Ramu Gopal Varma’s Sholay is not Sippy’s Sholay

Situations are different; songs are different then how can it be that the movie will remain the same. Yes, Rgv’s Sholay is not Sippy’s Sholay. The only song common is Mehbooba Mehbooba. No holi song and no song before the king gabbar will find place in RGV’s Sholay. “In fact,” reveals Ramu, “I decided to retain Mehbooba only because I liked track so much that I had to have it in my film. All the other songs in my film are originals. And for the first time in my cinema I’ve got a group of composers from Bappi Lahiri to Ganesh Hegde to Amar Mohile doing one song each. Every composer has been asked prepare one track each. See, all the songs in Sholay were terribly situational. But my situations will largely be totally different. I want every composer to come up with his best possible music.” The list is not yet over Vishal Bharadwaj has also been invited to do one moody bluesy track for the movie.

That was about songs; even the characters share a much more complex and real relationship with each other. Ramu provides a vivid peek. “The two female protagonists are two different people from the way they were conceived in the earlier film. Also the bum-chum relationship between my Jai (Prashant Raj) and my Veeru (Ajay Devgan) has been entirely changed. They’re no longer pals, but more like the mentor and his pupil. Ajay and Prashant share a guru-shishya relationship.” That makes sense, considering the age difference between the two actors. “No. From the start my Veeru and Jai were conceived as a senior and junior member of the partnership.” Ramu has been shooting with his Veeru and Jai and he’s all praise for his new discovery. “Prashant Raj is superb. Getting him to play Jai has been the best decision I made on Sholay after getting Mr Bachchan to play Gabbar,” says Mr Bachchan.