'My dad was the strongest Gabbar'

Mumbai: Amjad Khan immortalised the role of Gabbar Singh in Sholay. His actor-screenwriter-director son Shadaab Khan feels Ram Gopal Varma shouldn't put his hand in the project.

"I think remaking Sholay is a very bad idea. No matter how good a job Ram Gopal Varma does, he won't be able to better it. Ramesh Sippy's Sholay was magical. You can't get one legend (Amitabh Bachchan) to play the role played by another legend. It's like getting Kishore Kumar to sing a song already done by Mohammed Rafi," Shadaab said.

Shadaab feels that it would be difficult to wipe out the image of his father as Gabbar Singh.

"Both Bachchan saab and my dad have very strong personas. It wouldn't work. The image of my dad as Gabbar is too strong. Anything Varma would do would look like a caricature. No matter how hard Bachchan saab tries, he won't be able to better my dad's Gabbar.

"When my dad took on the role he had his back against the wall. His father (actor Jayant) was terminally ill. I was just born. And he had no money in his pocket. My father didn't come to the hospital to get my mother and me because he had no money to get her discharged.

"On the sets of my dad's first film 'Hindustan Ki Kasam' director Chetan Anand finally gave my dad Rs.500 to pay the discharge fees. That's how desperate my dad was. He put everything into Sholay.

"But Bachchan saab is the No.1 star of the country. Sholay is just one more film for him. I don't see anyone putting in the same intensity in this Sholay. In Ramesh Sippy's film everyone had a point to prove. Here no one has a point to prove."

However, Shadaab admits Varma's Sholay will have a ready audience. "But I don't have a good feeling about it."

Shadaab doesn't think much of Gabbar Singh's look in Varma's version of Sholay.

"It just shows the insecurity on the part of the makers. Why is Gabbar being promoted before the film's release? Obviously, its makers are insecure. As for the look, I didn't understand it! They've just shown Bachchan's eyes. And they have given it a green tinge."

Having said that, Shadaab admits that irrespective of other things he is sure Amitabh will do justice to the role.

"Bachchan saab is a fantastic actor. I'm sure he'll do an excellent job. But they should've selected a new actor to play Gabbar. A legend playing another legend's role isn't done. But, yes, Bachchan saab playing Gabbar will get the audience interested. Everyone, including me, would be interested in seeing what the finest actor in the country has done with the role."

Surprisingly, Shadaab hasn't seen the original Sholay too many times.

"It's a good film. But Dad has done better work in other films, especially Satyajit Ray's Shatranj Ke Khiladi. He signed that film when he was in hospital after a near-fatal accident. Ray came to see him. My dad was in a delirium. Ray told him, 'You're my Wajid Ali Shah. And if you don't get well I'll scrap Shatranj Ke Khiladi.

"My dad had a good voice. He sang in Shatranj... My sister has inherited that talent."

Shadaab has completed directing a thriller "Highway 203" featuring Kay Kay Menon and Perizaad Zorabian. He's all set to direct another thriller and a comedy.

"And I've walk-on parts in both the films. So, I'm not giving up as an actor," smiled Shadaab who started as a leading man opposite Rani Mukerji in Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat.

Shadaab recently got married.

"We plan to start a family after my brother gets married at the end of the year."