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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.)

Mumbai sinks, govt exposed

Mumbai: Large parts of Mumbai were deluged as heavy rains wreaked havoc on roads, railways and metro networks, exposing tall claims by the officialdom of full preparedness for the four wet months ahead, on Monday.


This was the first downpour even before the official monsoon onset, on the first day of the week, catching and angering lakhs of commuters across the metropolis, with the IMD sounding a Red Alert for Tuesday.


According to Deputy CM Eknath Shinde, Mumbai notched an astounding 250 mm of rain in the city, five times the normal expectations of average 50 mm after June 10.


Lakhs of SSC students rushing to collect their documents - for the online admission process which resumed today – also experienced tense times reaching their schools on time.


The two highways, most important and arterial roads as well as by-lanes were submerged under two-to-four feet water in many spots, severely hitting movement of vehicular traffic and people.


Waterlogging was seen in Malad, Andheri, Ghatkopar, Kurla, Santacruz, Khar, Worli, Dadar, Wadala, Sion, Mankhurd, Kemps Corner, Mahalaxmi, Byculla, Mazagaon, Bhandup and other areas.


Services on the Western Railway, Central Railway and Harbour Lines, within Mumbai and to far-off destinations in Thane, Palghar, Raigad were delayed for varying periods in different parts, as harried commuters attempted to rush to their workplaces.


The Worli Station on Mumbai Metro Line 3 presented an embarrassing spectacle with water gushing down the stairs, escalators, life, carrying with it muck and much more, leakages from the ceiling and other fittings.


The vicinity of Churchgate, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, the Brabourne Stadium, parts of Marine Lines, Kalbadevi, Grant Road also were flooded with several inches of water, and a massive tree crash outside CSMT added to the commuters’ woes.


A similar soaky situation was seen in adjoining Navi Mumbai, towns in Thane, Palghar, Raigad and Ratnagiri districts plus other regions of Maharashtra as the monsoon rains barged in at least a fortnight before its normal onset date of June 10.


At least five students from Dharavi in Mumbai who had gone for a picnic to the popular Pandavkada waterfalls in Navi Mumbai were stranded as the water flow suddenly increased, but were rescued safely by the fire brigade.


250 mm: Rainfall South Mumbai recorded in just 13 hours ending at 11 am on Monday.


252 mm: Nariman Point received the highest rainfall at 252 mm, followed by the BMC HQ (216 mm) and Colaba pumping station (207 mm).


4.75 metres: The intense spell was accompanied by a high tide of 4.75 metres at 11.24 am.


107: The torrential downpour of 295-mm rains erased a 107-year-old record rainfall notched at 279.4 mm in 1918.


Flooding in showpiece projects

The big shockers were the flooding in several parts of the swank new Mumbai Metro Line 3 and the Marine Lines-Haji section of the Mumbai Coastal Road, both inaugurated recently.


Opened last fortnight with fanfare, the Mumbai Metro-3 is part of the first subterranean network partly opened from Bandra Kurla Complex-Acharya Atre Chowk Station in Worli.


Mumbai was stunned to see rainwater gushing into the Acharya Atre Chowk Station, raising safety concerns and susceptibilities during monsoon of Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. work.


Downplaying as ‘water seepage’ the mini-waterfalls at many spots, the MMRCL blamed it on sudden ingress of water from an adjoining utility as the RCC retaining wall crashed near the Acharya Atre Chowk Station.


Though the affected portion (to be ready in three months) is not accessible to commuters, as a precautionary measure, the MMRCL suspended train services between Worli-Acharya Atre Chowk, and services between Aarey-JVLR to Worli functioned normally.


Expressing ‘regrets for the inconvenience’ to commuters, the MMRCL said its engineering and safety teams were working to resolve the problems on a war-footing, and assured full adherence to safety protocols before the affected portion is opened.


Built by the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the MCR which had eased commute, became a road to misery with waterlogging in many portions, hugely hitting vehicular movement, with giant high tides of 4.77 m.(11.28 am) and 4.1 m. (11.06 pm) which seemed to angrily suck in the infrastructure showpiece.


"When It Rains, It Wars"

May 26 has a peculiar knack for ominous convergence in Indian history. In 1962 and 1971, Mumbai was drenched by unseasonal downpours on this very date - meteorological anomalies that preceded, respectively, the Sino-Indian war and the Bangladesh Liberation conflict. Fast forward to 2025, and once again, the skies over Mumbai opened up, even as India faces a new military flashpoint with Pakistan, this time in the form of the Pahalgam terror strike and its aftermath, Operation Sindoor. Coincidence, perhaps. But history, like the monsoon, has a habit of returning, unexpected and turbulent.


Three killed, 48 rescued

Two persons were killed and six others injured in a lightning strike in Latur district on Monday evening, an official said. The incident occurred in Gothala village of Ahmedpur tehsil when a group of people were working in a field, he said.


In another lightning strike in the district, a buffalo died in Tiruka village of Jalkot tehsil, the official said.


One person died in a lightning strike, while 48 people were rescued from inundated areas as heavy rains battered several places in Maharashtra on Monday, the office of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said. “Pune, Satara, Solapur, Raigad, Mumbai and MMR (Mumbai Metropolitan Region) have received heavy rainfall. Daund received 117 mm of rain in 24 hours, Baramati 104.75 mm, while 63.25 mm was recorded in Indapur.”

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