Commando dude get it over it, sholay itself was a bad remake
so if ramu’s sholay turns out to be a bad remake, it will be no different


anyways, abt urmila.. I am going to have to disagree w/ you guys, I think urmi is too old to be doing item numbers

I would much rather see someone like antara do an item number

hey rita,

I agree aside from her looks, katrina has zero acting talent

I guess someone like tanisha would have been a better choice… she reminds me of a young jaya

and ya ajay will be great as usual

Sholay was anything but a "bad re-make." Seven Samurai is excellent, indubitably. Sholay, too, is excellent.

I think Urmila will be fine in an item number. She was great in China Gate, and that film's really not too old. Personally, I think Anatara Mali would be a horribly banal choice. Urmila, or any other "somewhat seasoned actress," would be a welcome change from the current "item girls" (i.e., Anatara Mali, Lara Dutta, etc.).

Helen was five years older than Urmila is now when she sppeared in Sholay. Must everyone be young to be 'hot' these days?

Of course there are people who like Ram Gopal Varma (I, to an extent, am one of them), and of course there are those who are looking forward to his version of Sholay (certainly, I feel I'm not one of them). As they are free to express their excitement for his choosing to take on the project, and to voice — whole-heartedly — their approval, I am free to bitch and moan about the fact that his movies are getting sequentially worse, and that it would really suck to see a classic, such as Sholay, butchered at his hands. Part of watching films is talking about the ones you don't like, and even griping about the ones you don't want to see made. I'm not "crying" about the matter, but merely expressing my discontent with it. If you don't like that, you, too, are free not to "read my posts." Certainly, too, then, you are free not to complain about them. You, however, choose to complain about them. Similarly, I "could" "avoid" the topic of Sholay's re-make, but I choose, instead, to complain about it. I never claimed that it's a waste of my "time" or of my "money"; on the contrary, I said I would pay a measly dollar for it. Yes, I'll probably watch it anyway. Watching a movie does not exempt me from disliking it. I saw Jo Bole So Nihaal, and went in with very low expectations. It sucked. I bitched about it, as did many other people. People watch movies, and not just the ones they think will be great. People complain when they feel that something they love will be mimicked...poorly.

The one thing I TOTALLY agree with you on, is that Indian filmmakers seem to crap out about a dozen "unoffial re-makes" a week. (By the way, why do you watch them? Can't you tell that they'll be re-makes from their commercials? Why do you waste your "time" and your money? You must see them at least somewhat, or you'd not know that they are re-makes, as they are not advertised as being so [according to you].) Anyway, even Ek Ajnabee looks like it'll be a total rip-off, and I'd been looking forward to it since about the time at which it was announced. That said, I think it can work in a film's favor to not loudly proclaim that it is a re-make. Dhoom was inspired by The Fast & The Furiuous; it admitted this, but did not boast of it. It attempted to take (and largely succeeded in taking) on a life of its own. Sholay was inspired by Seven Samurai, but it did not shout that this was the case. China-Gate is clearly inspired by Sholay's style, yet one can put that out of mind as one watches the film. My main problem with Varma's "Sholay" is that the pre-production SCREAMS, again and again, that it is "SHOLAY." The working title, evem is blatantly exploitative of this: "Ram Gopal Varma Ki Sholay"? Come on. The characters are being taken directly from the original. Amitabh Bachchan is being reeled in as an obvious "kick-back" to 1975's film. It's all this that pisses me off about the ordeal. It's not that Varma's trying to make a film that's based on Sholay; it's that he won't shut up about the original.

you don’t need to be young to be hot, but you definitely need to be young to do item numbers

and I would much rather see antara or even sameera doing the item number in ‘sholay’




obviously not… salim/javed just did what they do best… throw together a bunch hollywood films - mag 7, butch and sundance, once upon a time in the west - and call it their own




so let me get this right - you are saying that you don’t mind remakes, as long as they don’t advertise they are remakes??

first - ramu bought the rights to the film so he as every right to use the name

and he should, considering it will bring a lot more fans to the theatres

you think hollywood would buy the rights to a film and then name it something else??? of course not

manchurian candidate was manchurian candidate, traffic was traffic, and ringu was ring…and it is definitely for the best

second - not only do you bring new fans into the film but you will also attract fans of the original…

and b/c you are buying the rights, the makers of the original will receive more money also

not to mention you also create awareness for the original, and people who have not seen/heard of the original will want to see that also… it really works both ways

the reason those other films you mention don’t advertise that they are remakes is b/c they don’t want anyone to know… either for legal reasons or they just want to pass it off as original

ramu (and farhan) are actually doing things the right way - unlike sanjay gupta or ek ajnabi




that is why they call it a remake

it is now official! this is going to be great…


Devgan is Veeru

Subhash K Jha

It's official. After Abhishek Bachchan and Saif Ali Khan both declined Veeru's role in Ram Gopal Varma's Sholay, Ajay Devgan has been finalised for the role immortalised by Dharmendra in Ramesh Sippy's original.

Devgan is an old Varma favourite and has worked on Company and Bhoot with him. Known to be an introvert, how will Devgan play the extroverted Veeru?

“I think Ramu has changed the milieu. It works for me. The Veeru I play will not be the same as the one earlier,” says Devgan.

Before getting down to Sholay, Devgan has another commitment to fulfill –Vishal Bhardwaj's Othello. “The film starts in January and we are shooting it at a stretch. I simply love the way Vishal has Indianised Shakespeare. He has placed Othello in a small town of UP. I think it's exceptional. I've already started thinking about how to play the character.” This film will also mark Devgan's first with Kareena Kapoor. “We were supposed to do Rituparno Ghosh's Raincoat together, but that did not work out,” he adds.

Shut up. Just...shut up. looks like Mola Ram did a lot of dirty work for me. Anyway, these types of stupid arguments can go on forever. point is "if you aint got anything good to say, don't say anything at all" my "don't watch it" post was an attempt to educate you of your options

to answer your other question, NO - I don't know that a lot of these are remakes. thus my statement about them misleading people. yes, ek ajnabi looks like Man On Fire ads. I haven't seen the english one. a lot of times I don't even watch the trailers. sometimes a trip to the theaters is completely unplanned.

I don't generally watch movies that I expect not to like one bit. There are exceptions.
1) I watch them because of family/friends want to watch garbage.
2)in some cases, I watch popular films to see why they are so popular.
3) might watch them for music/videos/technicians

but if I was like you, and held strong principles against something, I wouldn't watch the flick unless ofcourse I was forced to watch it as per 1 above^^ I wouldn't watch them if they were free in terms of $, because the value of my time lost cannot be reimbursed.

Urmila, I think makes a great item nevermind china gate, look at her freakin bod in Pyar Tune.. Aishwarya is doing item numbers, she is about the same age. Aishwarya IMO looks better with age. I did not find her attractive in her Ms. World years

It would've been nice had Jr.B had been in this film.

as for RGV Sholay attracting audiences to the 'classic' - I am one of them, as I haven't seen the film yet, but intend on watching it before Ramu's releases.

Mola Ram:

If you honestly think that all Salim-Javed do is "throw together Hollywood scripts," then I don't know what the hell you consider good writing. The Salim-Javed duo represents, perhaps, the most industrious, commendable writing team in Indian-cinema history. Their work is commonly regarded as brilliant, and rightly so.

I don't mind if a film is inspired by another film, or by many other films. Every movie must borrow ideas and concepts from someplace. I am OK with actual "re-makes," such as Dhoom, when they do not constantly strive to remind you that you are watching a re-make.

Ram Gopal Varma bought the rights to Sholay (and, actually, he faced significant controversy even in doing that). He has the right to use the title. That doesn't mean that it's a stroke of genius for him to do so. Let's not delude ourselves by claiming that Varma's re-make will draw people in to watching the original Sholay; it's not a "two-way street": it's all one-way. So heavily pushing that the movie is "Sholay: Again," will likely get some additional viewers, but it will also likely cause myriad comparisons to be made. That, will conceivably be bad for Varma's film.

It's not true that those "other films" do not advertise being re-makes just because they "don't want people to know. First of all, it is insanely difficult, if not impossible, to "keep" such a thing hidden for very long. Second, even here, films are re-made often (not nearly so often as they are in India, but often, nevertheless). The Grudge, The Magnificient Seven, The Ring, all were re-makes (and all did reasonably well [even The Grudge). None, however, boasted of the fact that they were re-makes.

I totally agree about Ek Ajnabee. I hate that its makers seem, at most, to "hesitantly admit" that their film is indeed "inspired by" Denzel Washington's Man On Fire (when, from the promos, it is evident that it is likely a total rip-off), and readily move the discussion along, when reporters call them on the issue. I feel that re-make after re-make does little but hinder creativity, though, again, I feel that a film can actually be inspired without being a "re-make" (e.g., Sarkar [which was actually just "OK"]).

Well, (the atrocious) Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon was a re-make (of Chitchor), Kal Ho Na Ho was "inspired" by Anand, the aforementioned American films were all re-makes of older films. They are re-makes because there stories are similar (if not almost identical) to prior films. They are not "re-makes" "because" they attempt to "borrow" but every aspect of such a prior film.

You shut up. You just shut up. Mola Ram did your "dirty work" for you? Who the hell are you: a cop on the edge? Yeah, these "stupid arguments" indeed can go on forever, and if you wish them to cease, perhaps you ought to shut the hell up. Your "don't-watch-it" post was not an attempt to educate me, but a (feeble) one to defend a filmmaker you apparently love. You'd never have so vehemently defended an upcoming film, with which you have no association, were such not the case.

Yes, Ek Ajnabee looks like a rip-off of Man On Fire. You don't like to watch the originals? That's fine for you. When I'm looking forward to a film, and I hear that it is (heavily) inspired by another, I try to watch the original, of for nothing else, to see why the original was deemed worth "re-making."

Unlike you, I often watch films that I'm not keen on watching. Often, I do so for the reasons you listed, but at least as often, I do so because a family member will have rented the movie, and I'll figure that I mught as well give it a watch.

Whether I have a deep desire to see a film made, or I absolutely loathe its very concept, I will probably watch it anyway. If I never wanted it to be made, and it indeed sucks, I'll have at least the satisfaction of knowing I was right. If it turns out to be good, I'll have gotten to watch a good movie. The mere possiblity, however, that a movie might be good, does not pave the way for me to be wholly appreciative of the fact that it is being made. Every project has the possibilty for success; therefore, I'd rather weigh likelihood.

I agree that Aishwarya Rai has become more attractive as of late, but I think that that has less to do with age, and more to do with success. It seems unquestionable that people "look" better when they taste success. Their hairstyles improve, their bodies tighten, and even a certain charm becomes apparent on their faces.

Honestly, Abhishek Bachchan is a bad actor. To date, he's been truly commendable in but one film (Yuva) (I've heard good things about his work in Antar Mahal, as well, though I've not yet seen it). I think, too, that his presence in a Sholay re-make would only worsen matters of "throw-backs" to the original. Casting his as Veeru, rather than as Jai, would do little to avert people's eyes from the fact that he is in a leading role in the re-make of a film in which is mega-star father played a leading role.

You haven't seen Sholay? This conversation is over.

Having seen Sarkar you still think that RGV Sholay will be frame to frame same to same?? Give the poor guy a break. Judge him and his film when it releases. It's said that Sholay will be set in Mumbai Underworld, that in itself is a huge diff from Cowboys & INDIANS ok, I really need to watch this film. will do soon!

Films like Grudge/Ring aren't known to the average audience anyhoo. as far as they know, they are american films. I wasn't aware that there is even a remake of magnificent seven.

just about every movie is an inspiration....meaning there have been similar topics covered in the past. remakes however are intended to specifically revolve around former films.

it'd be interesting to watch James II hehe

ok, I will entertain you.....


ofcourse I'm defending an artist that I 'love'. you are right. same way you are defending your Sholay. same way your are disgusted by the remake, i'm disgusted by people that contradict themselves but can't see it.


I never said I don't like to watch originals, infact I've stated the exact opposite. I just haven't seen Man On Fire, nor do I care to & same goes for Ek Ajnabi.


To me, her face physically matured. I still don't like the way she looked in her old films/magazines. & I sure in hell don't like her personality and her screen presence or the lack of it.


I lived this many years without watching it cause I don't give a rats arse about this film, until now (RGV Sholay).

of course it is a "two-way street"

you said it yourself -



and the 2 films you mentioned are perfect examples - The Grudge and The Ring

b/c of these 2 remakes, both ‘ringu’ and ‘ju-on’ became immensely popular internationally

not to mention that both ‘ringu’ and ‘ju-on’ got an american theatrical release before the remakes were made - so people could watch the original first

do you think this would happen if there wasn’t a hw remake?? - of course not

just recently the same thing happened w/ ‘infernal affairs’ and ‘oldboy’ getting an american theatrical release b/c the hw remakes are on the way

now of course when you are remaking popular older films like manchurian candidate or sholay - the goal is not only to bring exposure to the original film but also to bring that story to a whole new generation

Who is forgeting another Pathetic Dudd remake by Spielberg the great! War Of The World!

Who else but Pancham the great (R D Burman).

rana u forgot, fareeda jalal's bro..dancer!