Ramanagaram - Revision history

Jyoti at 19:40, 5 September 2016

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2016-09-05T19:37:18Z

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=2015=
[http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=HUSH-IN-THE-SHOLAY-HILLS-09082015017043 ''The Times of India''], Aug 09 2015

Jayanth Kodkani

- With inputs by Charan CS and Aparajita Ray

The area now has trekkers, cyclists, occasional fans and vultures, but hardly anything other than the rocky backdrop reminds us of the movie

Itna sannata kyon hai bhai?

You'd want to repeat Ra him Chacha's memorable line from Sholay if you're clambering up the jagged path flanked by shrubbery near Ramanagaram. Not far from the edges of the road are towering outcrops, unmistakably the backdrop of the blockbuster that most Indians have seen at least once.
There's very little here today for fans to soak up the sights of Ramgarh. Gabbar's den, the Thakur's old haveli, the temple or the bridge in the gun-play at the climax -are all missing. Only the huge rocks strewn around the hills remind us of the movie.

It was just over 40 years ago that Ramesh Sippy set his trailblazing film in this locale near Ramanagaram, 50 km southwest of Bangalore.The town is now a district headquar ter and popularly known as Silk City.

A 2 km-drive off the main road gets you to Ramadevarabetta or Ramgiri Hills or Sholay Hills. Half way up to the hill-top temple, manning the gates is Shivalingaiah (64), who is an eager guide. As if on cue, he says, “Sholay? Yes, this is where it all happened when I was 24...“

He walks down with you to point in various directions, mixing up names with screen characters: “That was where Basanti (Hema Malini) danced and over there, the water tank from where Dharmendra (playing Veeru) threatened to jump. Gabbar (Amjad Khan), what a threatening figure he was... I've known these nooks for years. We'd spend the nights here and the crew would land up every morning from Bangalore.“

Occasionally a tourist party drives down in cars and motorbikes, says Shivalingaiah. “The older folk point randomly to locate Gabbar's den as if they have seen it all them selves,“ says Shivalingaiah.

With no trace of props, sets or replicas, the exact location is a blur.Sometimes even for those who have been part of it. Anwar Khan was in his teens when he played the bit role of a goatherd who is witness to Basanti's kidnapping and directs Veeru owards the hills in which Gabbar's men have taken her. Khan, a school dropout and now a tailor in Bengaluru, can't place the exact spots oday . “Some time ago when my children wanted to go there, I couldn't ind the place where it was shot.“

In the years that have rolled on, he neighbourhood has had a colony for the Iruliga tribe, a government school, and some other small structures. But perhaps the biggest change since has been the fencing of the land around Ramadevarabetta. It was done to declare an area of 346.14 hectares around as a vulture sanctuary, the country's irst, on January 31, 2012. Many plans were devised since the movie became a runaway suc cess: A Sippynagar showcasing the movie, a resort that celebrates its legend and even a tourist destina tion that recreates the magic, but nothing has happened on ground.

Hiking and biking clubs, though, have gone on to make it a cool desti nation. Anil Kadsur, who organizes rides to the hills, says, “Riding 100km (to and fro) and climbing the 400-odd steps helps us unwind.“

After riding up to the foothills, cyclists climb the steep stone steps to reach the temple and a little pond.

“The view of the Bengaluru-Mysu ru state highway from there is breathtaking,“ he says. Art of Bicycle Trips (ABT) offers two rides in and around Ramanagaram. They also have a ride named after David Lean's, A Passage to India, based on EM Forster's novel.Some scenes of Lean's film were shot at Ramadevarabetta and the adjoining Sawandurga hills in 1983.

Yet it is the granite boulders on Sholay Hills that will live on. Believed to be among the oldest in history , geologists know the stone here as Closepet Granite. Closepet itself was named after Sir Barry Close (1756-1813), an army general in the East India Company . The place was later called Ramanagaram.

These sweeping vistas of history have passed on to scenes on celluloid.Even if there's nothing else to show that Sholay was made here, the hush around the hills will remain part of that memory .

@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 - With inputs by Charan CS and Aparajita Ray
-The area now has trekkers, cyclists, occasional fans and vultures, but hardly anything other than the rocky backdrop reminds us of the movie
+A 2 km-drive off the main road gets you to Ramadevarabetta or Ramgiri Hills or Sholay Hills.
+Sholey was shot in the village long back.
-Itna sannata kyon hai bhai?
-−
-You'd want to repeat Ra him Chacha's memorable line from Sholay if you're clambering up the jagged path flanked by shrubbery near Ramanagaram. Not far from the edges of the road are towering outcrops, unmistakably the backdrop of the blockbuster that most Indians have seen at least once.
-There's very little here today for fans to soak up the sights of Ramgarh. Gabbar's den, the Thakur's old haveli, the temple or the bridge in the gun-play at the climax -are all missing. Only the huge rocks strewn around the hills remind us of the movie.
-−
-It was just over 40 years ago that Ramesh Sippy set his trailblazing film in this locale near Ramanagaram, 50 km southwest of Bangalore.The town is now a district headquar ter and popularly known as Silk City.
-−
-A 2 km-drive off the main road gets you to Ramadevarabetta or Ramgiri Hills or Sholay Hills. Half way up to the hill-top temple, manning the gates is Shivalingaiah (64), who is an eager guide. As if on cue, he says, “Sholay? Yes, this is where it all happened when I was 24...“
-−
-He walks down with you to point in various directions, mixing up names with screen characters: “That was where Basanti (Hema Malini) danced and over there, the water tank from where Dharmendra (playing Veeru) threatened to jump. Gabbar (Amjad Khan), what a threatening figure he was... I've known these nooks for years. We'd spend the nights here and the crew would land up every morning from Bangalore.“
-−
-Occasionally a tourist party drives down in cars and motorbikes, says Shivalingaiah. “The older folk point randomly to locate Gabbar's den as if they have seen it all them selves,“ says Shivalingaiah.
-−
 With no trace of props, sets or replicas, the exact location is a blur.Sometimes even for those who have been part of it. Anwar Khan was in his teens when he played the bit role of a goatherd who is witness to Basanti's kidnapping and directs Veeru owards the hills in which Gabbar's men have taken her. Khan, a school dropout and now a tailor in Bengaluru, can't place the exact spots oday . “Some time ago when my children wanted to go there, I couldn't ind the place where it was shot.“
-In the years that have rolled on, he neighbourhood has had a colony for the Iruliga tribe, a government school, and some other small structures. But perhaps the biggest change since has been the fencing of the land around Ramadevarabetta. It was done to declare an area of 346.14 hectares around as a vulture sanctuary, the country's irst, on January 31, 2012. Many plans were devised since the movie became a runaway suc cess: A Sippynagar showcasing the movie, a resort that celebrates its legend and even a tourist destina tion that recreates the magic, but nothing has happened on ground.
+In the years that have rolled on, the neighbourhood has had a colony for the Iruliga tribe, a government school, and some other small structures. But perhaps the biggest change since has been the fencing of the land around Ramadevarabetta. It was done to declare an area of 346.14 hectares around as a vulture sanctuary, the country's irst, on January 31, 2012. Many plans were devised since the movie became a runaway suc cess: A Sippynagar showcasing the movie, a resort that celebrates its legend and even a tourist destina tion that recreates the magic, but nothing has happened on ground.
 Hiking and biking clubs, though, have gone on to make it a cool desti nation. Anil Kadsur, who organizes rides to the hills, says, “Riding 100km (to and fro) and climbing the 400-odd steps helps us unwind.“

Ramanagaram - Revision history

Jyoti at 19:40, 5 September 2016

Jyoti: Created page with "{| Class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"| This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |} [[Category:Ind..."

Jyoti: Created page with "{| Class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"|
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content.

|} [[Category:Ind..."