The Sound of Sholay team was in Pune recently, for a ceremony to honour the original music director of Sholay, the legendary RD Burman. Here are a few pictures from the event.
And here is some fan mail from the same event:
I , like many millions, have watched Sholay more
times than Roger Federer's grand slam titles and has matched his 5 titles
in row at Wimbledon and US open with 5 days in row viewing of Sholay... (In
fact he matched me as I did it in 1989.. :-)
But I will not watch it this
time around. After all , they are out there to kill the classic, was my initial
reaction, when I first heard that Sholay is getting converted into 3D and that
the entire soundtrack is getting re-created along with totally new sound
design. Why are they killing the classic? It is just not done... And then we
had Raju Singh, Kunal and Parikshit for our show at Pancham magic. Talking with
them, listening to the sountracks they have created and to be honest, listening
to the sheer passionate efforts they had put in to create the soundtrack, I had
no option but to watch Sholay. (I can hear my friends saying, I just needed an
excuse)
Still I had apprehensions but… The first black background screen
appeared with the credit titles of the new team and a lovely rich sound of Sax
filled the theatre… I was thrilled; there was no jarring synthesized sound. It
is not about merits/demerits of digital sound.. Just that it cannot be related
with Sholay. With Sholay it has to be acoustic , natural , 'unplugged', of
'that' era... And right from train entering the deserted, loan man
standing station, to the train leaving the same station with final credit
titles rolling, those 206 odd minutes I lived and enjoyed Sholay again as
I had enjoyed it every time I had watched it.
There is no need to mention the
storyline and the details... Everybody knows it. If not in theatres everybody
has seen it on DVD, Blue-ray, television, on youtube… Well somewhere... (Incidentally
when Sholay was first shown on TV, I remember the advertisement rates were
hiked to double) But I would say, go to theatre. Watch it on 3D with the new
crystal clear sound. Many new things you will notice. Many new things you will
discover. It is great that while making 3D, makers have not overdone the 3D
part. You won’t get an object a minute flying at you. They have used the
gimmick very very effectively.
And now to the most touchy part…
Is the soundtrack original? : No
Is it
re-created? Yes
Is it recreated note to note, bar to bar as original? : No
Even
the (re)creator will not claim that what PanchamDa has done, along with his
team, can be re-created 'as it is',
But has RAju Singh butchered the
music ? In my opinion, NO.
Has he “re-mixed” : Absolutely NOT.
Had
Pancham Da been alive he sure would have got excited about creating the music
and sound, afresh, for the latest audio systems that are in theatres today, for
sure. If re-creating the music was the only option (and as we know
now, it was), this is the closest anybody can get to the original.
It helps that Raju Singh has an emotional connect with Pancham Da and to his
music, and has surely made Pancham Da proud and happy. Most importantly the
music does not sound 'electronic' at all. It is that acoustic grandeur which
one associates with RDB and especially with Sholay, one can clearly feel in
the theatres with this 3D edition.
With the modern speakers and music systems,
the acoustic sound 'sounds' more rich, more real, more dynamic, more fulfilling
and credit and big thanks must be given to Raju Singh for making this happen.
Cinematic experience especially in a film like Sholay, increases manifold
with the kind of music, soundtrack it has and Raju Singh has delivered it...
Bingo... And to the sound detailing… It is sheer DETAILING. So when mausiJee
listens to Jai, when she moves her hand held fan there is that typical sound of
the fan moving. Moment she stops moving the fan, the sound breaks. In Gabbar’s
den there is an echo only for that part of dialogue which is said in high pitch
or by shouting.
When at the end of the ‘tanki’ scene camera moves away from the
tanki still you get to listen to the sound of a bottle crashing on the ground,
whenever there is a bottle filled with liquid, there is a distinct sound of
that liquid if bottle is thrown or is vibrated, you get to listen to the
bangles only when Basanti moves her hands and not when they are still and when
Jay plays with marbles listening to Viru's nautanki, there is that distinct
sound of marbles colliding and hitting in his hands.
Are there no flaws ? Of
course there are. Nothing is ‘perfect’ in this world. But sure this glass is 80
% filled. Depends on your outlook, depends on whats important to you, and
depends on what you notice… 80 % filled or 20 % empty… If you are a Sholay fanatic you must
watch it (if not watched already , that is), if you are a PanchamDa fan
do watch it as an independant score by Raju Singh, still if you cannot digest
the idea, watch it as a tribute by Raju Singh to R.D.Burman. And I am
convinced there will be no better tribute... Ramesh Sippy we all know and
agree, is a perfectionist and a man with an eye and ear for detailing... Sholay
was his vision and dream and he chased it with all the love and passion for 3
years.
Must say Raju, Kunal and Parikshit have matched his passion and have excelled
in what they have delivered. Sure Ramesh Sippy will be a happy man listening to
the detailing that has gone into creating new soundtrack for Sholay 3D!!! After
watching Sholay-3D (on back to back days :-) ) I am happy that I did not
give it a miss... Nowadays they do not toil for 3 years on outskirts of major
city, they do not take hundreds of re-takes for a scene which is not going to
last more than few seconds on the screen, they do not ‘invent’ instruments so
that they can produce the exact sound as they want… Days of
‘no-compromise’ in true sense are long over…
Do not give it a miss. After all,
they don't make it like this anymore...
Ashutosh Soman, Pune
