Sholay-This one is sheer nostalgia.

I just received a message in the morning, that a friend is visiting Ramanagara a town in Mysore district. Immediately there lit a bulb in the gray cells of mine. I had got inspiration to pen a blog for today. Today Ramnagara is a town with all the hustle bustle of a major town. Its a landmark city that one cannot miss while one drives from Bangalore to Mysore.

There is a totally different take on how this town derived its name and fame. In the early seventies this used to be a small hamlet, quite peaceful and serene until one day a gentleman by name Mr. Ramesh Sippy decided to make this land a piece of history, one that would be recalled with fond memories by generations to come. Whenever I pass through this town the only thing that comes to memory is the Hindi blockbuster Sholay. One movie that myself and my sister Uma grew up on. We must have watched it, well hardly matters as now I have lost count but each time I watch it, I do so with the same amount of zeal and enthusiasm that was there when we watched it the first time.

It was just about the same time in  my life that i as a child started hero worship of Big B. It was that point in his career when people had tagged him as a angry young man. Sholay was the first movie where he shed the tag of the angry young man and took on the calm persona with the right amount of humour laced in. The height, the personality, a baritone voice with that gun in the left hand and above all the charisma that all appealed to the Indian audience. Amitabh Bachan had truly arrived on the screen, perhaps there was never one like him before and there will never be another Big B again, a classy entertainer.

Back to Ramnagara. Sholay was shot in the pre-social media era. People would come to know about movies once they were launched in the movie theatres. If the movie ran for a month, people would start milling around the movie halls, making superstars out of mere ordinary mortals. Word of mouth played a very important role in a movies success or its failure. In this context i wonder what a Ramnagara would have resembled in the days when the shooting was on. a couple of young stars struggling to make their presence felt, a couple of stars who were established names and a villain whose sheer presence on screen evoked fear- The Legendary Gabbar Singh.

One movie where the dialogues were quickly memorised, mimics became the order of the day. "Kitney Aadmi Thay?" "Holi kab Hai, Kab hai Holi" I dont think there will be another movie whose dialogue would be oft mouthed, repeated and mimicked. Again that was the era where there was hardly any technology that was used to further the cause of movie making, but Sholay did stand out given the limitations of technology those days. The lilting music, whether it was when showcasing the Radha the young widow(Jaya Bachan) or to give a different dimension to villainy in the form of Gabbar Singh played with such conviction by the inimitable Amjad Khan. I recall a number of people taking to the mouth-organ after watching this movie. Yours truly took it up only to miserably fail. There was an aura to the calm Thakur(Sanjeev Kumar) inspite of all the tragedies that he had to overcome. Lost families, Lost Hands, yet that calm persona to scheme the downfall of Gabbar Singh using the services of two brave crooks Jai(Amitabh Bachan) and (Veeru).

A movie that covered all essential elements for a successful commercial potboiler, thereby ensuring a grand box office hit. There were just the right amounts of humour with the British Jailer(Asrani) and Soorma Bhopali(Jagdeep). There is that tidbit of bollywood gossip how Dharmendra would tip the camera boys just to ensure more retakes of his scenes with the lead heroine Hemamalini. Incidentally it was exactly five years after this movie that they entered into wedlock. I learnt how to hate Amjad Khan after watching this movie, refused to accept him by his original name, would keep cursing Gabbar for having done away with Amitabh in the penultimate scene. I am also reminded that Sholay was never even attempted to be remade in any regional languages and a remake years later by Ramgopal Verma fell flat on its face. Perhaps the fire was so engaging in its first attempt that it kindled the hearts of movie goers the world over and also ensured that there will never be yet again another Sholay.