Director Ram Gopal Varma, 12A, 150 mins, Subtitles

Stars: Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgan, Prashant Raj.

“The innocents always die: by America, by Al Qaeda and me!” grisly gangster Babban (Amitabh Bachchan) proclaims in this violent remake of Bollywood’s most famous film, Sholay (1975).

Updated from rural India to modern day Mumbai, the plot remains the same. Retired former cop Narsimha (Mohanlal) recruits two good natured criminals Heero (Ajay Devgan) and Raj (Prashant Raj), to capture the aforementioned Babban, who is terrorising a fishing village.

Comparisons to the original classic are inevitable: it remains the perfect masala mix of all the ingredients of the formula, a complete curry western Seven Samurai- style entertainer. Is Varma’s version a worthy successor?

After the promising old style dishum-dishum shootout and a witty refusal to go immediately into lengthy flashback, the film meanders and rapidly degenerates into an inferior unimaginative and pointless copy. This ‘aag’ (fire) fails to ignite.

Weirdly billed in the opening credits as ‘introducing Amitabh Bachchan as Babban’, the thespian fails to convince as the villain from hell. His coloured contact lenses and manic expressions via his constant licking of the lips are more laughable than fearful. None of the other supporting cast manages to instil any credibility or empathy for their diverse characters.

Varma loses the plot post-interval when he focuses on the tepid romance between Heero and the lowly Ghungroo (Nisha Kothari), a feisty female auto-rickshaw driver. Kothari is clearly Varma’s latest obsession: her character is inexplicably included in almost every scene and the camera has an unhealthy focus on her ample behind.

In addition to ostentatious dialogue about the mistakes America made with Iraq, Varma’s message is the profound ‘the real motive in life is to be happy.’ Urmilla Matongar performs the original dance number Mehbooba with busty gusto. However the impact of the dance is swamped by an inexplicable cameo from another Bachchan and by Babban himself breaking into a jig.

This homage reflects Varma’s current creative drought. Unforgivable is that twenty seven years after the original, the widow character (Sushmita Sen) still loses out: her new man is killed. His regressive re-imagination has the effect of perpetuating the still taboo notion that widow remarriage remains unacceptable in some sections of current Indian society.

If you have never seen the original, see it on DVD now. Otherwise, if you see this, you may agree with Narsimha’a wife when she chivvies him about his Babban obsession: “Babban! Babban! Nonsense! Waste of time!”

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