'I wanted to play Gabbar in 1975 Sholay'

At 64, it's tough to sit in front of the makeup man for hours, getting greasepaint on for film shoots.

But Amitabh Bachchan likes to practice his reel life dialogues in real life. Like his Gabbar Singh character in Sholay says, 'Jo dar gaya samjho mar gaya.'

But he does not actually utter this line in Ram Gopal Varma's version of the Ramesh Sippy classic. "I will only say the dialogues during the film's premiere. At this moment, all I can say is that Gabbar is based in Mumbai. We have only shot the opening scene of the film."

After much delay, the shooting of RGV's Sholay finally started last week after the director and producer Manmohan Shetty of Adlabs unveiled Gabbar's new look.

Speaking about his look, Bachchan says, "I got an eye infection after the shooting. If you notice carefully, you will find one eye is brown and the other is blue. They used two different-coloured lenses."

His eye infection explained his large red sunglasses at the event.

Bachchan added with a chuckle, "At this age, I have to put on a beard all the time. I hate it but I only get such roles."

But didn't he feel that RGV's Gabbar looked defeated rather than Amjad Khan's powerful one? Bachchan said defensively, "I don't think so. But you must realise that defeated and tired people can look very menacing."

Big B stated that his look was entirely Ramu's take. "I did what he told me to do," AB said. 

Amitabh had played the lead role of Jai in the 1975 classic. Dharmendra played his best friend, Veeru.

Bachchan said, "I wanted to play Gabbar when I first heard the script. But I was disappointed when Ramesh Sippy said that Amjad Khan was doing it. I had to be satisfied with Jai's role. Gabbar's role is beautiful in Sholay. He has great dialogues and the best scenes in the film."

The shooting of RGV's Sholay is expected to be complete by April 2007 and is slated for a May release.

Big B admitted that he was nervous on the first day of the shoot. "But this is true for me for every new film I do. The memories of Sholay will always be with me when I shoot for this film but as an artist I have to close that window and open a new chapter for the new Sholay."

Do you like Amitabh's Gabbar Singh look? Share your views!

Text: Syed Firdaus Ashraf | Photograph: Pradeep Bandekar