Are you jiivit?

George provides a comprehensive summary re: the current state of affairs of the spaghetti bowl that is Ram Gopal Varma ka Sholay. Given that the cast seems to have turned into a local railway platform what with the comings and goings, it's sheer ego-power that seems to drive Ram Gopal Varma ahead with the project.

Even if he makes a great tribute (he didn't quite manage it in Sarkar) to the by now only parody-fodder classic, what's the point? The tendency of many of the current breed of Indian newbie directors to fulfill childhood fantasies is becoming fairly painful. Perhaps a much better idea could have been to make a Gabbar-prequel, a la Anakin Skywalker to D.V. story. RGV could have then indulged, and with justification, in drooling over say, Abhishek as Gabbar and Amitabh as (the legendary) Hari Singh. It's a backstory waiting to be told. Lal-ettan could still have played the Thakur.

The problem with RGV films of late (and make no mistake about the fact that we still adore what the man did, but now that Vishal B and Anurag K sparkle brightly on the horizon, RGV is no longer the only pole of hope) is that he collaborates with far too few of the "good" folks. Anurag Kashyap reckons RGV still has it. A certain Sourav Chandidas Ganguly showed today that he still has the power to surprise. We're waiting for the similarly temperamental Ram Gopal Varma to resume business.