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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.)

Feminism Redefined: The Empowering Voices of Muslim Women

Updated: Oct 22, 2024

A few months ago, I stumbled upon a social media post where radical feminists criticised a Muslim woman for claiming that Islam liberates women more than any Islamic community. Her perspective brought her peace against claims that religion oppresses women. This opened a new perspective for me as a Muslim: no matter how much Western feminism liberates women regardless of gender or religion, it often alienates women with different colours and religions.


This dynamic is evident in Indian media, where Muslim women are marginalised under the politics of ‘saving’ them. Recently, in discussions with Muslim and non-Muslim women about politics, I asked their views on external forces of liberation and how majoritarian media alters narratives about Muslim communities to spread hate and doubt. One woman said, ‘Muslim society needs religious knowledge. Islam does not oppress women, and both men and women should understand this. Women should also gain religious knowledge just as men do. Muslim women should show that Islam does not oppress women and they can achieve as much as a non-muslim woman can.” Another young woman pointed out how there are Muslim men who are patriarchal and highly misogynist, further adding, “These men are monsters and are not true Muslims who treat his wife, daughter, mother, or any other woman incorrectly.”


I understand that feminists can sometimes narrow down their understanding, especially towards Muslim women, but islamophobia, often disguised in ‘isms’, will always prevail and preach to others as rescuing women from oppression, even though it is a fact that some women practice hijab in devotion to their God. One woman said, ‘Muslim society needs religious knowledge. Islam does not oppress women, and both men and women should understand this. When I asked these women about the Waqf Bill, revealed fear and anger. One woman remarked, “The Indian government is trying to steal Muslim waqf lands for their own benefit, as they do not like the fact that in Islam Muslims have the choice of donating their property for public welfare.” Another woman added, “To leave us stranded in our own country.”


These women, much like those who protested for CAA in 2019, are prepared to resist the Waqf bill. However, they call for inclusivity from others and adherence to Islamic values in their protest. “We, as Muslim women, can protest as much as we can in ways possible, but it is important that we should do it in an Islamic way,” one woman explained. I got to know that as much as these women were aware of the news and were firm in their ideologies, there was something else that was leading their existence. The ongoing islamophobia and marginalisation of Muslim women in India, while also confronting patriarchy within their communities, need to be studied. It is just as Irene Oh, in her essay, ‘Theoretical Construction of Muslim Motherhood,’ pointed out that we need to examine how women continue to suffer in Muslim communities due to their gender and patriarchy.


Indian Muslim women do not need liberation from any external saviours. They need to be heard and empowered within their contexts. When I asked these women what they think and where else the focus should be apart from islamophobia, all of the responses were pointing towards one thing, and that is “be more knowledgeable.” One woman pointed out, “Muslim women should also try to learn about their religion so that they can know what is right and wrong instead of blindly following what some people say.”


Indian Muslim women’s liberation requires space, identity, faith, and autonomy. “Islam does not restrict women from going out of the house, from gaining education, getting employment, or , other things for that matter. And to stand up for this, one should not be called a feminist,” said a woman when I asked her about where the line blurs when it comes to feminism for Indian Muslim women. It is not uncommon to find islamophobia in any place, regardless of how modern or liberal the environment or people are. My last question to these women was whether they have faced discrimination towards their gender, especially because of their Muslim identity; every response was positive. A young woman said, “Well, it happened rarely, which I cannot recall, but I did face it, and if we don’t raise our voice(s), maybe I might face it every day in the coming future,” which made me think, Is this the feminism that oppresses Muslim women? Then I remembered why Muslim feminists exist like Asma Barlas professes Islamic feminism.


Feminism or the nationalist Hindu government should leave a need to save Muslim women from oppression to the colonialists. I think we should understand how colonial Western feminism is especially for women of different faiths and colours and normalise women with faith to liberate themselves through expression.


(The author is a student of Maharashtra College, Mumbai. Views personal.)

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