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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.)

Messy Congress makes Uddhav stronger

Uddhav

Mumbai: The recent developments in the Congress has made Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray stronger in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA).


Thackeray was looking on a sticky wicket before the Assembly elections were announced. However, the Congress has given him a lot of strength by removing its state unit president Nana Patole as the party’s chief negotiator to discuss seat sharing within the MVA.


Patole had taken a firm stand that the Congress should not leave 12 seats for the Shiv Sena (UBT) in Vidarbha region, his home turf, as demanded by Thackeray. Patole was of the opinion that Thackeray’s party did not deserve more than eight seats in the region.


Patole made his thoughts public leading to uneasiness in Thackeray’s party. It resulted in Thackeray issuing a warning to the Congress against the highhandedness. As a responsible official Patole’s stand was correct in the interest of the Congress. However, his bosses in the party sidelined him as chief negotiator and appointed a lenient Balasabeb Thorat as his replacement.


The Congress’ act has underpinned that Thackeray would remain the biggest influencer in the MVA.


The Congress has many leaders at the top but none having a statewide popularity or recognition. Their decision making is invariably through high command in Delhi necessitating approval of Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi. In contrast Shiv Sena (UBT) decisions are instantaneous in line with their party culture prevailing right from its conception, which is, at times, appreciated by masses. Hence even Uddhav’s demand of declaring himself as CM- face is unrealistic, Congress is finding it difficult to reject it outright.


Congress is compelled to soft-peddle the issue since if threats of Sena-UBT going alone actually materialis, the biggest loser will be Congress. The party is aware that emerging as the largest group of MPs in Maharashtra in recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, would not have been possible without getting share of Shiv Sena (UBT) voters. Hence to regain the foothold in Maharashtra, Congress needs Shiv Sena (UBT) alliance to continue to milk the benefit.


Nana Patole may have many opponents in the state Congress but even his big critics admit that he has given wings to the party in Vidarbha. Patole is in the best position to judge the situation in the region. His image of an aggressive OBC face of the party would have helped the party in the Kunbi dominated region that has 64 seats.


However, the Congress is just struggling to contain Thackeray’s unilateral decisions if not threats, potentially dwindling Congress’s prospects.

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