Soon there’s going to be a war of the remakes. Apparently, Kamal Sadanah’s ‘Victoria No 203’ and Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Sholay’ are releasing on the same day. Both films will hit the theatres either on August 24 or on 31.

Not that Kamal seems too bothered. Ask him if he’s apprehensive about ‘Ram Gopal Varma Ke Sholay’—the remake of the historic Bollywood blockbuster ‘Sholay’—releasing on the same day and he says, “I think it would be a treat for the audiences if two good remakes release on the same day.”

What if RGV’s ‘Sholay’ steals the thunder from ‘Victoria No 203? “I don’t worry about Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Sholay’ as such. Yes, if Ramesh Sippy were to release his original film then I would have had to think twice,” laughs Kamal.

Incidentally, Kamal has based his remake on his father, the late Brij Sadanah’s original film ‘Victoria No 203’in the 1970s. The film has been directed by Anant Mahadevan.

Kamal, who is producing the film, thought Anant would make a better director because he himself was a little too attached to the film. Also, a lot of new characters have been added to the story.

The film’s cast includes Om Puri, Anupam Kher, Javed Jaffery, Jimmy Shergill, and the late Vinod Mehra’s daughter, debutante Soniya Mehra. Kamal and a few other stars have made special appearances in the comedy.

Meanwhile, in Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Sholay’ Basanti’s horse cart has been replaced by an autorickshaw for a modern touch. In an interesting twist, Amitabh Bachchan, who plays Jai in the original, has played the villain Gabbar Singh in the remake.

Ajay Devgan plays Veeru (originally played by Dharmendra), Prashant Raj Sachdev is Jai (Amitabh) , Nisha Kothari is Basanti (Hema Malini) , Sushmita Sen plays Radha (Jaya Bachchan) , Sushant Singh is Sambha (Mac Mohan), and Rajpal Yadav plays Soorma Bhopali (Jagdeep).

Apparently, Abhishek Bachchan and Urmila Matondkar will do an item number in the film. The ‘Sholay’ remake has both been directed and produced by Ram Gopal Varma.