Is Ramu Playing With Fire?

The scales of justice are literally hanging around his neck. The winds are blowing wildly against his decision. The strident opinions, most of them against him and the opinions of the experts and the fate of remakes like his own film Shiva, Jai Santoshi Maa, Don and Umrao Jaan have not been successful in stopping the indomitable spirit of Ram Gopal Varma from going ahead with his own remake of Ramesh Sippy?s magnum opus, Sholay which is still fresh in the minds of people for the last 31 years.

Ramu is going full steam ahead with what he calls his ?tribute to the original Sholay?. Ramu has put back all his other major plans including the release of the eagerly awaited Nishabd with Amitabh Bachchan and the 16-year-old, Gia Khan, the daughter of a one time actress of the 70?s, Rabia Amin. He has also kept on hold some of the films he has been planning to make with other directors. He is busy shooting his ?tribute? strangely called ?Ram Gopal Varma Ke Sholay? (he is perhaps the only film maker to have his name joined with the title of the film he is making). He has the complete support of the artistes working with him. Amitabh Bachchan who has some very big films on hand has allotted all major chucks of dates, Ramu needs to shoot with him and so has Ajay Devgan who is going out of his way to make adjustments to complete Ramu?s film according to the schedule he has planned. The other artistes in the film, Nisha Kothari, who is playing the role played by Hema Malini in the original, a new actor called Raj who is playing Dharmendra?s role in the original and Sushmita Sen who is doing a Jaya Bhaduri in the film are also making themselves available for all the dates that Ramu needs them for individually and collectively.

And Ramu?s Sholay is not being made in the far away jungles of Ramgarh. He is shooting the entire film in and around Mumbai. Gabber Singh (played by Amitabh) headquarters are situated in a bungalow called Keeanu Cottage in Versova, Mumbai. Nisha is not playing a rickshawwali helped by her friend, the mare Dhanno. She is the owner of her own autorickshaw, which plies the streets of Mumbai. Ajay and Raj are facing situations, which are more modern than what Amitabh and Dharmendra had to face in the original. All the major scenes are being shot on sets built in age old studios, on various streets and even outside the Gateway of India. And now comes the latest on the Ramu Ke Sholay front. It is Bappi Lahiri who had almost been forgotten by the industry who has been signed to score the music for the film. And this Sholay is not going to take years in the making because Ramu has almost completed half the film and plans to finish it in the next two months. The industry is busy talking about what they call the madness of Ramu trying to recreate something that has gone down in history. Has Ramu gone really mad? Is he playing with fire? These are two major questions that are making their rounds everywhere even as Ramu goes on obstinately and with all the determination to make his ?tribute? come full circle and he promises to take the audiences by surprise. The audiences themselves, both those who were witness to the making and the release of the original and generation today who have only seen it on their television sets are keeping their fingers crossed.