Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag: Review

A remake of Sholay, who would dare such a thing? Only the eccentric of Bollywood would tread the path of thorns for the viewers to smell the sweet scent of success, but are these petals picked to shower the audience for their fidelity to a classic adorned in tribute or to fragrance his own fortress of ego?

Maligned from the outset and dragged through legalities that have little to do with cinema but more to do with ownership, the grandson of producer GP Sippy, Sascha, implored the High Courts of India that the release of the film be restrained on the grounds of copyrights and trademarks. Ram Gopal Varma overcame this buy renaming the film and the characters after which the high courts had no objection. One can understand these issues of intellectual property if there was an empire of franchises, licenses and merchandise, but none of these instances occur. It would have been interesting to see action figures, such as a Thakur with removable arms. With all these changes made it could be mistaken for another film all together... Or even more so, a spoof, for it certainly has all the hallmarks of one.

Whether satire or serious, a fact the director repeats and reinforces is that his Aag is not a remake of Sholay but is actually inspired from the same films that the original was inspired by. Revenge films such as ‘The Magnificent Seven’, ‘For a Few Dollars More’ and ‘Mera Gaon, Mera Desh’ as well as Sholay itself which he cites as a classic and a “domain wherein I wanted to re-live and re-interpret, assuming I have an understanding of Mr. Ramesh Sippy’s extraordinary achievement”. If it was an achievement as such, why the arrogance to originally name it RGV ka Sholay? Either it's endorsement from the status of the original, or it's hidden insult inferring that it could have been better.

In terms of technical prowess and directorial dexterity, RGV ki Aag is by no means a poor film. The respect shown by the writer to the original echoes a tribute rather than piracy of the story, the opening is a prologue narrated by Inspector Narsimah which isn’t patronising despite the fact that many viewers may be familiar with Sholay it’s worth remembering that many viewers, especially those of a younger age may not be. The mise en scenes are carefully crafted and intriguing in angle for the demanding film-going generation of a modern India looking for a shifting sight even in stillness. Filmed in his trademark RGV style that can be seen in Darna Mana Hai/Zaroori Hai with subtle lighting that contradicts the word itself by adding darkness, gives depth to characters.

Even in 1975 Amitabh had his eyes on the part of Gabbar Singh but was cast as hero that was archetypal for him in his era, in RGV’s flick he has returned as ‘The Big B’abban portraying his experience as angry young man evolved into psychotic villain with a sinister edge that is so unpredictable that it wouldn’t be worth a wager. Babban has more depth to his personal story with a flashback to his brother... his brother? This is the unfortunate side of him that has created a history which gives an incline to his motives as a disturbed man. Whereas other characters from the original, such as Sippy’s Radha who was silent and strong in her presence, in Varma’s Durga who has been developed is more representational of strength through being vocal and opinionated as a woman in 2007. Many of the characters have more depth and dimension, developed for a distinct delivery but almost in disdain.

Raj who plays the parallel of Sippy’s Jai, show’s promise as a new actor however the casting of Ajay Devgan as Heero does little justice to Dharmendra’s Veeru who showed comic stupidity as a hardman whereas Devgan gives hard stupidity which is simply comic. Ghungroo is a cute tomboy who fends for herself and her household but the moment she confirms herself as Heero’s love interest all of that is washed away in the waters surrounding Mumbai. A certain degree of social responsibility is required from an art such film, Ghungroo the beedi smoking autorickshaw driver doesn’t actually ever light one, just holds one in her bite as a prop in ode to her hero Rajnikanth who is emblazoned in her auto named Laila.

The music is questionable, as it seemed that Bollywood became wise to context and placing when transitioning between dialogue scenes and music numbers, which are largely autonomous from the films themselves, there seem to be loosely placed numbers- in particular the song in which Heero sings his designs towards Ghungroo. The only respectable song is the one lifted from Sholay ‘Mehbooba oh mehbooba’ spiced and re-lyricised by Sabbir Ahmed, the Holi song has a tapori quirk that intrigues but the remainder I don’t recall or choose not to.

Subtle references to Sholay in background score and dialogue hark back to Sippy’s classic and provide pseudo-comfort, but there also seem to be one too many references to the America/Iraq war and the innocents that are involved between the conflict of revenge, is this RGV hinting that he’ll pursue a career in politics after his film life is over? Recent TV spots with RGV and the actors also seem eerily homogenous to the troops in the said conflict who have been briefed by their Commander in Chief repeating the same spiel, ‘this isn’t a remake, it’s a tribute’.

This wasn’t a bad film, but it wasn't great either. All the ingredients were there, above all a classic story which was remade in a contemporary manner to appeal to a modern audience... If no mention of Sholay was ever made, audiences and critics alike would have pointed out the similarities between the two, would this have eventually been forgiven and seen for what the film actually is? Which is a tribute. If you want to see Sholay, watch the original Sippy version. If you want to see the latest RGV film, watch Aag... Missing this wouldn't cause sleepless nights, although watching it may...