Have you met the Big Daddy rumoured to have fathered the silver screen saga, Sholey? If not, then the chance is here
Have you met the Big Daddy rumoured to have fathered the silver screen saga, Sholey? If not, then the chance is here
Whatu00a0were the inspirations behind Sholay? Some say Veeru and Jai's characters were inspired from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, while others say Jai's double-sided coin was borrowed from Marlon Brandon's One-eyed Jacks. 
Some would even suggest Greek singer-songwriter Demis Roussos' Say You Love Me was the brainwave behind RD Burman's Mehbooba Mehbooba. And the scenes were inspired from Rome-born Sergie Leone's Spaghetti Westerns or even John Ford's Westerns. But cite as much example as you want, they all fall flat on the ears of a Sholay lover.
But make a diehard fan of this Ramesh Sippy film watch another film released somewhere around 1954 directed by an unsuccessful painter called Akira Kurosawa, and he'll agree for once that yes, maybe there was cinema before Sholay. Seven Samurai is the film that started it all, the plot of recruiting a heroic team to save
others in distress.
But why is the black and white film about a seven Ronins (masterless Samurais) trying to save a village from bandits, on which the studio shut its door twice, so magical? And is Kurosawa such a big magician? Truth is, watching Seven Samurai makes the experience of watching other movies all the more wonderful.
Be it a Western like John Sturges' The Magnificent Seven or Rajkumar Santoshi's China Gate, every film (even the non-sense ones) makes sense when you have watched this film. For example, in Veeru's antics in Sholay you'll be reminiscent of Kikuchiyo's antics in Shichinin no Samurai (as the film is called in Japanese), thereby helping you understand the character more.
But for the first timers, Seven Samurai is not a film to be watched at home in a cushioned lounger with popcorn and expensive coffee. It is a film you watch in a hall with like-minded people. It's a film which you come back to your canteen, order cutting chai, light your Four Square or bidi and discuss thread bare. It's a film which remains with you while you open your books or travel alone in a rickety bus.
Thankfully, the film is being shown in Delhi, and you can watch it with some like-minded people. For those who haven't watched it yet, don't miss it and those who already have seen it a thousand times on their DVDs, it's time you came out and enjoyed it with others, just like the good old days .
At : Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan, Kasturba Gandhi Marg
Timings: 10 am onwards
When: November 19, Friday
Ring: 26596203
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