Did You Know Sholay Has A Sequel?

Even after 50 years, Amjad Khan’s Gabbar Singh still stands tall in the gallery of rogues. Saurabh Shukla, Satya’s Kallu Mama and Raid’s Tauji, has his pride of place too and admits Sholay is his favourite film. He even pitched a sequel to director Ramesh Sippy when still in school.  

On August 15, 1975, when the film opened, Saurabh was just 12 and had the opportunity of seeing it, first day, first show. But he wanted to watch Janwar Aur Insaan a second time, despite his brother, Shekhar, warning him that he couldn’t then accompany him for Sholay. “I realized my mistake when Sholay became a blockbuster and I was the only one who hadn’t seen it despite going to Amba Cinema in Delhi NCR’s Block 40 at least 10 times over the next six months. I would stand in the queue for an hour, but before I could reach the counter, the black marketeers would buy all the tickets, then sell a Rs 2.50 balcony ticket for Rs 400, which I couldn’t afford,” he recounts. Soon the desperation to see the curry western, and the despair from failing repeatedly, became so acute that Saurabh began to see the film in his dreams. “But instead of Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjeev Kumar and Amjad Khan, my Sholay starred Dev Anand, I have no idea why!” he laughs.

He finally managed to buy a ticket and entered the auditorium with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety. As he took his seat, the lights dimmed. “I sat up straighter as, on screen, a train enters the station and a man disembarks, to be greeted by another. They proceed together on horses as the title credits roll. I had watched many Hollywood westerns, but never expected to see one in my own language. I was wowed!” Saurabh flashbacks.

At the haveli, Ramlal, the family retainer, hands the visiting jailor photographs of two men whom he recognizes instantly as petty thieves, Veeru and Jaidev. When Sanjeev Kumar’s Thakur Baldev Singh informs him that he needs the rogues, who despite all their vices have some virtues, for a job, the jailor warns him, “Khota sikka to donon hi taraf se khota hota hai (Both sides of a counterfeit coin are fake). To this the Thakur quips, “Sikka aur insaan mein shayad yahi farak hai (I guess that’s the difference between a coin and a human being).” The exchange had Saurabh applauding spontaneously, but it was only years later, after he became an actor and understood filmmaking better, that he was able to fully appreciate the tautness of Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar’s script and the punch in the crisp one-liner dialogues.

He was equally impressed by the now-famous Ramgarh, the low angle shots playing up the amazing topography and the rough terrain. And when Jai and Veeru appear on a stolen motorbike, crooning, “Yeh dosti, hum nahin todenge” Saurabh was ecstatic. A western with songs, this was even better than a Hollywood film!

There was also Gabbar Singh! Dressed in army fatigues, he walked the ravines brandishing a bullet belt. “A big, bad guy chewing khaini, he was amazingly true-to-life, menacing, but sometimes, unintentionally funny. I was completely in love with him,” he smiles, remembering how for the next three hours and 24 minutes, he was transfixed.

Returning home, Saurabh immediately started penning a story which begins 20 years later, with Gabbar Singh coming out of jail. He’s met by Heera, the illegal arms supplier, who warns him a lot has changed in Ramgarh and advises him not to return to his life of crime. But vengeance burning bright in his eyes, the dacoit will not be dissuaded. Jai and Thakur are dead, Veeru and Basanti have moved away, but Radha still lives there and she is his target. Learning about his diabolical plan, Veeru and Basanti rush to Radha’s help, with their two children.       

50 Years Of Sholay: Why 1975 Remains The Golden Year Of Bollywood

“Within days, I had written 400 pages and I hadn’t even reached the interval. My family subscribed to the film magazine Mayapuri and below an interview of Ramesh Sippy’s, his office address was listed. I used my pocket money to get the manuscript typed and mailed it to him confident that since only English films spun sequels then, he’d be interested,” shares. When the director didn’t reply despite reminders, presuming some Gabbar in the office had intercepted his manuscript and letters, Saurabh decided, when in college, to turn his story into a film himself.

“We had two tape recorders at home. The expensive Sony one could not only record, but didn’t click irritatingly when you hit the ‘pause’ button.  It was perfect for what I had in mind,” he shares. The music company had released dialogue cassettes of Sholay which he had bought. Every morning, he would leave with his parents, then return to his empty home with his friends. Together, they recorded four to five-minute audio tracks which were then spliced into a single rendition, using original dialogues to narrate the sequel, interspersed with background sounds of horses galloping, birds chirping and even a goat bleating, taken from the pauses between the lines.

“It was a cut-and-paste job, tedious and backbreaking, but in four- five months, we had an audio film recorded in two tapes of 120 and 34 minutes respectively, narrating a story which had its genesis in Sholay, but then took it forward,” Saurabh informs, admitting he told Ramesh Sippy about it years later and even mentioned it in a TV interview during Sholay’s 30-year celebrations. “By then, I had lost the tapes, but the channel found one and played it. I had planned to digitize it, but I have misplaced it again,” he sighs.

His Sholay journey continues. He’s seen it around 250 times in the theatre, over 400 times on VCD, DVD, LD, TV and OTT. “For 50 years, it’s remained a favourite film,” Saurabh acknowledges.