This is first in a series of articles about Sholay, to be published here.

If you have watched Indian movies for long enough, you must have noticed the amount of belief Indian producers do have in fate. They roll out movies without any ground work, yet hope for gala box-office returns at the same time. They believe in targeting the jackpot blindfolded. Their ideas can be described at best as ill-conceived, scripts poorly written and their movie-making shoddy in nature.

What they normally seem to follow is, formula movie-making, where they have the liberty (rather compulsion) of adding as many emotional and dramatic twists in stories as they might wish to (stories that are stale as hell, anyway) and stuff in violent reprisals and half nude song items. There is no reason why such movies should be appreciated at the box-office. An industry that has not been successful in producing anything close to the Sholay cult since 1975, should seriously examine its reasons and try improving its craft.

Sholay Was No Accident

Contrary to what most Indian movie makers might seem to believe, Sholay was no one-time accident. Each scene, each action, each character, each song, the background music score, camera work and the flow and continuity of the whole movie spoke of dedicated efforts. It spoke of the time, energy and planning gone into making that epic. It also brought out some of the best performances seen in Indian movies ever, that of movie production, script writing, movie direction, music composition and the actors, a whole lot of them at their prime and in their best elements.

So, what made RGV (Ram Gopal Verma) think he could produce anything akin to Sholay? He is among the top Bollywood directors today, no doubt, but he also recently admitted how much speedily he makes those movies. How can he then think of producing a masterpiece like Sholay in four months (symbolic expression, am not considering the actual time taken for RGV’s AAG)? How can a movie-wallahs that loves announcing his next two movies beforehand, while still working on his ongoing project could think of reproducing Sholay? I never saw “Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag”, but had known its fate from the day it was announced.

I should stop now, and be back with more on this subject in the near future. Will try making a series of posts about Sholay in the next round.

PS – Btw, examine the interest taken by non-Indians in Sholay here.

More From Big B’s Weblog

DAY 37(ii) Post

[quote]
On the sets of ‘Aladin’ again and a song !!

Petrified ! Songs have always been a nightmare for me. But more of that later.
[unquote]

Dear Amitji,
I have quoted the above two sentences from your previous post. It leaves many of us surprised, since your songs have always played a key role in your success. Kindly, grant me the permission to make the following observations in this regard.

1. This blog seems to be carrying out a two-way communication: Helping you know us (the audiences) better and vice-versa. You recently mentioned how tired and doubtful you were feeling the morning you had a shoot, and suddenly somebody’s positive sms made up your day….seems like a familiar story, since most of us have to go through the same, in one or the other way. This blog is, therefore, helping us know you as much as you might do about us!

2. When you have finally spoken and shared enough about your current projects and your close ones (we are enjoying it, no doubt), kindly, look back into your past and let us know once again about your past associates. Allow us to read the “not-so-diplomatic” version of that era. Let us know about your working with Hrishida, his movies like Mili, Abhiman Chupke Chupke and Namak Haram. This author recently watched Namak Haram (doesn’t know if it was produced before or after Zanjeer) and noticed how you had this “angry young man” character flowing out of your (on-screen) persona by that period.

This explosive energy, which would then devastate your on-screen adversaries, and your ability to act it so fabulously, proved out a crucial aspect for your later career, and may not be reenacted by anybody else, however hard they may try at it. Allow us to know more about this on-screen transformation – going into the top of aggression (Zanjeer and Deewar) from the earlier works. How did you realize you could/ should do it? Didn’t this aggressiveness suit the actor that was lying inside you? Or was it also a nightmarish experience just like songs?

3. An interview that you gave after the success of Abhiman was re-aired by the BBC Hindi service a few years ago. They sounded as if you had reached at your pinnacle by then. You also seemed to agree with them, forcing this author to be amused. You did not have the idea of the rise you were yet to see in the Hindi cinema…did you have really?!

4. Let us also know things about Prakash Mehra, MM Desai and Yash Chopra, with whom you gave so many major hits. You, Mehra and Desai seem to come out of the same age group…almost! Did this help in making your association bloom, in anyway?

5. Being an ardent Kishoreda fan, let me ask you this. How was it acting, when you knew, you had his voice to rely on? The two of you together gave so many great numbers….this despite of you saying songs were nightmarish!

It wasn’t a piece of cake for everybody to act on Kishoreda’s voice – he used to sing with so much energy and passion – yet you succeeded in reciprocating his brilliance on-screen. How challenging was it to shoot on KK numbers? And where do you see today’s playback guys? Do you still feel the same charge and excitement that KK (along with RDB, Ashadi, Latadi and other singers and composures of that era) provided you in those days? You had some kind of misunderstanding with him during the mid 80s. It left us short of a few more milestone numbers!

More later…
Warm Regards,
Pankaj Mohan

The Return Of Angry Young (Or Not-So-Young These Days Whatever) Man!

Fans could watch Amitabh Bachchan picking up Filmy fights yet again. He could be seen resorting to no bars “Dhishum Dhishum” for yet one more round. The only difference being this time, he was not battling against any Amjad Khans or Danny Denzongpas. Neither were any Mumbaiya scripts, studio lights or cameras to follow up with nor was there any Man Mohan Desai to make curries out of every scene! These were the real life detractors Amitabh was punching on at. Detractors who would hide behind a free Indian press and its relative lack of accountability. Detractors who would go ga ga, since it was always lucrative to speak against the legendary Amitabh. These were highly educated and intellectual ganstas Lamboo was picking up one by one for his latest outbursts. And you may find he was winning this round as well, just like the celluloid ones. And why not, for the real life Amitabh is as talented as his movie characters, with some unparalleled humor, sarcasm, linguistic and intellectual fineness that he could put forth his arguments to counter his opponents with and keep his audiences spellbound and enthralled.

Just watch out him picking up a few media buffs for whipping here:

Day 34 Post (3)

Day 34 Post (2)

Day 34 Post (1)

He denied having been paid by BigAdda, and we should accept his denial. But, one thing is sure, his blog is part of a major drive for strengthening brand Big B, in the face of some sinister anti-Bachchan and anti-north Indian campaigns by Raj Thakrey in Mumbai. Also, with Big B’s usual ability to hold audiences mesmerized, they might be trying to build the right momentum for his upcoming movie releases. Remember, SRK is blazing all guns from across the IPL perch these days (notwithstanding his Kolkata Riders’ failures). It is common sense, other major Bollywood players did also have their options reevaluated, hence Big B’s new found blogging love, my humble guess!

You could also notice how frequently Big B was blogging, which sounds strange, keeping in mind his movie and public life commitments. May be he was on a temporary drive before his website was launched (he recently spoke about it) with sections on his father’s literary works and his other family members. If you blogged and spent online time, you’d know it was not so simple doing it without compromising with your daily chores. Mr Bachchan might be getting aided by the BigAdaa people in this case. In fact, you could notice he was being indeed, if you regularly observed his blog entries. There are things only teachies and professionals will be able to do so cleanly and regularly and not any other lay computer user. For example, the following photos and listed names may not be asembled without either spending your precious time formatting and uploading them, or being aided by some junior techies:

DAY 32 Post

DAY 33 Post

Whatever the truth behind Lamboo’s weblog, his fans are having a hey time these days keeping watch on his daily movements.

I have decided to republish my comments from Big B’s blog here. Here goes the latest one made at the following entry.

Dear Amitji,

A few comments about your DAY 31 post.

1. You missed out the chance of acting in the school play about fifty years ago, but rose to amazing heights in Bollywood later. What amazes a simple cine goer like me, the pain you sound to be carrying about that one missed out chance even today. While it was touching to read your narration of things back at Sherwood, one also felt laughing, whenever remembering how you created a nostalgia for the Hindi Cinema later. Yeah, the formative years do mean a lot more in life, one will have to agree after reading you! And if you asked about the formative years of my generation, we can easily cite the feeling of nostalgia you gave back in the 70s and 80s, as one of its key elements!

2. There is still a fair degree of doubt about your true involvement in this blogging affair. The text posted does sound to be that from you, with your distinct style of narration imprinted therein….yet it is hard to accept you might be having so much time to spend on this new found craze. I have myself blogged for some time now, and know how taxing it can prove at times to put together the kind of well formatted stories you have been posting down at regular intervals. You might be carrying mega star skills, but this doesn’t necessarily mean you can blog so regularly too.

My guess is, there are a couple of writers or journos involved here, who are compiling facts (based on your instructions) and providing you with the initial draft, something you can edit and finalize for publishing later. There is no harm in accepting, if this was how things were taking place, as it would still be called your own work, your own blog. The world knows how Osho Rajneesh used to be aided by his smart disciples, who would compile stories for the master to lend his thoughts on later. And Osho did it amazingly well; he ended up transforming scores of lives through his sheer narrating excellence.

3. People like me have started feeling jealous about your blogging now. I have spent several months trying to get traffic to my small time blog, but hardly do I generate around 50 odd daily visitors and a couple odd weekly comments. Contrast this with the 1000 odd daily comments you can get anytime by writing just two lines. The only satisfying aspect for me is, as I have discovered recently, that I can generate more traffic by blogging about your own blog!

Warm Regards,
Pankaj Mohan

I wrote down the following message at Big B’s blog, and now sharing it out with you as well. It is interesting to find Amitabh Bachchan rant about his daily chores at the aforementioned link. He recently spoke out about his father’s long battle with ailments before finally the latter passed away, something quite touching and worth a read. I have bookmarked his weblog and would look forward to reading some more interesting news, controversies and revelations in the weeks to follow. May be I can get someday answers about his on and off-screen equations with Kishoreda, who knows.

My Entry At Big B’s Web Mouthpiece

While surfing through this weblog, I fondly recalled my Mumbai (then Bombay) visit about 27 years ago. I was merely 12 at that time and was accompanied by several of my family members during that journey. We were out in the late afternoon having a reccie of the area we were lodged in – Andheri to be precise – and trying to figure out and grasp the “Mahanagari” character of Mumbai in those days. Suddenly a commotion erupted at the gate of a cinema studio, we were passing by, and people frantically began trying to have a look of somebody who had just sneaked inside there. One of us asked who was it. They shouted back Lamboo…Amitabh! We too joined in the fray for a while, but in vain of course, as the mega star was already behind the studio’s high walls. Being the youngest in the whole crowd meant, I had no chance of getting Amita-Vachchan’s (as kids would fondly call him back in Ahmedabad, from where I hail) glimpse anyway! I still feel remorse for having missed the sight of an Amitabh Bachchan at his pinnacle! (he is continuing to rise on, no doubt…but, that was something more special)

Those were the days when Lamboo would occupy the first ten spots (and not merely the top slot) in various Bollywood ratings, as Jitendra, another of his immensely successful co-actors, had once famously suggested. People would flock, both the new and old Amitabh releases, with an amazing show of excitement. Kids would go berserk looking at Big B’s mammoth posters outside the cinema halls. Audiences would shout their lungs out, whenever Amitabh would finally appear over the wide cinema screens, and Man Mohan Desais and Prakash Mehras would also do their jobs well in those days to sustain the euphoria of those exciting moments.

That was also the era when, when Sholay was yet to be archived in the Indian cinema’s history. Zanjeer, Deewar, Don and Muqaddar Ka Sikandar were still collecting great moolah at the box office. Kishoreda was still alive and going strong like never before, while RDB was as legendary as ever. And with the melodious voices of Latadi and Ashadi around and some of the best production houses, screenplay writers, female co-stars of that era accompanying him…Amitabh Bachchan was simply invincible in the truest sense!

Heck! So many years gone by, yet the memories reignite as if it was only yesterday. So Big B has finally gone on to become elderly….this author sudenly awoke out of the slumber to rediscover this paramount truth. He was 12 in those days, now 39 with the first round of gray hair and baldness appearing on him as well. Time did quickly fly by indeed, one would have to concede!