Mumbai. Actor-filmmaker Naseeruddin Shah said that he once discussed the definition of originality with Javed Akhtar. At that time he had told the screenwriter that his 1975 film ‘Sholay’ was a copy of the films of Charlie Chaplin and Hollywood filmmaker Clint Eastwood. Akhtar co-wrote the script of “Sholay” with Salim Khan. This film is considered one of the best and most influential Indian films.
Naseeruddin Shah said on the first day of IFP Season 14 on Saturday, “I remember Javed Akhtar once told me, ‘Something can be called original when you cannot find its source.’ I was talking to him about ‘Sholay’, and I said, ‘You have copied every scene, you have not left out any of Charlie Chaplin’s films, apart from that Clint Eastwood’s presence was felt in every frame. .”
Shah said, “But he said, ‘The question is not where you have taken the reference from, the question is how far you have taken it.’ Originality is difficult to define. William Shakespeare is considered a great playwright and he obviously copied from old plays, but there was originality in the way he presented them.” “Sholay”, directed by Ramesh Sippy, had a glimpse of Clint Eastwood and samurai cinema. The biggest names of the 1970s like Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjeev Kumar, Hema Malini, Jaya Bhaduri and Amjad Khan worked in ‘Sholay’.
Shah (74), who made his mark in parallel cinema with films like ‘Nishant’, ‘Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro’, and ‘Mirch Masala’, has also earned the accolade of acting in films like ‘Hero Hiralal’, ‘Vishwatma’ and ‘Mohra’. Are scattered. He said that he is a fan of directors Mrinal Sen, Basu Chatterjee, Satyajit Ray, Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane.
The actor said, “The films of Mrinal Sen, Basu Chatterjee, Sri Ray were new. Films like ‘Bhuvan Shome’, ‘Sara Aakash’ or ‘Ankur’ got a lot of coverage, but there were not many people making such films.” Shah said, “Today, there are people like Anubhav Sinha, Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane, and successors to Basu Chatterjee like Rajkumar Hirani. So, there is a group of passionate people who are making the films they love, but they are unlikely to be the next generation. Today, the situation in the film industry is serious.”
Shah said that the short film ‘Man Woman Man Woman’ made under his direction is a small drop in the ocean. In this film, his wife Ratna Pathak Shah, son Vivaan Shah, Saba Azad and Tarun Dhanrajgir are in lead roles. This 26-minute film depicting love and companionship between two generations was shown at IFP.