Filmmaker Subhash Ghai will convert Ramesh Sippy’s 1975 classic film ‘Sholay’ to the 3D format.
Ghai’s banner Mukta Arts has collaborated with filmmaker Ketan Mehta’s Maya Digital to undertake the project.
“We have a department working with Maya Digital to convert ‘Sholay’ to 3D,” Ghai told PTI.
The decision has reportedly not gone down well with the Sippys as they have not been kept in the loop about the development. However, Ghai rubbished the speculation.
“The negotiations are on. The copyright of the film keeps changing. Hopefully, we will convert it in 3D,” the filmmaker said.
‘Sholay’ directed by Ramesh Sippy and starring Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Amjad Khan, Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Bachchan among others, released in 1975.
The film, which boasts of the best remembered characters and dialogues of Indian cinema, broke all box-office records and ran in theatres for several years.
Its characters: the petty criminal buddies Jay and Veeru (played by Amitabh and Dharmendra respectively), Thakur Baldev Singh (Sanjeev Kumar), Basanti (Hema Malini), Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan in an unforgettable debut) and Thakur’s widowed daughter-in-law Radha (Jaya) remain etched in the public memory even today.
Ghai has also dubbed Rituparno Ghosh’s Bengali film ’Nauka Dubi’ in Hindi as ‘Kashmakash’ The music of the Hindi version of the film was launched here yesterday.
The film is an adaptation of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s famous novel about two couples; the wives getting swapped following an accident on a river that causes their boat to capsize.
The film brings together the granddaughters of Bengal’s matinee idol Suchitra Sen, Riya and Raima, alongside Prosenjit Chatterjee and Jisshu Sengupta. Noted lyricist Gulzar has translated the lyrics.
On reports that Ghosh was livid over the decision to dub ’Nauka Dubi’ in Hindi, Ghai said, “This is false news that he is miffed with me. I had a word with him last night and there is no problem. To make ‘Nauka Dubi’ in Hindi as ‘Kashmakash’ was our empathy.
“I had taken permission from him to use his concept. He said ‘I don’t have knowledge of Hindi but whatever you want you can make’ I told him I want to change songs so I asked Gulzar sahab to write the lyrics. We sent the music to Rituparna and he liked it,” the filmmaker said.
The film will release on Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary on May 6 as a tribute to the Nobel Laureate, he added.
When asked if he intends to remake any of his old film, Ghai said, “Why should I show or make my own films in a new way. Have I exhausted my innovation and credibility? If I do so then it would mean that I have given up as I don’t have any new story to tell.”
However, the 66-year-old filmmaker is open to the idea of others remaking his films.
“If anyone wants to remake any of my film they can do so.
Whosoever is willing to make can buy the rights from me and pay me for the same,” he said.
