Bhubaneswar: A restored version of the iconic Bollywood blockbuster ‘Sholay’ will be released across theatres in India soon.
It will feature the original ending, revealed eminent poet, lyricist and scriptwriter Javed Akhtar said in Bhubaneswar.
Akhtar, co-writer of Sholay’s script along with Salim Khan, had a big role in the making of the film.
If director Ramesh Sippy had his way, the villain Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan) would have been killed by Thakur Baldev Singh (Sanjeev Kumar).
However, the final scene of ‘Sholay’, which was released in theatres on 15th August, 1975, had to be altered as the Censor Board had then objected to the idea of a former police officer taking law into his own hands to kill a criminal.
In the changed scene, Thakur beat up Gabbar in a duel with the ruthless dacoit, before the latter was arrested by police.
In the restored version, Thakur will be seen killing Gabbar, Akhtar said during an interaction with actor-producer Vani Tripathy Tikoo at the 3rd SOA Literary Festival where he was conferred the 1st SOA Sahitya Samman award.
The restored version of ‘Sholay’, which is regarded as one of the most influential films in the history of Indian cinema, is being re-released to mark the 50th year of the release of the film. ‘Sholay – The Final Cut’ will be released on 1,500 screens in India on December 12.
Replying to questions on evolution of Indian cinema, Akhtar said cinema was a symptom which only pointed at the disease the society was suffering from. “Cinema is not the disease. It is the symptom. It has been changing keeping pace with the society over time,” he said.
“You cannot make a ‘Devdas’ today”, he said referring to the famous Dilip Kumar starrer made in 1955, adding “if it is made today, it will not run.”
Akhtar said there was a period when ‘thakurs’ and ‘zamindars’ played villains in films, but it would not happen today as the zamindari system has disappeared. “In fact, these days we have no villains in films,” he observed.
“We have given up literature for about 40-45 years. Now if a person speaks his mother tongue, people may start thinking that he comes from a humble background,” Akhtar said.
“In fact, if you take the name of a famous litterateur of the early 20th century, chances are that the present generation might not even have heard of that person,” Akhtar quipped, adding that “learning English is necessary, but not at the cost of the mother tongue.”
On the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on cinema and music, Akhtar said he had done more than 200 songs with singer Shankar Mahadevan, including the chartbuster ‘Breathless’.
“But can AI do ‘Breathless’ today using my words and Mahadevan’s voice? It cannot,” he said.
“however, right now, AI is in the cradle, we don’t know what it can do in future,” Akhtar was quick to add.
Akhtar recalled the way one of his famous songs for the 1994 film ‘1942: A Love Story’, starring Anil Kapoor and Manisha Koirala, was composed.
The film was discussed one morning at a meeting held at the studio of music director Rahul Dev Burman, which was attended by most members of the set and the musical team. “After listening to the story, at one point, I suggested that there was scope for inserting a good song in the movie but others were not convinced.”
Akhtar was asked to compose the lyrics and bring it for discussion at the next meeting, which was to be held at 4 pm the same day. “Somehow, I forgot about it altogether till someone reminded me about it at 2 pm. I had not thought about it till then,” he revealed.
“While driving to the venue of the meeting, I was wondering how I will explain my failure to write the song. Then the first line of the song ‘Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisha Laga’ came to my mind,” Akhtar recalled.
His line was discussed in the afternoon meeting, and accepted by others. Akhtar then sat down to write the rest of the song there itself, which remains a huge hit even today.
