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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.)

Waqf Amendment Bill takes centre stage during Eid prayers in parts of Karnataka

  • PTI
  • Mar 31, 2025
  • 2 min read

Updated: Apr 1, 2025


Waqf Amendment
Devotees tie up black armbands to oppose the Waqf Amendment Bill before they offer prayers (namaz) on the occasion of the Eid-ul-Fitr festival at Idgah in Bhopal. PIC/ANI

Bengaluru: The issue of the Waqf Amendment Bill took center stage during Eid-ul-Fitr celebrations in some parts of Karnataka on Monday, with people, including Minister Rahim Khan, offering special prayers sporting black armbands to express their protest against the Centre's move.

According to the information available, believers sported symbols of protest during the prayers held in Bidar, Mandya and Belagavi.

In Bidar, Minister Khan, who holds sports and youth empowerment portfolio, reached mosque with his followers wearing black armband and offered prayers at the Eidgah Maidan.

His supporters performed prayers and lodged their protest peacefully against Waqf law amendment.

The Mandya Urban Development Authority president Naheem performed prayers in Mandya wearing the black armband. All his supporters too followed him.

Speaking to reporters, he said he did it as a silent protest against the Waqf Amendment Bill.

In Belagavi, Social Democratic Party of India cadres participated in the prayers wearing black armband to show protest against the bill.

Apart from demanding to withdraw the amendment bill, the protesting Muslims in Kittur appealed for the early release of their national president M K Faizy, who was arrested earlier this month by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case linked to the banned terrorist organisation PFI.

The ED claimed that there existed an 'organic' relation between the two outfits and that PFI was carrying out its criminal activities through the political party.

The Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), founded in 2009 and headquartered in Delhi, is alleged to be the political front of the Popular Front of India (PFI), which was banned by the Union government in September 2022.

The Union Cabinet recently approved the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, incorporating the changes recommended by the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), paving the way for it to be tabled in Parliament for a discussion and passage.

The Bill was referred to the JPC in August 2024, after it was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju.

The parliamentary panel adopted the report with a majority vote, while all 11 MPs from opposition parties in the panel had objected to it.

They had also moved dissent notes. The 655-page report was submitted to both Houses of Parliament earlier this month.

On March 28 Union Home Minister Amit Shah made it clear that the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, which was referred to a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) in August 2024, will be reintroduced in the current session of Parliament.

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