Bhubaneswar: Eminent poet, lyricist, and scriptwriter Javed Akhtar announced on Saturday that a restored version of the iconic Hindi blockbuster ‘Sholay’ will be released across theaters in India soon, featuring its original, unseen ending. The rerelease is planned to mark the 50th anniversary of the film.
Akhtar, who played a crucial role in the film’s script, plot, and character creation, explained that the 1975 Censor Board had objected to the original climax. The planned ending, featuring the law-abiding former police officer Thakur Baldev Singh taking the law into his own hands to kill the criminal Gabbar Singh, was deemed unacceptable.
The film’s theatrical release showed Thakur Baldev Singh (Sanjeev Kumar) engaging in a duel with Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan) but ultimately allowing law enforcers to arrest him. However, in the newly restored version, the public will finally see Thakur Baldev Singh killing Gabbar, as was intended in the original story.
Akhtar also shared his perspectives on the evolution of Indian cinema. He contended that cinema functions as a symptom pointing to the diseases in society, rather than being the disease itself, changing over time to keep pace with societal shifts. He noted that a film like the 1955 classic ‘Devdas’ could not be successfully remade today.
He recalled that the ‘angry young man’ phase in Bollywood, which focused on ‘rebellion’, emerged during a period of extra-constitutional tendencies in India, and such themes could not have developed in an earlier era like 1952. He also pointed out the disappearance of traditional villains like ‘thakurs’ and ‘zamindars’ from contemporary films due to the dissolution of the zamindari system.
Addressing the decline of literature’s influence, Akhtar lamented, “We have given up literature for about 40-45 years.” He suggested that the current generation often ignores the mother tongue in favor of English, resulting in a lack of awareness about famous litterateurs of the early 20th century. He stressed that learning English is necessary but should not come at the cost of the mother tongue.
Regarding the impact of Artificial Intelligence on cinema and music, Akhtar expressed skepticism about its current capabilities. He questioned whether AI could replicate his famous song ‘Breathless’ using his words and Shankar Mahadevan’s voice today, stating, “It cannot.” He added, however, that AI is still in its nascent stages, and its future potential remains unknown.
Akhtar also reminisced about the creation of the hit song ‘Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisha Laga’ for the 1994 film ‘1942: A Love Story’. He revealed that the first line came to him suddenly while driving to a meeting, after he had entirely forgotten about the assignment to compose the lyrics earlier that day. He then completed the rest of the song at the meeting venue itself.