The 1975 film ‘Sholay’ starring Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, and Hema Malini is considered an all-time blockbuster film of Hindi cinema. It’s said that some classic films are better to remain untouched. However, filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma took the bold step to remake this classic film in 2007.
He surprised people when he came out with ‘Ram Gopal Varma Ki Sholay’ which was later titled ‘Aag’. He chose to cast Amitabh Bachchan who worked in the original film too. Ajay Devgn and Sushmita Sen were also part of the film. However, the film was a huge failure. It not only bombed at the box office but also received negative reviews from the critics. And that’s not it!
In 2015, the Delhi High Court imposed a fine of Rs.10 lakh on filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma for remaking ‘Sholay’ which violated the exclusive copyright vested with its director Ramesh Sippy. The order said, “The publicity material coupled with the impugned film, gives an overall impression that it is a remake of the film ‘Sholay.’ The use of a similar plot and characters in the impugned film coupled with the use of the underlying music, lyrics and background score, and even dialogues from the original film ‘Sholay’ amounts to infringement of copyright in the film ‘Sholay’.â€
While talking about the film, RGV admitted that it was not an easy decision to make the film. He told that many people advised him not to remake the film. He said, “I knew that if I want to make this film, only one man can save me, that is Amitabh Bachchan.” However, turned out that even Big B couldn’t save RGV from this disaster.
Amitabh Bachchan too had expressed his happiness of being a part of this project.
