Ram Gopal Varma's Ki Aag (2007)

            I can finally start to blog about Amitabh Bachchan ji’s movies that I have watched. Since last count, I am down to seventy something movies left.

            Last night, I managed to talk myself into watching Ram Gopa Varma’s Ki Aag or sometimes RGV’s Indian Flames from 2007, or as I call it for simplicity’s sake New Sholay. And I was very surprised by the movie, and how much I enjoyed it!

            Going into this movie, I had the same dread I have with the movies made by the Big B in the 1990’s. I had seen an interview on Coffee with Karan (Johar), which featured Jaya Bachchan and Hema Malini where they discussed how they did not like the idea of Sholay remake. They were both adamant that a remake was a terrible idea, and I have read countless articles where various filmmakers condemned Ram Gopol Varma and even Amitabh Bachchan for daring to even suggest a remake of the classic curry western. The movie has a 1.8 rating on IMDB, and one star on Netflix streaming, where I ended up watching it. I even saw that it was called blasphemous and is one of the first Indian movies to make it to the IMDB 100 lowest rated movies. 

            I do not like remakes. I am, in fact, very much angry with the industry for remaking Amitji’s movies. Seeing advertisements for Don 2, Agneepath, and for the love of God, now Zangeer? The suggestion here is that the movie originals were not good enough and I do not believe that. But with this movie, I have seen the difference between a “remake” and “interpretation”, and I found myself like Ki Aag when I stopped thinking of it as a remake, but as Ram Gopal Varma’s interpretation of the classic movie.

            I am a huge fan of RGV, and the movies he creates with Amitji, have always produced movies that I love, movies that are interesting and creative.

            So, let’s get to Ki Aag!

            The movie stars Ajay Devgn as Heero (a new spin on Dharamendra’s Veeru) and Raj (the take on Amitji’s unforgettable Jai), and Amitabh Bachchan himself stared as the bandit, Baban Singh, his take on Gabbar Singh, immortalized by Amjad Khan. With Amitji playing the villain, you cannot go wrong.

            I was tweeting the entire time I was watching the movie, to record my reaction to the movie and found myself screaming half the time about how absolutely terrible Baban is. With mismatched color eyes and a scar that runs across his nose, I can very honestly say that it has been a long time since a character in a movie terrified as much as Baban.

            Perhaps it was because I am used to seeing Amitji in roles where he simply blurs the line between good and evil. Instead of living in the gray zones in this movie however, Mr. Bachchan in this movie is steadily planted in the black end of the spectrum. Pure evil.

            What I love about this movie, specifically, aside from being terrified out of my mind, is that Baban is actually given a reason for being violent, and having such a personal hatred for the Thakur. This background that Gabar was missing always bothered me because there was never justification for his actions, Gabar was just crazy. Baban is crazy, but he has his reasons.

            Again, Baban is crazy.

            And this movie, independent of its similarity to Sholay, is a movie that should be a given a chance. 

Watch this movie, just to see Amitji in a new, interesting, and terrifying light. And watch this movie, so you can see why I was tweeting what I was tweeting….Seriously, the Kabhi Kabhie reference made me scream. 
Here are my tweets: