I can understand if someone is not interested to watch SHOLAY, which is registered as a true blue classic, in today's time. This film released almost 4 decades back and for young generation who are born in the early 90's, "Sholay" would be a over-rated film because we are often bombarded with the films what we call as "masala".
My history with SHOLAY: I had watched this film in around 2008 in theaters when it was re-released for just 3-4 days. I was damn excited to watch this film back then as I am for maximum of films. When I watched it, I had enjoyed the film, although I didn't label it "one of my favorite films of all time" kind of stuff which usually, for people who had watched it back in time, was apt way to put the love for Sholay in words. I found some moments too dragged. Also some episodes were simply lacking any form of value like the one involving Asrani which lasted for ten minutes, each second trying to be funny, but didn't bring even a smile on my face. Also I found the film deathly long. Seriously, 205 minutes is too much for this "yo" generation. But yes I had enjoyed the film but I also forgot the experience within very less time.
Cut to 3rd January 2014, when I bought myself a 9am show ticket of SHOLAY 3d and took my seats with around 100 odd people in theater. I was excited again as I wanted to see did I miss something the last time around! And I found my answer- I missed a lot of things.
No, still I wont call it my favorite film or anything such. But this time it felt like a very good experience. An experience composed of some elements that will linger in my head and heart for long time.
I loved the camaraderie between Jai and Veeru. I felt their scenes together had a lively intensity that was across the board. And then I loved this song called "Yeh dosti...hum nai todenge..". Frankly, this song I used just for cheesy humor till date. But while watching this film, I really took to the lyrics. And then of-course the "Jab tak hai jaan..mei naachungi" song. It felt overdone, yes, but I realized how heart-wrenching the song would have been back in mid-70's. If films like "Maine Pyaar Kiya", "Dilwaale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge" created impact for its larger-than-life syntax of story-telling, I can wonder how beautiful SHOLAY was!
The acting is top class. Especially Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan. It also could be because of the fact that they had really good roles. Amjad Khan's character which is possibly the most sinister villain in our Cinema has a lot to do with Salim-Javed's terrific dialogues and sheer talent of Amjad Khan.
The 3d effects were there during fight sequences. Some of them were fab- in the first 3d effect of the film, I felt like I was shot a bullet in my eyes,
All in all, SHOLAY is for those people who has the patience to believe that a film that lasts 205 minutes long can also do the wonders. Its not a great film IMO, for obvious reasons, but I today definitely realized how much love the film garnered when the film had released back in time.
P.S. I remember my dad telling me that how he bunked his schools to go to watch Sholay. He has seen it 13 times in theater. This was a main reason why I chose to watch this film in theaters. Now I can envy him.
My history with SHOLAY: I had watched this film in around 2008 in theaters when it was re-released for just 3-4 days. I was damn excited to watch this film back then as I am for maximum of films. When I watched it, I had enjoyed the film, although I didn't label it "one of my favorite films of all time" kind of stuff which usually, for people who had watched it back in time, was apt way to put the love for Sholay in words. I found some moments too dragged. Also some episodes were simply lacking any form of value like the one involving Asrani which lasted for ten minutes, each second trying to be funny, but didn't bring even a smile on my face. Also I found the film deathly long. Seriously, 205 minutes is too much for this "yo" generation. But yes I had enjoyed the film but I also forgot the experience within very less time.
Cut to 3rd January 2014, when I bought myself a 9am show ticket of SHOLAY 3d and took my seats with around 100 odd people in theater. I was excited again as I wanted to see did I miss something the last time around! And I found my answer- I missed a lot of things.
No, still I wont call it my favorite film or anything such. But this time it felt like a very good experience. An experience composed of some elements that will linger in my head and heart for long time.
I loved the camaraderie between Jai and Veeru. I felt their scenes together had a lively intensity that was across the board. And then I loved this song called "Yeh dosti...hum nai todenge..". Frankly, this song I used just for cheesy humor till date. But while watching this film, I really took to the lyrics. And then of-course the "Jab tak hai jaan..mei naachungi" song. It felt overdone, yes, but I realized how heart-wrenching the song would have been back in mid-70's. If films like "Maine Pyaar Kiya", "Dilwaale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge" created impact for its larger-than-life syntax of story-telling, I can wonder how beautiful SHOLAY was!
The acting is top class. Especially Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan. It also could be because of the fact that they had really good roles. Amjad Khan's character which is possibly the most sinister villain in our Cinema has a lot to do with Salim-Javed's terrific dialogues and sheer talent of Amjad Khan.
The 3d effects were there during fight sequences. Some of them were fab- in the first 3d effect of the film, I felt like I was shot a bullet in my eyes,
All in all, SHOLAY is for those people who has the patience to believe that a film that lasts 205 minutes long can also do the wonders. Its not a great film IMO, for obvious reasons, but I today definitely realized how much love the film garnered when the film had released back in time.
P.S. I remember my dad telling me that how he bunked his schools to go to watch Sholay. He has seen it 13 times in theater. This was a main reason why I chose to watch this film in theaters. Now I can envy him.
wen mughal e aazam re- released in 2004 despite all its stars either dead or out of circulation, 44 years after its original release, with huge competition in the form of films like aitraaz, naach and veer zaara, it still became a hit. sholay has released just 38 years after its original release, most of its stars are alive and in circulation and there is no competition (unless you think joe b carvhalo and arshad warsi are bigger than srk and veer zaara plus akshay and aitraaz) there is a technological upgradation (3D) and a huge marketing campaign. still it looks unlikely to acheive anything.
ReplyDeletejust goes to show how bachchan lobby (cronies like komal's father ramraj nahata, taran's father B K adarsh, fraud publication houses like times of india/filmfare) had spread all kind of false stories, exaggerated collection, and legends about records of sholay. sholay was just another 'all time blockbuster' and 'biggest hit of the decade' which we have one every decade its record stood for 14 years because there were no ticket price hikes between 1981-1990 (Untill maine pyaar kiya rejuvenatted the industry.) the cronies of trade magazines under report maine pyaar kiya's collection at 14 cr to keep it under sholay while rajshree say MPK did 18 cr and broke sholay's record by 3 cr. rajshri wud know better than komal nahata, taran adarsh, khalid mohammad and boxofficeindia as they distributed both films. sholay came at the golden period of bollywood (commericially) but is no way a bigger hit than mughal e aazam and hum aapke hain kaun. (may be even mother india and maine pyaar kiya wud be at the same level)