewing gum and wearing jeans. I thought she was an actress but was shocked when I heard she is a composer. And then I was even more shocked when I heard her tunes,” Varma said.

While Sneha says that RGV gave her a “one-line brief and asked me to make a song on it, which I did. So, that’s how it took off.”

With the film expected to release on September 28, Varma must be hoping that it will make his detractors Go back to the theatres.

Looks like Ram Gopal Verma is finally coming to his senses post the debacle of ‘RGV Ki Aag’. While he’s been rather up front about the fact that the film bombed beyond repair, he doesn’t seem to be so keen to associate himself with his supposed muse and rumoured lady love Nisha Kotary.

It has been whispered for some time that Ramu was letting his feelings for Nisha get the better of his professional judgement. Something which Ramu never succumbed to, though he was never short of muses.

But, considering the amount of screen space that has been devoted to Nisha, of late, especially the completely pointless item number in ‘Darling’, it was clear that Ramu was being a little blinded whether by love, lust or genuine beleif in the actress.

Belief, which now seems on the wane, but looks like Ramu is still trying to protect her. “I don’t know what you mean by ‘muse’, first of all. I believe in her (Nisha) as an actress. For any actor, technician or any director, things have to just fall in place. If they don’t, then things don’t work.”

But while Ramu may still feel responsible for Nisha, it looks like he’s starting to see the light. So, will we get to see Ramu returning to his ‘Rangeela’ glory. “I’ve given hits like ‘Rangeela’ and ‘Satya’. I never gave the hits, they became hits. If I gave hits, then I would have made sure ‘Aag’ also became a hit.

Well, not so sure about that, but like they say failure is a stepping stone to success, and from the looks of it, you’ve got yourself an entire pathway of stepping stones.

His role as Babban in Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag , the filmmaker’s take on yesteryears’ blockbuster Sholay may have drawn flak from several quarters but for mega superstar Amitabh Bachchan it was exciting as it provided him an opportunity to do something different from what he has done before.”As far as my roles and persona are concerned, the opportunity to play and do something different, having some wonderful and live examples before me of actors who have done so in recent years, is really exciting for me,” the Superstar of the Millennium told a television channel in New Delhi.

Speaking to ‘Times Now’ Sunday night, Mr. Bachchan, while acknowledging that watching him in many of the roles of late may not have been acceptable to the audience, said for him it was a matter of thrill to be given an opportunity to do such roles. About his role as Babban in the Ram Gopal Varma directed film, Mr. Bachchan said, ”yes, this is something I have never done before. I am absolutely thrilled at being tested in this form of creativity which is to me really satisfying as an actor.””At the same time, I know it (seeing me in such roles and persona) is something that is perhaps not acceptable for the common man,” the Big B said.

Ever since its release on August 31, ‘Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag’, touted as a remake of 70s blockbuster ‘Sholay’ has come under flak from film critics as well as cinegoers for its lackluster direction and performances of lead actors Amitabh Bachchan (who plays the role Amjad Khan did in the original), Ajay Devgan (who plays the role done by Dharmendra in ‘Sholay’), Mohanlal (in the role done by Sanjiv Kumar), Prashant Raj (in the role done by Amitabh Bachchan in the original), Nisha Kothari ( who plays the role done by Hema Malini ) and Sushmita Sen (playing the role done by Jaya Bachchan in ‘Sholay).The film has also met with a below average audience response.

Top Bollywood filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma’s remake of a cult classic is a box office flop and he knows it’s all his fault.

Varma has drawn flak for “Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag”, his ambitious remake of the 1975 film “Sholay” which nosedived at the box-office. The films tell the story of two reformed crooks who save a village from a bloodthirsty bandit.

“Every flaw the film is being criticised for is mine,” Varma told Reuters. “I take full responsibility for my film. It is my vision that faltered from the script to the music to the songs.”

The maverick director said he had hit rock bottom with the film’s failure.

He also said he now believes his project was doomed to failure as it ran into legal problems. Many critics also labelled his attempt at rehashing a blockbuster classic as stupidity.

“Everybody told me not to go ahead with it. The film then went into legal tangles. Characters needed to be changed, the title needed to be changed and even the script to some extent.

“Now I think it was not wise for me to go ahead,” he said.

Varma, known for his gangster movies and horror flicks, said he could only improve from now on. “I have hit an all time low. I can only move up now,” he said.

Varma’s next film “Sarkar Raj”, a sequel to the hit 2005 film “Sarkar” about a megalomaniac politician, is scheduled to be released in December this year.