SHOLAY 3D: Arriving on January 3rd 2014

It is confirmed. Sholay 3D shall get an Indian release on January 3rd 2014. Watch the new trailer here: 

  
An epic movie has gone through an epic 3D treatment. Sholay, almost four hours long, is one of the longest films to be converted to this format. Pen India Pvt Ltd and Maya Studio worked together on the 3D treatment.

Earlier, talks were on with cinema owners for a release date, as Jayantilal Gada of Pen had stated. His reasoning for the January release - As Sholay is an 'old film', Gada needs a 'one-week window' during which time no other major release will be lined up. 

As an ardent fan I am a little worried by a press release that quotes Jayantilal Gada stating that the Sholay 3D version will have a 'new background score'. I like the present RD Burman background score fine enough.  

Considering many of us weren't born or conceived in 1975, we are all set to make it to the cinema screens on January 3rd 2014. 

More on Sholay 3D
Producer-Director Ketan Mehta owned Maya Digital Studios is the team behind Sholay 3D. They had no easy task at hand, considering the movie needed colour correction. Also, elements from each of the over 5000 shots were enhanced visually. A computer-generated shot that fans will notice - The oil barrels exploding in the train robbery sequence shall spark red instead of black. This is to go with the film's title, implying embers.

Sholay in Posters Again v

SHOLAY (1975): Post release facts i

Sholay got thrashed by critics post the August 15th, 1975 premiere. Ramesh Sippy visited theatres in Mumbai to gauge the audience reaction. All he got is silence. He couldn't understand why the audience was not reacting.  

Ramesh Sippy panicked and called up a meeting with GP Sippy and Amitabh Bachchan. The trio mooted re-shooting the ending before releasing it in other regions, with Jai still alive and kicking at the end of it. Post Zanjeer (1973) and Deewar (1975), "Amitabh was too big a star to die." Writers Salim-Javed were adamant on not changing anything. Ramesh Sippy finally went with his heart and nothing was touched. Already, the ending had been changed, and the director didn't want to creatively compromise on anything else.  

By the end of its first week run in Mumbai, the second week advance bookings were lukewarm. The film's producer GP Sippy wondered, considering that creditors were yet to be paid, if he would be able to make another film again.   

Amitabh Bachchan (almost) cried on the shoulders of Shashi Kapoor at the Kabhie Kabhie shooting on learning of Sholay's low first week collections. "No yaar, it's over, the film's a flop."

Amjad Khan was a defeated man in the heat of negative reviews, he went in to a shell and lamented to his co-star Asrani that, "There's nothing to be done now." 

Ramesh Sippy finally saw hope in the middle of the second week when the owner of Geeta Cinema, Worli told him that the sale of his ice creams and soft drinks were down. Why was that, asked the director. The answer: The audience was too stunned to leave their seats during the interval...

(To be contd.)

Sholay 3D Poster ii

Sholay 3D: The 'Jai' Poster

Sholay 3D: The 'Veeru' Poster

Sholay 3D: The 'Basanti' Poster

Sholay 3D: The 'Gabbar' Poster

Sholay in Posters Again iv

 

The Sholay Merchandise

Almost four decades have passed and yet Sholay is still used to push merchandise. The price tags will usually tell you that the product makers are bigger thieves than Jai and Veeru...

Sholay in Posters Again iii

Sholay in Posters Again ii

The Thai DVD cover of Sholay

Sholay Fan Club: Amitabh Bachchan Posts on Twitter

Sholay Fan Club: Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan and Ramesh Sippy

Sholay 3D: The 'Thakur' Poster

Sholay 3D: The 'Radha' Poster

Sholay in Posters Again

Sholay in Posters