By Subhash K. Jha, September 5, 2007 - 11:40 IST
Ram Gopal Varma has received innumerable text messages, all ridiculing and berating him for attempting to re-visit Sholay.

“The messages have been pretty vocal and direct about their dislike for what I’ve done. I’ve been called names and treated to the nastiest comments. But I’ve enjoyed the backlash, far more than people enjoyed Aag” laughs Ramu.

Here’s the text that Ramu says changed his opinion on his right to remake his favourite film.
(Parts of the message have been revised for coherence)

“Hi Sir. To call Aag a piece of junk would be demeaning junk. What happened to the colours of Rangeela and the grit of Satya? No clear story, meaningless script, obsession with dark lighting, weak screenplay, and songs that are too high-pitched and outdated. You were in a hurry while shooting. Fast editing, nonsensical expressions, no romance, horrifying background music and choreography, cinematography is horrid, bad clothes, bad hoardings, bad amateurish dialogues, bad characterizations with no emotional graph for the characters…leaving the actors free to ham…outdated action, emotionless scenes, no comedy, no colour. You should sit and watch your film alone. No freshness, carelessness in creativity…You’ve become over-confident and losing touch with reality. You’re handing over creative work to the wrong people. You’re impulsively doing ten films at a time and not focusing on one project. You’ve enjoyed the shooting without caring about what the outcome would be. You’re busy giving stupid interviews. What have you done in the past seven years except a couple of notable films?”

Says Ramu, “The above message shook me completely. It made me realize it’s time for me to do some serious re-thinking about my career.”
Source: IndiaFM

Why did Amitabh Bachchan leave the premiere of “Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag” midway? The superstar has refuted the rumour that he is unhappy with the “Sholay” remake and clarified that he went back to be with his ailing mother.

Reacting to a report in a section of the press, Bachchan said: “Kya Karen (What can I do)? People will talk. I can’t live my life in accordance with wagging tongues.

“Yes, I did leave the ‘Aag’ premiere early. But not because I didn’t like the film. My mother’s health has taken a turn for the worse. And I’m trying to spend as much time with her as possible,” Bachchan told over the phone.

“Since I had already seen ‘Aag’ I left the premiere early. Even now as I talk to you I am at the hospital with my mother.”

The entire family is spending as much time as possible with Teji Bachchan. The Big B is dividing his time between shooting at Yashraj Films and rushing to the hospital.

We have been giving you regular updates about the three Bachchan starrer, SARKAR RAJ, right from the day its shooting commenced in Hyderabad. And here is more.

After an extended shooting schedule, that ended a few weeks back, Ram Gopal Varma�s sequel to SARKAR, now officially titled SARKAR RAJ, is more than eighty percent complete. In fact, not many know that Ramu (as he is fondly referred to) had shot some portions of the film on Aishwarya, even before her marriage.

While the shooting part of the Amitabh, Abhishek and Aishwarya starrer is expected to be over by October, Ramu is mentally preparing to release the film in December. For those who do not know, the previous (tentative) release schedule of SARKAR RAJ was early 2008. May be the adverse reactions to his latest release, RAM GOPAL VARMA KI AAG, might just convince Ramu to go ahead with a December release for SARKAR RAJ (as the movie is carrying good reports and getting attractive terms).
Surce: GlamSham

Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag (Sholay)

Film: “Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag”
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Mohanlal, Ajay Devgan, Sushmita Sen, Prashant Raj, Nisha Kothari
Director: Ram Gopal Varma
Rating: **

No, this isn’t the worst re-make you’re likely to see. Nor does Ram Gopal Varma’s “Aag” claim to have the wherewithal, the stock, substance and spice of Ramesh Sippy’s “Sholay”.

Let’s just call “Aag” an interesting revisionist version of “Sholay” and be done with it. The biggest mistake we can make while watching Varma go back to his favourite film is to look for signs and symbols from the past.

Varma is to blame for doing some sequences as parodic homages to Sippy’s “Sholay”. Bachchan as Babban does the ‘Kitne aadmi the’ scene like a rude game of Russian roulette with the stakes being life and death.

Trouble is, Ramu treats the classic material with an iconoclastic take-it-or-edit-it-out casualness. Some of the original’s most celebrated sequences, like Jai going to Basanti’s Mausi with Veeru’s rishta, have been defiantly subverted to suit the stench of gangsterism that Varma’s cinema embraces almost intuitively. Read the rest of this entry »

Thursday, August 30, 2007: (Mumbai):

The wait for Ram Gopal Varma’s Sholay turned Aag is now almost over and the man who has been a part of both the original and the remake was there in Mumbai to promote the film on Wednesday.

Big B plays the iconic character of Gabbar in the new age Aag.

“He is such a mercurial character, he is so unpredictable as to what he is going to do next. For an actor it is the entire book of acting put into one chapter called called Gabbar Singh. It is so marvellous,” said Amitabh. Read the rest of this entry »