Imprudent to remake Sholay : Ramesh Sippy

Director Ramesh Sippy, who set a benchmark in Hindi cinema with Sholay, is against the remake of the popular <g data-gr-id="26">cult-classic</g>, which turns 40 this week.

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma, who attempted the remake of the timeless movie as Aag with Amitabh Bachchan, south star Mohanlal, Ajay Devgan, Prashant Raj <g data-gr-id="28">Sachdev</g> and Sushmita Sen, drew a lot of flak and the movie failed at the box office miserably.

“It is <g data-gr-id="38">a world</g> full of challenges... they can get the rights... and if one thinks they can make a better film they should go ahead and make it. Those who have made (remake), have failed. I had advised him (RGV) not to make it,” Sippy told in an interview here.

“Even I haven’t dared to touch it again as people still remember the original ‘Sholay’. It is inadvisable to remake it,” he said.  Sholay is a story of two criminals, Veeru and Jai (played by Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan), who were hired by a retired police officer (Sanjeev Kumar) to capture the dacoit Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan). Actor Hema Malini and Jaya <g data-gr-id="30">Badhuri</g> played Veeru and Jai’s love interests.

The action-adventure directed by Ramesh Sippy and produced by his father G P Sippy is a landmark film having crossed all popularity milestones. It is also one of the most-watched Bollywood <g data-gr-id="29">film</g>.

“While I was making the film I did not think it will have such an impact on <g data-gr-id="36">audience</g>. Our intention was to make a good film and we worked very hard for it. It had so many firsts—big talented actors coming together, we had action guys coming from England and Italy and others,” Sippy said.

Sippy, who released the film on August 15, <g data-gr-id="37">1975</g> took quite a lot of time to make Sholay as he wanted everything to be perfect. It was shot in the rocky terrain of Ramanagar, in the southern state of Karnataka, over a span of two and a half years.