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'I've never thought of casting Kajol'

None | ByVajir Singh/ HT Style, Mumbai
Oct 18, 2006 04:28 PM IST

Ram Gopal Verma refuses to divulge anything about his much-awaited film Sholay as Vajir Singh speaks to him.

Apart from being a maverick filmmaker, Ram Gopal Varma is known for being outspoken, except when it comes to his current venture, Ram Gopal Varma Ke Sholay.

HT Image
HT Image

Perhaps he’s being secretive about his interpretation of Sholay  becuase this time he’d rather stay mum than to make efforts to rectify his comments later. So ask him anything related to Sholay, and he only says, “Let the right time come. You’ll come to know about it.” Ask him, why the secrecy, and he says, “I’ll definitely tell you, but not now.”

The latest on his Sholay has been that he replaced Himesh Reshammiya with Ganesh Hegde for the Mehbooba  song. “Ganesh did Kambakht ishq and Khallas  for me and he is one of the best choreographers we have. He will be calling the shots as far as Mehbooba is concerned. Now it’s entirely his brainchild — right from scoring music to picturising it.”

Ram Gopal Verma is tight-lipped about Sholay.

Remind him about Shadab Khan, son of Amjad Khan, saying he is unhappy with Varma’s idea of remaking

Sholay 

and also with Amitabh Bachchan playing Gabbar Singh and Varma replies: “From an audience perspective, they would not want to see another Gabbar Singh since they have lived with Amjad Khan as Gabbar for nearly three decades and so have I. It’s different when you see the facts from a filmmaker’s viewpoint. His opinion is as a viewer and not as a filmmaker.”

If Varma is tight-lipped about

Sholay

, he becomes more cautious when asked about who will be playing Basanti in his version. He immediately says that his version is contemporary and set in an urban area. “Veeru was fond of girls, so you never know — I may cast multiple girls opposite him. Why just one?” he says, adding, “But there will definitely be someone opposite this character.” He does, however, accept that Sushmita Sen has replaced Katrina Kaif in the role originally played by Jaya Bhaduri.

Probe further and ask him to confirm reports that Kajol was being considered to play Basanti opposite Ajay Devgan who plays Veeru and he replies, “In three years, I have never thought of casting her in any films that I have made in this time.”

In today’s time, when everyone plans everything before starting a project, Ram Gopal Varma stands apart. Thus, he finds it difficult to reply any query about

Sholay

. All he’ll offer is: “May be, I know everything but I don’t want to reveal anything at this moment.” His other project,

Darling

with Fardeen Khan, seems to have been pushed to the backburner. “Nothing is on hold.

Darling

is almost complete,” he says.

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