Bollywood sequel plans for mother of blockbusters draws fire in India
NEW DELHI, Dec 9 (AFP) -
A film director’s plans for a sequel to India’s most successful movie, made by his father, has sparked protests by film-world analysts who warn it will not only fail, but amount to the desecration of the monumental original.
Sascha Vijay Sippy is trying to allay fears his sequel, a debut, would either dim the immortal appeal of “Sholay” (Spark), made in 1975 by Ramesh Sippy, or divert from the action-packed original.
But India’s best-known film critic, Amita Malik, wants the Sippys from Bombay’s Bollywood tinsel world to abandon the making of “Sholay II,” which is slated for release in 2002.
“Such a stupendous film cannot be repeated and any attempt to make a sequel to Sholay should not be made,” Malik told AFP.
The original movie, whose theme revolves around two hired gunmen and a demonic bandit, is revered by many film distributors as the icon of the local industry, the world’s largest with an annual churnout rate of 300 films.
The 28-year-old Sippy in published comments insisted “Sholay II” would be a “masterpiece that will rival the first in every way and break and make many conventions” of Bollywood.
“‘Sholay’ has been adopted by the country as part of its fabric and ‘Sholay II’ will be a good complement to the earlier movie,” the untested director said of the original film, in which a police inspector hired the two mercenaries to kill the bandit.
According to Malik, no Indian commercial movie would ever outshine the myriad successes of the mega-thriller, which ends with the death of the outlaw and one of the two freelance gunmen.
The Hindi-language movie ran for a record five years in Bombay’s landmark Minarva theatre.
“Sholay” became the mother of all blockbusters as it drew packed houses for two years in hundreds of other Indian cinemas where the box office grossed figures beyond the wildest of dreams at the time.
The script of “Sholay,” starring the day’s five top actors and actresses, was a hit and for the first time an Indian film saw its dialogue cut one million records to become part of the Indian language for adolescents and adults alike.
Film analyst Nikhat Kazmi said “Sholay II” will flop as the theme of the original ended with the movie, and accused the Sippys’ — who never saw a hit after making “Sholay” – of encashing on the cult film’s “nostalgia.”
Javed Akhtar, who co-scripted “Sholay,” said: “I do not think it is possible to make a sequel because the story has ended and there are no character left to continue it.”
The past 25 years have also seen the death in real life of “Sholay’s” main photographer, the bandit and the inspector, and the retirement of G.P. Sippy, the grandfather and inspiration behind the original film.
Countering opposition to “Sholay II” is India’s top film historian Hameeduddin Mahmood who vehemently disagreed with the critics and said the sequel’s success was a possibility.
"Its success will depend on directorial competence, the project’s execution and whether it will have the same appeal in 110 nations where Indian films currently run.
“But it has to be on the same scale and magnitude and it has to be more brutal than ‘Sholay’,” the historian said.
Film-maker Anil Sari said a wealth of unused footage from the original could be used as background in “Sholay II” to turn it into a possible success.
“The young director should get a chance. Often, the young ones spring better ideas and maybe Sippy will perform a miracle,” Sari said.