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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.)

The throne of thorns in Delhi

Updated: Oct 21, 2024

hrone of thorns

The most striking image, in recent times, of Delhi’s new Chief Minister Atishi Singh, was of her being wheeled away in a stretcher after her health took a turn for the worse as she embarked on an indefinite hunger strike. Her demand was to get more water for Delhi from Haryana. Atishi was using this time-tested powerful tool of protest—a hunger strike—that also played a role during the inception of her party, the Aam Aadmi Party. For those who recall the endless television coverage, in an anti-corruption movement in 2011, Anna Hazare had gone on a fast and Arvind Kejriwal, Atishi’s party boss, had made headlines as he sat in protest. The feisty young politician who represents her party in television studios and at press conferences, is now the national capital’s new chief minister.

A prominent face in television debates and press conferences of the AAP, Atishi, a first-time Member of the Legislative Assembly was inducted into the council of minister in March 2023 after the then deputy Chief Minister and Kejriwal’s trusted lieutenant, Manish Sisodia, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the excise policy case. Atishi, along with Saurabh Bharadwaj, joined the Delhi government following the resignation of Sisodia and Satyendar Jain and has since has been entrusted with key portfolios such as finance, education and public works. Her work profile increased to 14 departments as senior leaders of the party were implicated in irregularities in the Delhi Excise Policy. Her responsibilities, the highest among all cabinet ministers in the outgoing AAP government, included education, finance, planning, PWD, water, power and public relations, exhibiting the faith Kejriwal has in her.

Atishi’s academic credentials are impressive; an alumnus of Delhi’s St Stephen’s College, she’s been a Chevening and Rhodes scholar, where she completed a Masters’ degree in Education at Oxford University. She used her academic background to implement reforms in Delhi’s education system which won her recognition as the architect of Delhi’s education policy. Delhiites say that she’s raised standards of teaching, managed to keep fees in check and is the driving force behind the ‘entrepreneurship mindset curriculum’ and the ‘happiness curriculum’ in Delhi schools. With impeccable educational pedigree, she’s got her attention in the right places with environment-friendly policies such as pollution control, renewable energy and sustainability being key areas of focus for her.

At 43 years, Atishi is the third woman Chief Minister of the national capital of India joining the ranks of Sushma Swaraj and Sheila Dixit. Her journey to the top has been rapid and steady since 2013 when she was played a role in drafting AAP’s election manifesto and the government’s early policies. In the initial years, she was advisor to Manish Sisodia, the former deputy chief minister of Delhi where she took a keen interest in educational reforms that are believed to have brought big relief to Delhiites. While she unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and lost to BJP’s Gautam Gambhir, she won the 2020 Assembly elections from Kalkaji.

However, her accession to the top job comes at a crucial time where party bosses have faced jail on corruption charges and elections are only a few months away. The Delhi Assembly elections are scheduled for February 2025, leaving Atishi with little time to make a sizable impact from the state’s seat of power. With Kejriwal’s resignation, his entire cabinet has resigned and Atishi may rejig the ministries as the new cabinet takes oath.

She faces a belligerent BJP that will make corruption charges against Kejriwal a top issue in the upcoming elections. The AAP’s flagship scheme of doorstep delivery of services needs to energised with implementation having slacked in recent years. In this year’s state budget, Atishi had announced a financial assistance scheme to women, the Mahila Samman Nidhi Yojana, which promises a monthly amount of Rs 1000 to women above the age of 18 years. The scheme needs implementation especially in an election year.

Then there are schemes that await cabinet approval such as the Industrial and Economic Development Policy, the Electric Vehicle Policy 2.0 and Water Bill Settlement Scheme. The AAP government has promised policies to encourage employment like the Dilli Bazaar Portal and policies for start-ups and food trucks, all of which need approval with time running short.

Boards and commissions are nesting places to balance equations with political heavyweights who cannot be accommodated in the cabinet and Atishi will have to appoint senior politicians to these commissions with vacant posts.

The highest seat in government is a charming place to be in but Atishi’s elevation comes at a crucial juncture in the journey of AAP. Will she be able to bring the party back to power with people-friendly schemes? The answer lies only a few months away.

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