Can anyone tell me if the film (*Big B, Waheeda Rahman, Ashok Kumar) was shot in both 70mm with a stereotrack surround sound and separatly in 35mm with mono track (similar to how Sholay was shot)?

Also is there two versions out there as the Esquire version I have on VHS appears to be missing scenes I saw ages ago on Zee TV?

The only versions of Mahaan i can ever remember seeing, down to my video tape copy from 1983 (Esquire)...were full screen...and seemed to be 1.33:1. Granted this was a big movie for its time, but many movies were still being shot in this ratio around then. The movie was also produced by a southern producer, and most of the hindi movies coming of the south around that time were Academy ratio.

i dont know what format it was shot in, but i do know that the original movie was shot in 2:35:1 i know that for a fact... i got a AB song collection by esquire on VHS and it is presented in 2:35.1 stretched to full screen... i.e. skinny people walking about

Faddy's right, not sure about the original aspect ratio, but it was widescreen, cos the version I saw on Zee TV is pan and scan.