Somebody must be out of their minds to attempt to remake a movie like Sholay, that too with an uninspiring cast, wonderfully mutilated storyline and pathetic cinematography/editing.
Now all of us know the Sholay storyline better than we know our ABCDs. Most of us must have watched it more times than we’d have watched ourselves in the mirror. So instead of saying a word about the storyline, lets get down to how RGV has successfully delivered what I’d say is the biggest flop of all times.
Firstly RGV’s choice is shoddy. Not in one department but in everything. He has chosen Ajay Devgan for the role originally done by Dharamendra. Not that Devgan is unsuited but perhaps he would have been better off playing the Amitabh part because it suits his personality. Mohanlal again, not in the least a bad actor, is negatively conspicuous because of his accent. Nisha Kothari for Hema malini is just pathetic. And Sushmita Sen for Jaya Bachchan and Rajpal Yadav for Jagdeep give absolutely nothing to write home about.
Think about the memorable scenes in the Original. "Hum angrezon ke zamane ke jailer hain", "Aadhe idhar jaao, aadhe udhar jaao, baaki mere peeche aao", "Basanti, tumhara naam kya hai ?", "Yun ki jyada bolne ki aadat to hume hai nahin", "Humara naam Soorma Bhopali aise hi nahi hai", "Ab roz roz aadmi jue me jeet to nahin sakta naa. Kabhi haar bhi jaata hai", the "Mausiji" episode atop the watertank, "Itna sannata kyon hai bhai ?", "Yeh haath humko de de Thakur" and many other immortal dialogues/scenes have been deleted or unimaginatively modified.
Now lets look at what RGV has done or has "tried" to do. He has remade Sholay without "Angrezon Ke Zamane ke Jailer"!? Can you fancy that ? He has got Amitabh showing the white in his eyeballs to send shivers down our spine. Instead he has ended up being almost successful in making us laugh. He has got Urmila & Abhishek cameo in "Mehbooba Mehbooba" amidst dark, dimly lit sets that make us feel as if we are watching a sleazy flick. He has got excerpts of the fantastic original score used for casting while casting in the background of a Mumbai railway Station. Instead he could have tried keeping a few chords common while attaching new ones ala the Don Remake. He has got Rajpal Yadav (as Rambha Bhai) trying to do a Soorma Bhopali comedy of manners but ending up as a shrill voiced distraction. The darned list is just endless...
I’d say the Cinematographer needs special mention. Dont know who the chap was or what he was upto but looks as if he came straight out of the lavatory to take shots and rushed back to the lavatory before he could even finish...such is the hurry he seems to have been in.
A couple of positives. Mohanlal (sans his accent) has done a good job as has Sushant Singh as Thambe (read Samba). And I quite like the "Trucker" style moustaches used by quite a few of actors including Devgan & Sushant.
However, RGV Ki Aag isnt entirely useless. It can be used as a bad example. It should be screened to all directors/producers/actors of today to make ‘em understand that merely assembling a popular/famous cast, remaking a hackneyed superhit story, resorting to thoughtless customisation in storyline, using noise & fast changing scenes to hide bad acting and spending crores of rupees on promotion (instead of making a modest budget movie with affordable tickets), doesnt give you a hit. And its high time they had realise this. Even if a couple of directors/actors can learn from this movie and better themselves, I’ll consider the money well spent.
In short if Sholay was "The greatest star cast ever assembled and the greatest story ever told", RGV Ki Aag is "The most mismatched star cast ever assembled and the greatest story never told !"