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Sholay is an iconic film

HINDI FILM BUFFS will surely be thrilled to hear that one of Bollywood’s most memorable creations, the 1975 Amitabh Bachchan-Dharmendra starrer Sholay, will release in 3D soon.

Sascha Sippy, grandson of Sholay producer G.P. Sippy and Chairman of Sholay Media and Entertainment, part of the G.P. Sippy Entertainment Group, let us in on why the film has the potential to grow into a powerful brand, span generations and touch the hearts of movie lovers worldwide.

Why did you decide to release Sholay in 3D?

Sholay is an iconic film. It was made by my grandfather, my uncle, and my dad 39 years ago. It’s the most famous Indian film ever to be released. Generations still connect with the film. The music plays in nightclubs. It’s on the radio all the time. People use it for advertising. Today, almost 40 years after the original release, a lot of people haven’t seen the film on screen. On screen it was a very important film because it changed the way people watch films in India. It brought 70mm and stereo sound to the country. It made so many technical advancements. The story is legendary; it has influenced society. We felt that we wanted to present the film to a younger generation so that they are familiar with it, also to build a franchise on top of this film because it is such a powerful brand. Forty years ago the concept of film franchises was just beginning but not in India, we started talking about it maybe fifteen years ago and it’s just sort of caught on in the last decade. We feel that there is a lot of growth to happen around the brand.

What would a franchise of Sholay involve?

You take an American franchise of films like Batman, Spider-Man, Superman or The Fast and the Furious, it’s the same concept of course. What it means for Sholay is the following – we tried to do this fourteen years ago but there was a huge gap in the market. A complex issue at the time. Now everything in India has changed. Retail is phenomenal, it’s grown thousands of times. To begin with, we’ve tied up with Deepak Chopra’s son Gautam Chopra who owns a company called Liquid Comics, and they are doing comics, digital comics and graphic novels based on Sholay. We have also tied up with Cartoon Network and signed a deal with them to do a 13-episode series of the Sholay adventures which is an animated series. It will be the young characters – like a younger Jay and Veeru, Basanti and Gabbar. And that will start airing from November.

Will the storyline be the same?

No, it will be completely different. It’s aimed at children so it has to be that way. The characters will be the same though. We’ll air that all over the world but it will start obviously in the Indian sphere. Around that there will be a lot of merchandising that’s created. For the physical merchandise we’ve tied up with a company in America. We have discussed with a major Indian men’s designer to do high-end clothes based on the film. And there will be other forms of merchandise. For example I have the first cap made with the Sholay logo. The point is to create a sustaining brand. Sholay is a brand that will sustain – these comics and cartoons and everything will continue being made. And then we’re planning to make prequels and sequels.

Have you spoken to any of the original cast members like Amitabh Bachchan, or Dharmendra?

Everyone is very excited. It strikes a deep emotional chord in everyone. When this film released people were pretty much at the the peak of their careers. This film is firmly rooted in their minds and hearts and I think they’re all a bit nostalgic about it and they’re very curious to see what we’ve done with it. Dharmendra actually watched a little bit of the 2D version and he commented that it was the Taj Mahal of Indian cinema and that he was very proud to see what we were doing with it. We’ve heard that Mr Bachchan has expressed a keen interest.

A recent media report says Sholay 3D has been timed to release on Amitabh Bachchan’s 71st birthday on October 11. Is this true?

That hasn’t come from me, but the release date is October 11.

What, according to you, is the secret of Sholay’s endearing popularity? How many times have you watched it?

In the last two years I think I’ve seen it a hundred times! Before that, easily, forty or fifty times! It’s a brilliantly made film. It touched the heart of India at the time. Every element of it is perfect, the action the drama the romance – if I knew the answer to that (its popularity) I would have made a hundred films like that afterwards! I don’t think there’s any one right answer to that. It’s one of those magic formulas.

Is there anything you plan to do locally to promote interest in the film?

The UAE is a huge market for Indian films. And it has not been seen in the UAE apart from on TV. We will be marketing the film actively in the Middle East. We are playing around with some interesting concepts on how to present it, which I can’t really discuss now because nothing is confirmed. We are just waiting on some professional opinions and trying to do some exciting things to involve all communities here. Sholay was declared film of the millennium in 1999 by BBC India, the best film in 50 years by Filmfare and so it translates into the fact that it’s a very important piece of cinema to come out of India and therefore a very important piece of world cinema. So we would like to see it being exposed to people from all around the world.