CLASSICS NEVER PALE

Sholay3d

STARRING: Sanjeev Kumar, Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Amitabh Bachchan and Amjad Khan

WRITERS: Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar

DIRECTOR: Ramesh Sippy fas William Shakespeare told us, a rose by any other name smells just as sweet, then Sholay in any format - 30, 40 or whatever, would remain just the same.

An inviolable classic, timeless, as it is timely. The new version, spruced up with flying bullets and thundering hoofs, comes to us at a time when Dhoom 3 is trending. So it's Sholay 30 weighed against Dhoom 3.

Undoubtedly, the current films that seem to make so much money seem to pale into flamboyant insignificance when weighed against the hefty impact of Sholay.

As many as 38 years have passed since Sholay and its astonishing l ines (Salim-Javed at their pithiest) created immediate and enduring history. Yes, the film opened badly. But then Rome and Amitabh Bachchan's career weren't built in a day.

With each viewing of Sholay, I come away wiser and richer. Yes, this is what 'Bollywood ' entertainment should always be but seldom is. Rich in drama vivacious and vibrant in its characterisations, Sho/ay, about one

Epic Fail

Mahabharat 3d

VOICES OF: Amitabh Bachchan, Sunny Deol, Vidya Balan, Ajay Devgn, Anil Kapoor, Shatrughan Sinha

DIRECTOR: Amaan Khan ~ xx:.r f you were hoping that animation films would come of age with this purported epic, you are in for a disappointment. Though the characters from Mahabharathave faces and voices ofthe biggest stars, the images do not add upto a compelling canvas Not by a wide margin.

Or, perhaps, it's because those eminently known faces and voices assume the roles of the mythological characters that we are unable to connect, let alone empathise with the astonishing tale of valour, manipulation and war that we've grown up with. Folklore and mythology when done with excessive flamboyance loses its efficacy.

The presentation is epic in intent, yes. Alas, the execution, packaging and armless man's two-man army and their battle against a sadistic dacoit (Amjad Khan), spawns innumerable eras of cinematic experience.

It is the most well-assembled screenplay ever.

With the passage oftime, we can view the film in episodes - the stunning train robbery sequence at the start, the massacre of'Thakur' Sanjeev Kumar's family by Gabbar and his ragged henchmen, Dharmendra's'suicide' drama from atop a water tower, '.Jai' Amitabh Bachchan's marriage proposal on behalf of his buddy'Veeru' Dharmendra, 'Gabbar' Amjad Khan's Russian roulette in the ravines with his trio of petrified henchmen, 'Rahim Chacha' A.K. Hangal's son's poignant death scene, the widow 'Rad ha' Jaya Bhaduri's flashback into a colourful Hali when she accosts her future father-in-law with incessant chatter (Radha could have been Basanti), Jagdeep's Soorma Bhopali and Asrani's 'angrezon ke zamaanein ka jailor' episodes each of these and many others, have a throbbing autonomous life of their own.

And yet, here lies the magic of a monumental classic - all the accentuated episodes come together in a compelling cohesive screenplay which blows your mind.

This is a revenge story with a supremely sustained momentum. The characters show no sign of aging with time. Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan's Veeru and Jai are to this projection leave the epic undernourished and overemphasised.

The magic of animation cinema is to transport the audience into the world of make-believe, but in a way that we forget the characters are not real people. In other words, for animation to be effective, the narration must transcend the technique of animation.

Mahabharat, as told by director Amaan Khan, never goes beyond self-congratulation. The animation characters are so busy posturing they are never humanised. All we see are graphics, not the spectacular characters from the Mahabharat whom we've grown up with We hear them. But they never attain credible shapes on screen.

To their credit, the superstars have lent their voices with great dignity and restraint. And I'd have been happy just hearing Mr Bachchan as Bheeshma Pitamah, Sunny Deal as Bheem, Vidya day roguish mercenaries who seem to convey an endearing amorality in their conduct even as they emerge as unlikely heroes in the Thakur's fight against an oppressively cartoonish outlaw.

There are two romantic tracks navigated by two very contrasting female characters. While Basanti (Hema Ma lini) never stops chattering, Radha (Jaya Bhaduri) seldom speaks.

They are portraits in contrasts done up in colours that have acquired deeper shades and relevance with the passage of time.

Dissertations, theses, textbooks and essays have been written on the impact of Sholay on commercial Indian cinema. Does the narrative show any signs of wear and tear? Never! Except when monetary amounts meant to be astronomical in 1975 are mentioned. Thakur Baldev Singh hires the services of Jai and Veeru for a princely sum of Rs.50,000. That in today's economic context would amount to close to Rs.10 crore. And if you have actors as exceptionally charismatic as Amitabh and Dharmendra playing Jai and Veeru, then the characters seem priceless. Has there ever been a better celluloid illustration of male bonding than the Jai-Veeru jodi in Sholay? Amitabh and Dharmendra came together once again as Ram and Bairam in Vijay Anand's film. But the same chemistry was missing.

No one can encore the magic of Ramesh Si ppy in Sholay. Not even Sippy himself. And what a team oftechnicians Sippy had! Dwarka Divecha's cinematography, M.S. Shinde's editing and R.D. Burman's background music will never cease to take our breath away

I always found R.D. Burman's songs in Sholayto be relatively weak. I still do. But that's a very small quibble in a film that defies all analyses.

So does the 3 D format affect Sholay?

I'd say Sholay in any format is Sho/ay! Incomparably gripping, flawlessly cast and impeccably mounted, this is the mother of all Bollywood classics.

Take a bow, Mr. Ramesh Sippy.

SUBHASH K. JHA

BaIan as Draupadi. and what have you.

Incidentally Draupadi's vastrahan scene has to be seen for us to know how clumsily inadequate the animation and graphics are The saree doesn't unfurl. It ties itself up in knots, in a manner of speaking.

There is a laboured attempt here to prove that animation has come to animated life in Indian cinema. Sadly it ends up proving only the opposite. We've a long way to go. If you want to see a credible dramatically deft adaptation of the Mahabharat, check out B R. Chopra's televised version

As for animation, I suggest Indian ci nema leave it alone.

SUBHASH K. JHA