With plethora of remakes pounding in, Ramu Ke Sholay has been received the most by the audience, since the day the film has been announced. Sholay, a masterpiece in all regards, the created a fan fallowing for each & every character that is yet alive in all the young & old hearts, have surely not taken this in good spirit. Even the thought of remaking the cherished classic seems to be discarded!

At the same time, a major number of moviegoers are enthu for the film for none but one reason – the living legend – Mr. Bachchan.

Jai of the original is now playing Bollywood’s most acclaimed villain – Gabbar Singh.

Recently when Mr. Bachchan’s new look was unfurled, hoards of fans stuck to the idiot box to check out the rugged Hindi-speaking urban Gabbar.

Amitabh, who hates putting make up has got a heavy doze of it to create that darkness and may be terror on the script.

Big B about the new Sholay says : “ as artists we have all the liberty to portray are creativity. Just like interpretations of Shakespeare made in every changing generations, this is Ram Gopal Verma’s version of the classic. We are not trying to compete with the original as that is too big a dream. At the end, when we are done with the job, it’s the audiences’ decision that every filmmaker has to surrender to, but he always puts in his best. It is a great privilege to have been a part of the old Sholay as well as the new one. It is a one off case. I have with me happy memories of Sholay, but some doors need to be shut as this is a different project.”

Revealing Gabbar’s look and characteristics Varma mentioned, “Gabbar’s one eye ball is grey and the other is brown to show his unpredictability. He also sports a scar on his nose. He wears worn out and torn long green jacket, grey fennel pants and knee length boots. He carries a stick embedded with a scorpio on it. Gabbar commutes in a jeep-like vehicle and he doesn’t have his own house. Hence he is always on the run and stays in old, deserted warehouses in the middle of Mumbai city. He is aware of all the things that happen in the world, unlike the old Gabbar who was cut off from the world.”

Varma further added, “After drafting nine looks for Gabbar, we finalized on this one. I did not make a conscious decision to make my Gabbar look different or similar to the old Gabbar. I had to design my Gabbar’s look keeping in mind the setting, timing, production and design work of the film. So this look suits it perfectly.”

Amitabh Bachchan adds : “I wanted to play Gabbar’s role 31 years back in Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay. His role was the best, his dialogues were the best and so it attracted me a lot. But I was not given that role. I am overwhelmed that Ramu and Adlabs have given me the chance.”

Other important characters in the film are being played by – Mohit Ahlawat as Jai, Ajay Devgan as Veeru, Katrina Kaif as Radha, Rajpal Yadav as Soorma Bhopali, Urmila Matondkar for Helen’s Mehbooba.

The film is being presented by Adlabs. Shooting for the film began last week in Mumbai with the opening shot being that of Gabbar. The film will wind up by January 2007 and plans are to release the film in May next year.