What is the point in remaking Sholay?

Sholay is a classic film loved by everyone. What is the point in remaking a movie that is considered flawless and was; is and always will be a craze? Let us look at some possibilities to get an answer to our question.

From the viewer’s perspective, Sholay is not a movie that needs to be remade due to the advancement of technology as the remake does not have any special effects or technical strengths.

Lack of creativity

Ram Gopal Varma, the director of the remake film has made many outstanding pieces of work. He is famous for his matchless ideas and unmatched method of direction. He is a college dropout but is extremely passionate about his movies and every movie he has made has its own uniqueness. So, it can be possible for one to say that he remade Sholay as a challenge and not as a lack of creativity.

On the other hand, in an interview for the Indian Express, Singh, 200 Ram Gopal Varma was asked ‘what posed as the bigger challenge: remaking Sholay or presenting Amitabh Bachchan as Gabbar Singh?’

He answered: “See, challenge is just one-upmanship of trying to prove something. I’m not trying to prove anything to anyone. This film is simply my interpretation of Sholay. I’m just trying to show the film in a new light. It’s not important that my interpretation needs to be better than the original. At the end of the day, every creative artiste is an extension of something that someone else has done. He puts his own personality and spin on that which already exists. That said, I think my version of Sholay will appeal to three types of audience: the die-hard Sholay fans; those who have seen Sholay but are not that much into it and those in the age group of 12-30 who have probably not seen the original. At the end of the day, films need to be discussed and I’ll be happy if everyone who watches Aag discusses it. You might ridicule it or criticise it but it shouldn’t bore you.” (Singh, 2006)

After reading this answer we realise that he does not want to challenge Sholay but might just be trying to use his ‘creativity’ and making the old classic again.

Reach new audiences (Generations and Language)

Sholay had been made in the year 1975 and RGV could have reckoned that today’s generation’s viewers would want to know how the yesteryear classic would look in their generation. He tried to appeal to today’s generation by updating the movie to today’s scenario. This can be one of the reasons he remade Sholay.

Better pool of talent available

The characters of Sholay are immortal and this was possible due to not only th characterisation in the story but also the actors who played those roles. Amjad Khan was and is still considered the scariest villain existing in the life of Bollywood. My mother used to tell me; ‘beta soo ja warna gabbar aa jayega’ (my child go to sleep or else Gabbar will come) to scare me and put me to sleep. According to RGV, the only person who could even come close to this actor was Amitabh Bachchan. This could be the wisest choise the director must have made but it turned back on him negatively due to the audience, as they could not accept Mr. Bachchan as a villain. The other cast is not even worth talking as none of them were close to the actors in Sholay. Hence this could never be the reason Sholay was remade.

Revamping flop concepts

This point cannot be considered as Sholay is an icon, which showcases the Hindi film industry in a nutshell. All the people associated with this movie: the actors, director, producer and the rest of the crew members, had become instant hits with their respective industries after doing this movie (For more information visit http://ezinearticles.com/?Sholay---Biggest-Hit-of-Bollywood&id=3030922). BBC has declared this movie as the "Film of the Millennium" in the year 1999. Released on August 15, 1975, Sholay has earned more than $200 million till now, and had run for more than 5 years in one Mumbai theatre: Minerva. With 60 Golden Jubilees across the country, this is the only movie in the history of Indian cinema to celebrate Silver Jubilee in over 500 theaters all over the country, at the same time. Sholay is definitely much more than a movie. It was a real blockbuster.

Reincarnating Actors This could be a possibility; RGV is known for giving an opportunity to new comers and what would better for them than doing the role of legendary heroes. The actor who acted as Raj in the remake did a brilliant job but did not receive much appreciation.

Update a story

Looking at the story and reviews, this is one of the major reasons to remake Sholay. There was a difference of three decades between Sholay and RGV ki Aag. The director even mentioned in one of his interviews that he has made his version of Sholay, i.e. how Sholay would be if it was originally made in 2007. Hence Ram Gopal Varma wanted to update the story of Sholay to today’s scenario.

Money

Funding: This would be not one of the reasons as RGV himself has financed Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag.

Profits: No film wants to incur losses not even RGV Ki Aag. Hence, profit must have been one of the reasons to remake Sholay. Since Sholay had made huge profits even RGV must have expected this remake to make a lot of profit.

Hence on to give an overview, we can see that RGV Ki Aag was made for mainly to update a story and reach new audiences by reincarnating actors.