The iconic movie ‘Sholay’, had originally released on the 15th of August, in the year 1975. Now,37 years later,the iconic movie is re-releasing on 15th August 2012 in 3D.The 3D version is a joint venture of Pen India Pvt Ltd and Sippy Films. The restoration and conversion is done by Maya Digital Studios, the company that pioneered the art & technology of animation & visual effects in India. Promoted by Ketan Mehta is one of India’s most internationally acclaimed filmmakers, the operations at the studio are headed by Frank Foster, who is a Hollywood VFX veteran.
The film is converted into 3D using Maya Digital Studio’s proprietary system. The entire work on the film was completed in 2 years, by a team of 250 people, led by Hemant Shinde & Ram Dhumne, who jointly head the Stereoscopic 3D Conversion department at Maya.
Sholay is an action-adventure,it is a story of two criminals hired to capture a ruthless dacoit by the name of Gabbar Singh. The film stars Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjeev Kumar, Hema Malini, Jaya Bhaduri and Amjad Khan as central characters.The length of the film is 198 mins.
Speaking to Animationxpress.com, about the the concept of making Sholay in 3D, Jayanti Lal Gada, CMD, Pen India Private Ltd said that,” The idea of making the 3D version came from the copyright owners of the movie. I believe, it is the best movie to augment with special effects. The characters in this film are very powerful,human emotions like friendship,love,joy,anger and loyalty depicted in this film are unforgettable.I agree,almost every Indian has seen this movie but it’s a film for the big screen.For instance,when I told Abhishek the concept of re releasing it,he jumped on the idea saying he would love to watch it on the big screen because he has only seen it on video.”
Talking about his association with Sippy Films he adds, “It’s a joint venture and I am happy to work with the third generation of the Sippy family, I have worked with G.P. Sippy saab and Vijay Sippy who was my best Friend now his son Sasha Sippy,Shaan Uttam Singh and Sahzad
Sippy, the 3 youngster from Sippy family and the 3 youngsters from our family Dhaval Gada,Kushal and Bhavita Gada are working together. We are known as the people who brought out the DVD of the film in 1990 ,15 years after its release and also to bring it to the small screen in 1995. 20 years after its release when the movie was first screened on DD national, it registered a TRP of 65. That is the highest TRP of any movie showcased on Indian television. Now after 37 years,we are bringing it on the big screen in the 3D version ,so we are happy to be associated with this film since so long and we hope that people will like its 3D form as well.I am happy to see youngsters appreciating films like Paan Singh Tomar, Ishaqzaade and Rowdy Rathore,so I hope just like its TV and DVD release ,it turns out to break all Box Office records this time as well”
Talking more about the movie, Shaan Uttam Singh Director, Sippy Films and Sholay Media and Entertainment Private Limited said,”The movie is made with a lot of hardwork.It is the greatest movie of Hindi Cinema and it’s new and exciting for the younger generation to watch it on the big screen. It is always great to work with Pen India,we have an association with them since 1995 and it has always been a wonderful experience.I hope all the hard work pays off and the movie does fantastic business.”
Elaborating more on the conversion work of the film,Hemant Shinde Head of Stereoscopic 3D Conversion Department Maya Digital Studios said,”The film was converted using Maya Digital Studio’s proprietary system and some plug-ins which were developed in house by our team.
The conversion of Sholay 3D had many technical as well as creative challenges. It is a very highly manual process, where every element of each frame needs to be separated, then individually converted into 3D, and then composited together.” Together they have encountered all the techno-creative challenges on the film with the help of Hollywood technicians.
Adding to it, Ram Dhumne Head of Stereoscopic 3D Conversion department at Maya said,” While working on Sholay 3D, Team Maya has effectively converted 285120 such frames, so the volume of work was huge, but we have delivered the quality with great consistency.From
the restoration of a 37 year old negative in order to make the film 3D ready, to the fact that we were working on such historic content we had to make sure at every step that nothing at all goes wrong. Managing these constraints was a huge challenge on a daily basis for our conversion team at Maya. And then there were certain sequences like the Holi song, or the many chase sequences to name a few which were even more challenging.” Hemant concludes, “Team Maya has pushed itself beyond the limits, both creatively and technically to make sure that no stone was left unturned in the making of Sholay 3D. The perseverance and dedication of the entire team was the only way to combat all these challenges.”
Pen India are currently working on two projects,’Ishaq’ starring Prateik Babbar and a 3d animated film on the Mahabharata.