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By:

Rajeev Puri

24 October 2024 at 5:11:37 am

Before Sholay, there was Mera Gaon Mera Desh

When the comedian and television host Kapil Sharma recently welcomed the veteran screenwriter Salim Khan onto his show, he made a striking claim. India, he joked, has a national bird and a national animal; it ought also to have a national film. That film, he suggested, would surely be Sholay. Few would quarrel with the sentiment. Released in 1975 and directed by Ramesh Sippy,  Sholay  has long been treated as the Everest of Hindi popular cinema -quoted endlessly, revisited by generations and...

Before Sholay, there was Mera Gaon Mera Desh

When the comedian and television host Kapil Sharma recently welcomed the veteran screenwriter Salim Khan onto his show, he made a striking claim. India, he joked, has a national bird and a national animal; it ought also to have a national film. That film, he suggested, would surely be Sholay. Few would quarrel with the sentiment. Released in 1975 and directed by Ramesh Sippy,  Sholay  has long been treated as the Everest of Hindi popular cinema -quoted endlessly, revisited by generations and dissected by critics. In 2025, the film marked its 50th anniversary, and the release of a digitally restored, uncut version introduced the classic to a new generation of viewers who discovered that its mixture of revenge drama, western pastiche and buddy comedy remains curiously durable. The film’s influences have been debated almost as much as its dialogues – from scenes taken by the Spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone, particularly ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’ (1968) or to the narrative architecture of ‘Seven Samurai’ (1954) by Akira Kurosawa. Others note echoes of earlier Hindi films about bandits and frontier justice, such as ‘Khotey Sikke’ (1973) starring Feroz Khan. Yet, rewatching ‘Mera Gaon Mera Desh,’ directed by Raj Khosla, one cannot help noticing how many of the narrative bones of  Sholay  appear to have been assembled there first. Released in 1971,  Mera Gaon Mera Desh  was a major hit at the box office, notable for holding its own in a year dominated by the near-hysterical popularity of Rajesh Khanna. The thematic framework of the two films is strikingly similar. In  Sholay , the retired policeman Thakur Baldev Singh recruits two petty criminals - Jai and Veeru - to help him avenge the terror inflicted upon his village by the bandit Gabbar Singh. In  Mera Gaon Mera Desh , the set-up is not very different. A retired soldier, Jaswant Singh, seeks to protect his village from a ruthless dacoit and enlists the help of a small-time crook named Ajit. Even the villain’s name seems to echo across the two films. In Khosla’s drama, the marauding bandit played by Vinod Khanna is scene-stealing performance is called Jabbar Singh. In  Sholay , the outlaw who would become one of Indian cinema’s most memorable antagonists was Gabbar Singh. There is an additional irony in the casting. In  Mera Gaon Mera Desh , the retired soldier Jaswant Singh is played by Jayant - the real-life father of Amjad Khan, who would later immortalise Gabbar Singh in  Sholay . The connective tissue between the two films becomes even clearer in the presence of Dharmendra. In Khosla’s film he plays Ajit, a charming rogue who gradually redeems himself while defending the village. Four years later, Dharmendra returned in  Sholay  as Veeru, a similarly exuberant petty criminal whose courage and irrepressible humour make him one half of Hindi cinema’s most beloved buddy duo alongside Amitabh Bachchan as Jai. Certain visual motifs also appear to have travelled intact. In Khosla’s film, Ajit finds himself bound in ropes in the bandit’s den during a dramatic musical sequence. A similar image appears in  Sholay , where Veeru is tied up before Gabbar Singh while Basanti performs the now famous song ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan.’ Other echoes are subtler but just as suggestive. Ajit’s pursuit of the village belle Anju, played by Asha Parekh, anticipates Veeru’s boisterous attempts to woo Basanti, portrayed by Hema Malini. Scenes in which Ajit teaches Anju to shoot recall the flirtatious gun-training sequence between Veeru and Basanti that became one of  Sholay ’s most cherished moments. Even the famous coin motif has a precedent. Ajit frequently tosses a coin to make decisions - a flourish that would later appear in  Sholay , where Jai’s coin toss becomes a running gag. Perhaps most intriguingly, the endings of the two films converge in their original form. In  Mera Gaon Mera Desh , the villain is ultimately killed by the hero. The uncut version of  Sholay  reportedly ended in a similar fashion, with Gabbar Singh meeting his death at the hands of Thakur Baldev Singh. However, censors altered the climax before the film’s 1975 release, requiring that Gabbar be handed over to the police instead. All this does not diminish  Sholay . Rather, it highlights the alchemy through which cinema evolves. The scriptwriting duo Salim–Javed took familiar ingredients and expanded them into a grander narrative populated by unforgettable characters and stylised action. On the 55 th  anniversary of  Mera Gaon Mera Desh , Raj Khosla’s rugged western deserves a renewed glance as the sturdy foundation on which a legend called  Sholay  was built. (The author is a political commentator and a global affairs observer. Views personal.)

Citizenship Crossfire

The saga of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s citizenship has resurfaced with renewed vigour, as the Allahabad High Court ordered the Ministry of Home Affairs to decide on his nationality by December 19. The petitioner, a Karnataka BJP worker, alleges that Gandhi holds British citizenship—a claim previously made by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy.


If proven true, this would not only undermine Gandhi’s rhetoric of the Congress being the only party to take care of the interests of India’s indigenous and backward communities but also expose the contradictions at the heart of his identity-driven politics—a strategy that has fared poorly in recent elections, most notably in Maharashtra.


Gandhi has often portrayed himself as a champion of Indian democracy and an unflinching voice against what he calls the ‘divisive’ politics of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The allegations of dual citizenship strike at the credibility of this narrative. The petitioner claims to have evidence from the UK government indicating Gandhi’s inclusion in British citizenship records, though data privacy laws have prevented full disclosure. The BJP, seizing the opportunity, has amplified these claims to question Gandhi’s authenticity as a representative of Indian values.


The controversy brings to mind a similar episode involving Sonia Gandhi, Rahul’s mother, whose Italian roots were a flashpoint during her political rise within the Congress itself. In 1999, then Congressman Sharad Pawar had famously questioned her foreign origins, leading to his departure from the Congress and the formation of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Ironically, it was Sonia’s foreign background that spurred Rahul’s frequent invocations of his Indian lineage, an attempt to cement his credentials in the public imagination.


Gandhi’s troubles come at a time when Congress is struggling to remain relevant in key states like Maharashtra. The party’s dismal performance in the recent polls underscored its inability to connect with voters, many of whom view its leadership as out of touch.


All this has not stopped Gandhi from relaunching his diatribes against Hindutva ideologue and freedom fighter Veer Savarkar, who is revered not just by the BJP but legions of people in Maharashtra and elsewhere. Such rhetoric further reinforces the BJP’s narrative of Gandhi being a ‘foreigner’ while underscoring his brand of opportunistic politics, disconnected from grassroots sentiments. The broader implications of the citizenship controversy are significant. A foreign citizenship would not only disqualify Gandhi from Parliament but also cast a long shadow over his family’s political legacy. It would lend credence to BJP’s portrayal of the Congress as a party led by outsiders, further eroding its standing.


As the Ministry of Home Affairs prepares its decision, Rahul Gandhi’s citizenship controversy episode underscores the Congress’s existential crisis. Once a party of towering leaders who shaped India’s destiny, it must now ask itself whether its current leaders have the roots—or the authenticity—to reclaim it.

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