Kolkata friends go to Mumbai for 49th anniversary special screening of ‘Sholay’
Times of India | 4 September 2024
Kolkata: A childhood memory of watching ‘Sholay’ at Jyoti, an interest in archiving and an urge to pay tribute to two doyens of writing in Hindi cinema prompted adman-cum-writer Sugata Guha to take a flight from the city to Mumbai on Saturday to watch the one-time-only screening of the vintage 70 mm cinemascope print of the 1975 iconic blockbuster at Mumbai’s Regal Cinema.The ardent Amitabh Bachchan fan returned home with precious new memories of having watched the film inside the 1,000-plus seater theatre with equally passionate fans singing ‘Yeh dosti hum nahi todenge’ to cheering at every iconic dialogue and each actor’s entry.
Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, the founder of Film Heritage Foundation (FHF) that had organized the show, told TOI, “We had preserved a CinemaScope print at the FHF Archive and wanted to show the audience a film print and the magic of art of projection. FHF wants to continue that tradition. Some 1,100 people came to see that magic. They were whistling at every dialogue, cheering and dancing to songs. It’s the power of these films which we continue to preserve and show to people.”
“Jyoti had a 70 mm screen and a stereophonic sound system specifically for this film. I vividly recall the impact of the scene where Amitabh tosses a coin, and it lands on its edge instead of flat. The screen was so huge and the sound so impressive that it felt as if the coin had fallen at my feet,” Guha said.
Guha, like many ‘Sholay’ fans, has watched the film over 20 times, including a 35mm print. Gabbar Singh was the protagonist of an ad with the catchline: ‘Gabbar ki asli pasand’. “It was unprecedented for a film villain to be the hero of a biscuit advertisement appealing to children,” said Guha, who owns a DVD and two VCDs, including one with the original uncut version that censors didn’t allow.
“This is the only instance in Indian commercial cinema’s history where two writers received such significant reward, respect, and recognition simultaneously. This trip was my personal tribute to Salim-Javed,” he said.
It was remarkable to see people queuing from 2.30 pm for a 6 pm show. Mumbai-based advertising professional Rwitayan Mukherjee and his wife, Debapriya Dutt, joined Guha for the show. “We’ve watched ‘Sholay’ multiple times on the small screen. This collective viewing experience at Regal was unique. The auditorium was packed. We all knew the film and the dialogues, yet the predictability didn’t diminish the film’s charm. Some scenes truly came alive on the big screen,” Mukherjee said.
“All my childhood memories resurfaced. Watching that film with 1,100 people was electrifying. Many were youngsters who had never experienced ‘Sholay’ in a theatre before,” Guha added.
Photographer Shantanu Das, who went to archive the moment, said, “Many had brought their ‘Sholay’ memorabilia. It was nostalgia reloaded for everyone. I went back to my school days.”