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24 FRAMES PER SECOND I'm writing this column on August 15. The day has significance for me for reasons that have little to do with freedom. Independence Day is also a landmark day for Indian cinema. Because 25 years ago, on this day, Sholay released. I've recently wrapped up a book on Sholay. Still untitled, it is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a classic. In the course of writing the book, I interviewed everyone down to the unit's cook and also watched the film several times. I was struck at how well Sholay has preserved. A quarter of a century later, it still endures. I had seen it about 20-odd times earlier. But I still laugh when Jagdeep tells off his hapless clients with: 'To kya do rupay main jungle khareedne nikle the'? and still cry when Jai does that final twist of death in Veeru's arms. Small wonder then that even now, dotcom companies are using Sholay lines in their advertising and pop star Bali Brahambhatt is making remix albums called Sholay 2000. The magic of the film is in the details. The writing is unmatched, not just the big epic scenes but even the little asides. In the opening sequence, after Veeru tells the Thakur that they can easily handle 20-25 men, he turns to Jai and asks: 'Kyun partner, jada to nahin bol gaya' and Jai drawls, 'Ab bol his diya hai to dekh lenge'. The technical finesse is unmatched, even today, you would be hard-pressed to find shots like the ones Sippy and his cinematographer Dwarka Divecha took. The spirit is unmatched. Sholay is the culmination of dozens of talents working together at their peak capacity. No one, not director Ramesh Sippy, nor writers Salim Khan or Javed Akhtar nor its many stars ever managed to repeat the magic. Sholay is a work of grand passion. Sippy, still in his 20s, his head buzzing with the success of Sita Aur Geeta and his heart pounding with ambition took Salim-Javed's superlative story and ran with it. His father, G. P. Sippy, an inveterate gambler bet, quite literally, his last shirt on his son's vision. Ramesh and Divecha took weeks over shots: they waited for the clouds to shoot the family massacre sequence and the sun to shoot 'Jab tak hain Jaan'. But Sippy doled out the cash without complaint. Because, despite the stellar starcast, Sholay was never a proposal. They don't make producers like that anymore. For me, no other film even comes close. Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, which broke Sholay's box-office record, is a shoddy inheritor of the mantle. Try if you can, to remember the name of one character from that film. And then try, if you can, to forget Veeru and Jai and Basanti and Gabbar. Ramesh Sippy has spent the rest of his career grasping for that magic again. He hasn't found it yet. It doesn't matter. Because one masterpiece in a lifetime is enough. (Anupama Chopra is a Principal Correspondent with INDIA TODAY. She is based in Mumbai. Write to Anupama Chopra)
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