Oh, dear. Are they fixing what isn’t broken?
His recent hit film starring the Bachchans was an ode to one of his favourite films, The Godfather. Now, filmmaker Ramu is all set to remake one of India’s cult hits – Sholay. “More than The Godfather, Sholay is my favourite film. I entered movies because of the film and owe my career to it. I remember having seen the film 27 times. With Godfather, I did not exactly do a remake. But now, I want to remake Sholay in all its essence,” the filmmaker said soon after procuring the rights for the remake from the Sippys.
Well, she-it…I’ve seen The Sound of Music 92 times, but I’m not about to re-cast the family Von Trapp… 😉
There’s a reason why I loathe cover songs, they almost never measure up to the original. Aside from Dinosaur Jr’s explosive rendition of “Just like heaven“, I can do without remakes, thank you very much. Movies are no different. Sabrina? Pffft. But what do I know? Why buck a trend?
Reworking older hits seems to be the order of the day. After yesteryear hits like Devdas and Parineeta being remade, plans are on to remake films like Don, Teesri Manzil and Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam.
How do you replace a legend? You don’t. (Or can’t, in my snarky opinion):
…he is unlikely to cast Abhishek Bachchan for Amitabh’s role. “The casting is still open. I do not plan to work with any direct descendant of the Bachchans and the Deols for this movie,” he says.
Well, now that THAT’S decided…book ’em, Dhann-o. Or perhaps just say “no”. To remakes, 😉 that is:
As for the setting of the film, he said, “The new Sholay will be set in contemporary Mumbai and the two heroes will be fighting against Samba, the underworld don. And Basanti will be the city’s first woman cab driver and her cab will be called Dhanno!”
The film will be called Ram Gopal Varma ka Sholay. He signed off saying, “People might say this is the height of arrogance. They might even think I’ve lost my head after my recent success.”
I don’t know about arrogance, but I’d vote for quixotic. What say you, SMers? And has anyone seen the brown Godfather?
I am thankful he is not putting any of the descendants of Deols in the movie
I liked the Brown Godfather. Nice movie, compared to all the other bullshit you get in the name of Hindi Movies nowadays.
loved sholay..that and silsila and shan were the best movies of the late 70’s early 80’s… you can’t remake a classic…
loved the comment of the sound of music as well…and to my chagrin…this wk opens up one of my favorite classics, charlie and the chocolate factory..although depp might be a brilliant actor, i think gene wilder was the best wonka..
let’s end remaking movies.. what the heck is going on? is hollywood/bollywood done with its own creative juices?
There is a case for remakes and remixes (try “Roop tera mastana”) but Sholay is so set in its era. It would be difficult, unless you decided to use it only as “inspiration”. And by that, I absolutely do NOT mean literal translation of old to new (dacoits=>mafia,horsecart=>cab).
Silsila, on the other hand, would not be too bad, me thinks.
There’s nothing wrong with remakes and covers– Devdas and Parineeta rocked, ‘Aap Jaisa Koi’ benefited, the Jeffrey Gaines acoustic version of ‘In Your Eyes’ is sublime.
Hell, in the age of computer-controlled prosthetics, Thakur might be even more of a badass. I’m thinking Hrithik Roshan’s body, Ahnold’s Terminator arms and red LED eye. Gabbar Singh wouldn’t stand a chance. Throw in a light saber duel, call it Ishtaar Vars and you’ve got another Sithy blockbuster. Thakur is halfway to the disarmed Anakin already, only this time he wins.
Sholay was irritating as hell. Hope Ramu can see something else in the movie 🙂
Varma might just have pulled off The Godfather remake but I think Sholay will be an entirely different proposition. For one it is an Indian film, two it is still quite fresh in the Indian psyche and therefore will suffer in comparision from the start. And Santoshi already did try this with China Gate, which though good was not a patch on the original, and this from a person who has never been a big fan of the original. But it still would be very very interesting to see who would play the main parts!
Sarkar is not quite the brown godfather. Only the father and son make it through the bollywood filter, but not without becoming bleeding-heart visionaries. No interesting supporting cast. Amar Mohile’s background score makes sure no nuanced emotion is missed. And there is no beheading of any animal. I was hoping there would be a scene with the bloody head of a favorite cow on the bed of some reluctant producer.
Saw the brown Godfather aka Sarkar and liked it. Some of the supporting characters were worth a laugh and the lead performances were strong. The background music, on the other hand, is loud and irritating, but that’s characteristic of most of Varma’s films.
You expressed my sentiments exactly with that sentence 😉
Santoshi, of course, “went blue in the face protesting that it was a remake of Seven Samurai and not Sholay.”
The Godfather has been remade into Tamil by ManiRatnam (Nayakan) and into Hindi by Feroz Khan (Dharmatma).
“If Silsila and Shaan were the best movies of the 70s and 80s”, Shyam Benegal, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Basu Chatterjee, Sai Paranjape et al may be pleased that their films are not compared to the Chopra film. 😛
The background music in films directed by Varma – e.g. Company, Satya and Rangeela are quite staid.
Am i watching different films from you guys. 🙂
Saw the brown Godfather…..and here’s what i said about it.
Who knows, you might be pleasantly surprised, as I was, with Bonnie aur Clyde
A lot of Sholay’s appeal lay in the dialoguess and the actors. While Amjad Khan turned out to be the real show-stopper, there was some serious on-screen chemistry between Dharmendra – Hema.. and of course, Amitabh-Dharmendra.
Unless they repeat the dialogues verbatim, not sure how successful a remake’s going to be.
On another note, Anna says
There’s a reason why I loathe cover songs, they almost never measure up to the original. Aside from Dinosaur Jr’s explosive rendition of “Just like heaven”, I can do without remakes, thank you very much.
Agree with you only partially.. there are some great covers (Hendrix — All Along the Watchtower, Talking Heads – Take Me To The River, and a bunch of Leonard Cohen covers — http://www.theagitator.com/archives/005634.php)
Saw it. Loved it. Here’s what I thought…
I dont think that sholay is the type of movie that would lend itself well to a remake. If Ram Gopal thinks he can pull it off, more power to him.
this is the worst idea I’ve ever heard of. Sholay is the greatest movie of all time, you can’t remake it. The only good thing that will come out of this is that it will confirm the original Sholay as being the best. However, if they have to remake the movie, please kill Basanti.
Come on now, lets not talk of Basanti being killed off. She’s my favourite character. Everybody else had that tortured existence thing going on. And Gabbar Singh gave me nightmares.
Aw come on! What hubris. As Anna says, how can SHOLAY be remade? Like Prashant says, its soul is in its dialogs. I mean they are now part of Indian psyche, right on level with “making an offer they can’t refuse” and “tonight, Lucca sleeps with the fishes”. The dialogs are tattooed on my brain. Varma is screwed from the start.
Talking of needless remakes, has anyone heard about the planned remake of ‘Don’? With Shahrukh Khan in the lead??? I mean is that wild or what? SRK thinks he can do an Amitabh now eh? And what of the immortal songs from the original?
This just seems a reaction to paucity of good original screenplays and scripts. And at a time of probably the biggest social change that Indian society’s undergoing since Independence! How can they not find good stuff from today’s times?
Remix and re-makes = easy money = bull sh*t. By the way, 98% of the bollywood movie is art of re-packing the same story. mass doesn’t watch it for the story, it’s the masala. Just like how all ekta addicts watch the same non-sense with different casts, serial after serial. They make what sells. And demonstration effects make most of them fall for it. You know what, take a break, promote good theatre. At the end of the day: it’s all in our hands! And our hands are in our pocket. 😉
It good idea that ramu is making sholay he will succeed but not to that extent to that of real sholay. As far as cast is concerned for the role of veeru and jai. I think my favourite actor ever sanjay dutt and may be sunny deol will suit the role of jai and veeru. Dont ever cast that shit shah rukh khan for this legendary movie he sucks.
this news is a plant of an idlebrain,probably with the help of some media guys.i dont think this remake will actually materialize in the near future.we are better off ,not becoming fodder for “factory” churning.
It’s only a good thing that the descendant of the original cast are not going to be considered. Bobby and Isha? That would have been even more wrong than remaking Sholay in the first place.
I think abhishek should do jai, bobby should do veeru, sanjay dutt do gabbar and sunil shetty do samba, priyanka do basanti, rani do the other girl, mohanlal is fine with thakur, rajpal yadav is good too. Well, remake is a good idea afterall than just trying to make a stupid and horrible copy of it. But I strongly think Abhishek and Bobby should be in the movie as Jai and veeru. If not abhishek as veeru and bobby as jai, would not be a bad idea too.
Iam waiting for the Mega movie Ramu’s SHOLAY. Because The Two Legends Of Indian Silverscreen MOHAN LAL and AMITHABH are join together in this Movie. Mohanlal is a excellent match for the role of Sanjeev Kumar. Because Mohanlal is a great actor in India. Mohanlal Stikes again after COMPANY. So we r waiting for seeing the amazing performance of Mohanlal….Jai Mohanlal Jai Hind……
Sholay has already been made several times, before and after.
Mera Gaon Mera Desh Karma
are the two versions of the story I remember.
RGV is just trying to cash in on the Multiplex syndrom. “Today Invest in any movie with big stars make sure it is played on 2500 screens for one week and you are guranteed 20% return” these are the word of Mr. RGV during an interview on TV Asia.
So Good luck making a Fool of Public Mr. Verma.
HI GUYS. FIRST OF ALL SHOLAY IS SOMETHING YOU CANT MESS WITH. AND IF YOU’D WANT TO MAKE A REMAKE HERE IS A CAST THAT I’D GIVE YOU. TO HAVE IT AS A MEGA BLOCKBUSTER. THAKUR=DILIP KUMAR, JAI=RANBIR KAPOOR/SUNIL SHETTY, VEERU=ARSHAD WARSI, BASANTI=KAREENA KAPOOR, RADHA=RANI MUKHERJEE, MAUSI=BINDU, GABBAR SING=(AMITABH CHARACTER AS IN MOVIE “FAMILY”, NOT LIKE THE ONE IN RGV KI AAG. MY SECOND CHOICE WOULD BE DANNY, AND THIRD WOULD BE MITHUN (BABA SIKANDER IN ELAAN ROLE) BUT IN ALL HONESTY I’D PICK A NEW-COMER THE WAY AMJAD KHAN CAME IN. WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK?
I’D SAY MOVIE FAMILY DONE BETTER THAN RGV KI AAG. BIG B DONE BETTER DON ROLE, HE’S STILL GOT IT IN HIM, BUT IT’S ALL DOWN TO DIRECTOR’S AND PRODUCER’S. DON’T MESS WITH KING KHAN DILIP KUMAR, YES HE’S A KHAN, YOUSUF KHAN. HE IS JUST THE BEST, HI TOP MOVIES ARE MUGHAL-E-AZAM, DEVDAS, VIDHATA, KARMA, SAUDAGAR, QILA, RAM AUR SHYAM, IZZATDAAR YOU NAME IT HE’S DONE IT. ANOTHER SUPERB ACTOR WAS LATE AMJAD KHAN. 95% MOVIES WERE BLOCKBUSTERS, THERE’S NO-ONE TO REPLACE ANY OF THESE 2. SHAH RUKH KHAN IS JUST A DILIP KUMAR AND BIG B WANNA BE. ACTRESSES, WELL MADHURI SHE’S GREAT. SHE CAN HOT UP A CROWD.