Aug 31, 2007 09:04 PM
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Director – Ramgopal Varma
Writers** – Rahil, Farhad and Sajid.
Plot*
Former Cop Narsihma(Mohanlal) hires two small time con men, Hero(Ajay Devgan) and Raja(Prashant Raj) to avenge the killing of his family by dreaded and psychotic gangster Babban Singh(Amitabh Bachchan).
Baban has killed Narsimha’s wife(Suchitra Krishnamoorty) and his brother Subash(JD Chakravarthy) because Narsimha is the cause Baban’s brother’s(Sachin) unfortunate killing. In between, like routine hindi films, Raja falls in love with Subash’s widow Devi(Sushmita Sen) and Hero falls in love with the bubbly autorickshaw driver, Ghongroo(Nisha Kothari). This is modern day remake of the all time classic Sholay.
Critics Notes
Sholay (1975) is a landmark film in the history of not only Hindi but the entire Indian Cinema. The Indian Cinema can be broadly classified in to the pre-Sholay Era and the Post-Sholay Era. The dialogues, screen play, script, acting , direction and just about everything was perfect.
]This was, by far, the best Hindi Film ever made. Years back, the director of the movie, Ramesh Sippy had admitted that even he couldn’t make a movie like Sholay ever again. Ramgopal Varma had entered troubled waters when he decided to remake the film as the comparisons were going to be inevitable. The movie had to be Super good to even match the grandeur of Sholay.
So how did Ramgopal Varma fare ? He failed miserably. Its unbelievable that a person who has directed a movie like Satya (Which in my books is the 3rd best hindi movie ever made) and other classics like Company, Sarkar and Rangeela had to stoop so low to make Ramgopal Varma ki Aag. With an ensemble of starcast, this would have been a superb venture but the director and the script writer fails big time.
The acting by everyone was ok and Mohanlal is actually the pick of the lot. The audiences expected much more than the trash which has come out in the name of a tribute. This is worth a miss. You need to be really doped out or drunk to enjoy this long pathetic farce.
Psst 1) The Movie was more in the news for the selection of the starcast and the making rather than the actual movie itself. Abhishekh Bachchan was to play the role of Hero and Mohilt Ah was to play the role of Raja. Katrina Kaif was to play the role of Devi and Boman Irani had the role of the Jailer which never made it to the screen.
2) The movie was originally titled Sholay till the Sippy’s and then changed to Ramgopal Varma ke Sholay. When the Sippy’s decided to take legal action against Ramgopal Varma to use the brandname Sholay in the film title, he changed the name to Ramgopal Varma ke Sholay. Even the character names had to be changed as legally Ramgopal Varma couldn’t use the original names in the movie.*
3)Abhishekh Bachchan dropped out from the role as he didn’t want to be pitted against his father in such a role and decided to just make a cameo in the movie.*
4) Both Jaya Bachchan and Hema Malini(From the original movie) condemned the movie in a TV interview. On the other end, Dharmendra gave his blessings to Ramgopal Varma and even jokingly threatened to Jump off a building water tank and take him along as well.*
5) Sascha Sippy, Son of Sholay producer, GP Sippy, condemned the movie as well in a TV Interview one day before the release. GP Sippy on the other hand gave his blessings during the inaugural shot of the movie. Not surprisingly, director Ramesh Sippy refused to comment on the movie.*
6)Sholay has been the inspiration behind Ramgopal Varma becoming a film director and it was his dream to make a remake with Amitabh Bachchan in the star cast.*
7) This is one of the 2 remakes getting released this weekend. The other one being Victoria No.
*“1. Yeh Billi-Chuhe ka khel main bada mazaa aayega. Billi bil main jaa nahi sakti aur chuha bil main rehna nahi chahta.
2) “Kab hai diwali ? Huh ? Kab ?”
3) “Kitney ?”
4) ‘Bhoologa nahi.”
Oops
1) The shooting is done in Mumbai and there is no place like Kaaliganj anywhere on the city’s sea coast. The shooting has taken place at Bandra Reclamation and Versova.
2) The Mumbai RTO wont allow an open air rickshaw like the one Nisha Kotahri is shown driving,
