News & Media Clippings

We got the Center Spread

That's the Sholay story

Making it vivid and vibrant

That's us... The Sound of Sholay Team

Movie Review: 'Sholay 3D', go-to movie this weekend, no ifs, no buts

Economic Times article on our movie

Yup! That's Team Sholay 3D on the cover of Digital Studio

That's Mumbai Mirror's article on out journey as we recreated The Sound of Sholay

Hello Mumbai's article on the making of The Sound of Sholay

Afternoon  - The legendary R.D. Burman
News Write Up

R.D. Burman - A Legend
Mid Day - R. D. Burman

Bharat Desh Mahan - Online News 03rd January, 2013
Magic of Sholay 3D Sound

Sound Box Magazine - December 30th, 2013 Issue
E- Magazine 30th Dec Issue

Bharat Desh Mahan - December 2013

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New tracks for 3-D Sholay

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Film and entertainment journalist Chaitanya Padukone writes in to mark a special day:

Lakhs of ardent RDB fans the world over will be celebrating the occasion, listening and dancing to his evergreen chartbusters. But one diehard RDB fan for whom this day is extra-special is prolific composer – singer Raju Singh, who has been specially invited by the popular Pune-based Pancham Magic fan club, to share nostalgic anecdotes.

That’s because the techno-savvy melody-wizard has been assigned the tough task of recreating the audio-tracks of cult film Sholay, for its upcoming 3-D version. Raju is enthusiastic. “Its all thanks to Panchamda’s blessings and the timely references of  Javed Akhtar saab and my associate sound designers Kunal Mehta and Parikshit Lalwan, that I have been assigned the challenging responsibility of  replicating and recreating the background music sound tracks of Sholay, for its upcoming 3-D version which is to be released by August this year.”

For the re-creation, they have used the latest hi-tech Dolby Atmos surround sound acoustics which apparently promise a “mind-blowing feel-the-music experience” to movie goers.

Raju himself is an expert guitar player who has had the privilege of playing for RDB’s song recordings and background scores for nearly six years up to 1993. This includes the late maestro’s iconic swansong ‘1942: A Love Story’.

Raju nostalgically explains, “Since my father Charanjit Singh, an acclaimed electronic keyboards player, used to regularly play for RDB’s recordings, as a kid, I used to attend those sessions. That’s how Panchamda became fond of me and pampered me with chocolates every time. Many years later, when I started playing bass guitar, he insisted that I join his team of musicians. For me it was a dream come true. It was such a passionate pleasure jamming with the genius RDB and his team, since he would constantly come up with tunes and conjure up bizarre sound effects. Even after I joined him, he would still bring chocolates for me.”

‘Sholay’ star Dharmendra is also all praise for the meticulous mission to re-create the audio tracks of the film for the 3-D version.. Reveals Raju, “We happened to be in the same studios where Dharamji’s YPD-2 recordings were also taking place. It was such a huge accolade for us when, with tears in his eyes, he remarked that the 3-D Sholay with its awesome acoustics would be an ideal gift to the centenary of Indian Cinema,” he added.

We’ve come a long way, baby!
Let’s face it. Traveling by our locals is an ordeal. Trying to buy a season ticket is a seemingly bigger one. And we are so pleased to report that this is now, officially, a breeze that wafts to you online!

A couple of weeks ago, we began our first long-term adventure with local trains and decided to opt for a first class pass. Standing at dirty, mucky Kurla station in the queue for a pass was definitely not appealingly, so we spoke to a friend who said she used the IRCTC website to book her pass.

Prepared to encounter the worst, we logged on, created an ID, entered stations and waited with bated breath, ready for something to go wrong. Two seconds later, we were redirected to the payment page, checked internet banking as the payment option and voila, we were done!

If the online process wasn’t enough to leave us amazed, the delivery process did. The spanking new season ticket reached us within two days, in a clean white glazed envelope with a label properly printed with the correct name and address.

The railways are generally at the receiving end of our ire, but when it comes to customer service in this case, they get an A+.

Link - http://www.afternoondc.in/dairy/new-tracks-for-3-d-sholay/article_86748

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Movie Features

Raju Singh on re-creating the sound of Sholay

By Rajiv Vijayakar, Dec 25, 2013 - 08:09 IST

You could call the honor pre-destined and otherwise very appropriate. His father, eminent veteran musician Charanjit Singh, had worked as a musician on Sholay with R.D. Burman, and now Raju Singh is re-doing the sound of the songs and background score of the 3D version that is set to release on January 3, 2014.

Composer Raju Singh has been best known for his imaginative remix albums in the late '90s as well as some standout original albums like Alka Yagnik's Tum Yaad Aayeand Jagjit Singh's Unique later. He got his biggest fame as one of Hindi cinema's finest background music composers (Chandni Bar, Ishq Vishk, Page 3 and almost all films of the Bhatts including Zeher, Gangster and Raaz 3 to this year's biggest hit Aashiqui 2. He has also been composer in a few films, like Khichdi - The Movie, and has composed the title songs or music of cult shows like Indian Idol, C.I.D. and Boogie-Woogie, besides doing jingles galore. 

In a freewheeling chat at his Juhu home, Raju Singh Panesar, to give his full name, enlightens us on the Sholay experience. 

Destiny apart, how did you land up with Sholay?
Kunal Mehta and Parikshat Sahni, who are eminent in this field as Sound Designers, were approached by the Sippys family that has converted the film into 3D. They suggested my name for the music. Jayantibhai Gada, who is presenting the film, happened to call Javed-saab for something else, and since he was one ofSholay's writers, asked him what he thought of me. Javed-saab told him, "Trust Raju with your eyes closed!" I owe this assignment to Javed-saab as much as to my colleagues! 

We - Kunal, Parikshit and I - then made a demo of the train sequence and Gabbar Singh's entry, and we were on! And it is very gratifying to know that Gada-ji has been praising me to the skies everywhere! 

What was your initial thought when asked to do this film?
The first thought was that this was my way of reconnecting with Pancham-da, the man who taught me so much. In his last phase, I had worked with him for over seven years, apart from his long association with my father. I was never approached by anyone to talk about Pancham-da tributes, but now it seemed as if he had reserved his best for me and decided that "Mera baccha Raju Singh hi Sholay karega!" 

We were very clear that the music would not be changed into anything modern and just be a restoration of his work, so my credit reads "Music Re-Composed and Re-Created by Raju Singh". 

Having said that, the foremost emotion was anxiety - about living up to the film and Pancham-da in India's greatest-ever film! At that point of time, none of us three knew what kind of creative freedom, time and money would be available to us. But both Gada and the Sippys gave us everything that we wanted and the film needed. Today, after 18 months of painstaking efforts, we three feel blessed for being the chosen ones! 

Did you get anyone from the original team on board?
No, most of them are no more. But we took guidance from key names who were with Pancham-da on the film who are, however, not active today - like Kersi Lord, and like singer Bhupinder Singh, who had played the guitar in the opening sequence. My father is otherwise active but here he only guided me when asked for advice. 

And how did you go about restoring Sholay?
For every advantage we had, like Dolby Atmos Sound and better reverb machines, we faced some grave and real challenges. 

The foremost was the problem that there is only one print that is now existing with the Sippys. And music was missing either for seconds or a couple of minutes from many parts! One example was that despite the film being in Stereophonic Sound, as the train sound increased in the robbery sequence, the music could no longer be heard! So I had to compromise on my resolve not to use electronics and program the whole film on my keyboard along with my musician Sourabh, and then imagine and replicate what must have been there in those gaps and insert it just right. 

But the biggest handicap was the fact that power supply used to fluctuate in the '70s. So, unlike today, when we use a click track for the timing, those tiny ups and downs in the current used to minutely alter the speed of the tape up and down and this would change the pitch! For the lay audience it was barely noticeable, but we noticed it more and had to work upon it. 

What else?
We kept the original song or sound track in the center and reproduced the music with live musicians. Yogesh Pradhan was of invaluable help in the notations. The song 'Mehbooba O Mehbooba' in particular was very much affected and needed a lot of work. 

What Kunal and Parikshit did was clean the entire track, removing the background music, songs and sound effects, so that only the dialogues were left - we had thought of getting the dialogues dubbed but gave up the idea as many actors were dead and we did not want mimics. This laborious process took us seven months! Then we had to work on our add-on tracks and put everything back in. We also had to do six months of acoustic work in music at Chennai's Media Artistes Studio with Geeta Kurupa. When we started out, we did not know what level of perfection we could achieve, but I think we have managed, thanks to Sascha, Shehzad and Shaan from the Sippy clan, who understood what we were after and stood by us in providing or facilitating everything. 

Any standout memories in these months?
Oh, there were plenty! Remember that electric scene where Sanjeev Kumar comes with gifts and finds his whole family massacred that swinging jhoola, the wind blowing and Gabbar against the landscape? 

For the music for Sanjeev's walk to his home, a very unusual 'instrument' had been invented by Pancham-da! He had got iron rods welded all around a car differential (the ball-like structure under the chassis) that was filled with water, so that when they were strummed with a violin string, a specific pitch - which you have heard in the film - is emitted. As far as we knew, this 'instrument' was never used in any film again. Thanks to my musician friend Sameer Phatarphekar, we traced the son of the late musician who had played it and actually got him to play it for us! 

Another incredible feat was one of our team members actually dancing barefoot on glass fragments in our studio to reproduce Hema Malini's climactic dance, because nothing else could have got us that identical sound! 

Finally, since the credits for all the new names involved in the 3D version have been placed against a black frame even before the original and much-loved opening credits, I decided to musically connect the two parts with a flugelhorn that was played by Kishore Sodha and pads. They flow seamlessly into Bhupinder-ji's guitar in the original. 

We heard that Dharmendra was very moved when he saw the completed film.
I was actually working on the background music of Dharam-ji's Yamla Pagla Deewana 2 when I showed him some sequences and what I had done. He was almost in tears and said, "This is the best possible gift to 100 years of Indian cinema."

Article Link: http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movies/features/type/view/id/5946

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Salim-Javed Launch 3D Version of ‘Sholay’

• By R.M. Vijayakar, Special to India-West


• Nov 08, 2013

Writer duo Javed Akhtar (l) and Salim Khan, who scripted 1975 Bollywood classic “Sholay,” wear 3D glasses at the trailer launch of the film’s 3D version in Mumbai Nov. 7. (Manav Manglani photo)
MUMBAI, India

Sippy Films’ “Sholay” (1975), advertised as “the Greatest Story Ever Told,” filmed in 70mm and India’s first film to be released with Stereophonic Sound, just got bigger. The film will be re-released in 3D Jan. 3, 2014.

The 3D version is produced by Sascha Sippy, Shehzad Sippy and Shaan Uttamsingh, all grandsons of G.P. Sippy, who produced the original film, under the new banner Sholay Media & Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.

Directed by Ramesh Sippy, who was not present at the launch event due to an intra-family dispute over the ownership rights of the all-time blockbuster, and presented by Pen Audio’s Jayantilal Gada, the film will be released by UTV.

Starring Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Hema Malini, Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan (then billed as Jaya Bhaduri, her maiden name) with Amjad Khan, the film was written by Salim-Javed with music by R.D. Burman and lyrics by Anand Bakshi.

The first look of the trailer saw a jam-packed auditorium at PVR Juhu Nov. 7. The occasion was graced by writers Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar, who shared a public podium after decades, as they had split in the early ‘80s.

Akhtar said, “Nothing was impossible!” when asked if they would work together now, 26 years after their last collaboration “Mr. India” hit the screens. Asked whether they had forgotten their animosity, he quipped, “We are shackled together by a ‘Zanjeer’ (chain),” implying a pun both on their first blockbuster of that name (it was their first complete script as story, screenplay and dialogue writers) and the recent battle in which they joined forces against the remake of that film, which finally brought them close again. Khan added, “It could happen! Why not?”

Akhtar stated that this was not the time to be immodest and mentioned how no film classic anywhere in the world had had so many immortal characters — even the bit players. “Lines like “Kitne aadmi the?” have been used as tributes in advertisements, new movies, sitcoms and everyday conversations.

“‘Sholay’ is no longer just a film that has kept our name alive. It is a movement, a part of our psyche. ‘Sholay’ no longer belongs to us. We belong to ‘Sholay.’ When I watched it again, the predominant emotion was awe! There was respect and the sensation of watching something that was magical. By the way, when we first wrote the film, everyone wanted to play Gabbar Singh’s role,” said Akhtar.

Khan said, “When I watched it over 35 years later, obviously there was nostalgia and sweetness, but it was more like meeting an old, familiar friend. You know how it is when you revisit a book or a place you have loved.”

In an amused tone, he added, “We have been placed for the fantastic dialogues in the film. But what most people actually remember are ‘Kitne aadmi the?’ ‘Itna sannata kyoon hai bhai?’ and ‘Tera naam kya hai Basanti?’ which are questions! We have written so many memorable lines, but they are not as popular.”

The writer recollected a party in his home where a guest had gone to the restroom and had not returned for over 90 minutes because he was watching the film that was running on television in an inner room, that too standing engrossed, as well as recalling a man called Chandiramani whom he had met, who had gone to sleep for 25 years only after watching portions of the film!

Khan also shared the story of how the film was born. He recalled, “Producer V.K. Sobti, Jeetendra’s brother-in-law, wanted us to write a film starring Jeetendra and Shatrughan Sinha. We gave him a brief synopsis but he somehow did not like the plot. We even went to Baldev Pushkarna, who made another film, ‘Chacha Bhatija,’ with us.

“Meanwhile, G.P. Sippy wanted to work with us again after ‘Andaz’ and ‘Seeta Aur Geeta’ and we gave him the subject of ‘Majboor’ that producer Premji made later. But Sippy-saab said that the film had a small canvas and he wanted to make a big film. When we narrated the same subject again, he said, ‘This is it!’”

“Sholay” went on to gross a then-record Rs. 2.5 to 3 crore per territory and ran for 150 weeks, with the “Current Booking” opening in Mumbai’s Minerva cinema well after the 50th week. 

The writers praised G.P. Sippy for the vision to produce the film, which took three years to make and the kind of money that was then considered lunacy as an amount to be spent on a single film. “It was he who had the greatest confidence in our subject!” raved Akhtar, who also later stated that while all the questions were directed at them and to the film and cast, no one could afford to forget the gargantuan contribution of cinematographer Dwarka Divecha and the other technicians. 

India-West asked the writers to speak of the contribution of Anand Bakshi, who wrote the songs revolving around the situations woven into the script and was thus an extension of their writing team. Said Khan, “Bakshi-saab was simply the best.” Akhtar added, “Bakshi-saab was versatile. He may have written some not very good lyrics, but the number of brilliant songs he wrote even outnumbered the total repertoire of many great lyricists! He did a brilliant job in the film.”

Coming back to the script, Akhtar said that even the dialogues’ LP records were issued and sold almost double that of the music albums. “This was our first and only draft,” he recalled. “We never knew what a second version or draft of a script was till we rewrote the second half of ‘Trishul.’ Till then, all our stories were written once and never reworked, whether it was ‘Haathi Mere Saathi,’ ‘Yaadon Ki Baraat,’ ‘Haath Ki Safai,’ ‘Deewaar,’ ‘Chacha Bhatija’ or ‘Don.’”

Adding an amusing note, Khan recollected how when they watched the trailer of “Trishul” and realized something was amiss, a worried producer Gulshan Rai asked him later, “Can something be done to save the situation?” and the writer had jokingly told him, “Yes, I have a surefire solution — don’t release the film!”

The writer laughed as he remembered how Rai had complained to someone that his writers were ruthless people who did not even think of the money he had invested! Later, when he was told that his senior writer was just teasing him, came the problem of how to convince Rai to re-shoot for 10 to 15 days. Said Khan, “We convinced him three days at a time.” The film, of course, was a huge blockbuster.

“Sholay 3D” has been made at a cost of Rs. 25 crore. The background music and songs have been done keeping the original compositions and voices intact, by Raju Singh. While the producers hunted high and low abroad for converting the film into 3D on an economical note and were told that they would need sums like $15 million, Ketan Mehta’s Maya Digital Studios cleaned and restored the negative and upgraded it to HD before converting it to 3D without creative compromise and with excellent results at a fraction of the cost.

Mehta and guest Boney Kapoor were also present at the event.

Watch the official trailer of “Sholay” 3D below:

Read more athttp://www.indiawest.com/news/14845-salim-javed-launch-3d-version-

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Soundbox reported on our sound and music for Sholay 3D

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Afternoon DC article on our work on Sholay 3D