70 - Sholay - Inspiration from other sources!!

You will be surprised to know that Salim-Javed as well as RD Burman took inspirations from different sources to make this film.  Thanks to Internet now, we can actually find out from where all their inspirations came from!!  Of course, it still doesn’t matter!!  The fact is that Sholay is the greatest movie ever made!!   Some facts mentioned below have been sourced from the book “Written by Salim-Javed – The Story of Hindi Cinema’s Greatest Screenwriters” by Diptakirti Chaudhuri and the rest from Internet.

Hariram Naii (Naii in Hindi means barber) was the name of the barber who used to come to Salim Khan’s house when he was a kid.  He used to come regularly and used to cut the hair of all the kids at the house at a discount.  When the character of a barber came in Sholay, he was aptly named Hariram Naii (Keshto Mukherjee)

Salim Khan’s father was a police officer. At that time there was a particularly cruel story about a legendary dacoit who used to cut off the ears and noses of all policemen he caught. His name was Gabbar Singh.  In Sholay, the villain was named Gabbar Singh and as they say, the rest is history!

In the movie, Garden of Evil, the 2 protagonists draw card to decide who will stay to hold back the advancing Indians raid on the village.  Same inspiration was visible in Sholay where Jai tosses the coin during climax, and wins against Veeru, to decide who will accompany Basanti to the village and who will stay back to fight Gabbar’s henchmen!!

Javed Akhthar had read lot of Ibn-e-Safi’s novels. In Ibn-e-Safi's (actual name Abrar Narvi) detective novel, House of Fear, published in 1952, the following conversation takes place just outside a nightclub.  Imran is the detective and the hero of the novel.

‘So, young man. So now you have also starred frequenting these places?’

‘Yes. I often come by to pay Flush,’ Imran said respectfully.

‘Flush! Oh, so now you play Flush . . .’

‘Yes, yes. I feel like it when I am a bit drunk . . .’

‘Oh! So you have also started drinking?’

‘What can I say? I swear I’ve never drunk alone. Frequently I find hookers who do not agree to anything without a drink. 

This has been adapted very brilliantly by Salim-Javed as talks between Jai and Mausi when Jai goes to her house to ask for Basanti’s hand in marriage for Veeru.  You can see the adaptation here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHQHW2junr4

The song Mehbooba was a super-duper hit when it was released.  And even today, it makes you swoon to the beats when you hear it.  I present to you 3 more different versions of it!! 

In 1973, Voliaris came up with Ta Rialia, which you can watch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkYEAiOjxvU

In 1974, Demis Roussos’s came up with “Say You Love Me” and you can watch it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UJXgmPqAE4

And in 1975, RD Burman came up with Mehbooba, which you can watch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByAbV-MKDgs 

Finally in 1980 there was La Carte’s disco hit ‘Doctor Doctor Help Me Please’ which you can watch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfb032XWoO8

Below is an excerpt from an article in The Navhind Times on August 30, 2015….

Burman’s ‘Mehbooba’ has a pace midway between the Voliaris and Roussos songs. He

builds the excitement quotient gradually, and Ramesh Sippy mirrors this brilliantly on

screen. A syncopated beat of an octave (bass at the root, and a flute at the top)

against a steady, resolute drum beat sets it off while the campfire-lit dacoits’ den is

revealed to us, and just the flute begins its fluttering trill, the ‘thrill’ (the belly dancer

played wonderfully by Helen) is made manifest to us. Then the dance beat plays out in

earnest, with the entire percussion section unleashed as Helen gyrates round the fire.

We hear the introductory melody, played singly (as with Roussos) and not in thirds,

as Voliaris does in his version of ‘Ta Rialia’.

The melody of the sung portion, which ascends and descends in steps with Roussos

becomes much more undulating in Burman’s adaptation. Bakshi-Burman also add an open-ended couplet, whose melody is not part of either ‘Ta Rialia’ or ‘Say You Love Me’: ‘Phool bahaaron se nikla, chaand sitaaron se nikla, Dilrooba’. The instrumental interludes provide an opportunity for the action in the film to move forward, and we see the saboteurs Jai and Veeru plant their explosives in the camp, without missing the sung portions of the song.

The A La Carte song was short-lived, but ‘Mehbooba’ lives on, in its original version

 and remixes, and has spawned several imitations.

Imitation is the best form of flattery, isn’t it? To paraphrase Tina Turner,

What’s Copyright Got To Do With It?

             Cheers!!  More of Sholay to continue for a couple of more weeks!

Today’s Daffy Definition

Cannibal – A person who goes into a restaurant and orders the waiter!!