‘My ‘Sholay’ is different!’ - RGV
The maverick filmmaker says his movie ‘Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag’ will be very different from the original ‘Sholay’ made in 1975.
Thirty-two years after the release of Ramesh Sippy’s ‘Sholay’ , Ram Gopal Varma is giving his own interpretation to the film that is regarded as the Bible of Hindi cinema. And true to his nature, Ramu doesn’t cease to surprise. He says he has changed many things in his modern version of ‘Sholay’.
Let us start with the names. The movie title is different. After a legal tussle, it will now be called ‘Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag’ and the names of some characters have been changed too. But that may be because of the court case by Sasha Sippy, who is claiming the rights to the title of the film and the names of the characters.
If you are looking for ‘Thakur’ in the latest version, brace it, he is now become ‘Narsimha’ in Ramu’s movie. ‘Radha’ has become ‘Durga’, ‘Basanti’ has become ‘Ghungroo’ and ‘Veeru’ has become ‘Heeru’. And of course Gabbar Singh will be called Babban Singh.
Ramu assures that changes in his film are not just superficial. Apart from the names, the characters themselves would be different. Babban Singh (Gabbar), for instance, will have much larger footage in the film. Also, he would be more vengeful, almost like a psychopath. The role is played by Amitabh Bachchan .
We hear that, Babban will not be speaking that ‘Yeh haath mujhe de de Thakur’. Not just because of the change in names, but because he will be chopping of Narsimha’s fingers instead of hands in Ramu’s film. Narsimha is played by Mohanlal.
Durga (Radha) in Ramu’s film has a muted aggression in her character. She is clad in black, and has suppressed anger within. The role is played by Sushmita Sen . Since the movie is set in Mumbai, Ghungroo (Basanti) drives an autorickshaw and not a tonga. Nisha Kothari plays the part. Even the roles played by Ajay Devgan and Prashant Raj are different.
In Ramu’s words, his film only takes the basic structure from the original. The backdrop is different. The Mumbai underworld forms the background in his film. But Ramu says his version of ‘Sholay’ is neither a gangster film nor a dacoit drama. He says his movie is a masala entertainer with one slammer of a scene after another.