Shaan: The year 1980, the excitement of Sholay had not subsided. Gabbar had become the face of villains. It was during such a period that a film was released whose villain spoke with his mouth pressed, was bald and had a crooked smile. The name was Shakal and the multi-starrer film was Shaan.
There are many stories about the film released on 12 December 1980. The movie could not break the record of Sholay but it captured the hearts and minds. The songs were liked a lot. Even today, when Antakshari is played, the song that comes to people’s lips as soon as the letter ‘Y’ comes, ‘Yamma-Yamma’ was also from this film.
Shakal also scared people a lot. This was the role that Sanjeev Kumar was supposed to do first. But then he suffered his first heart attack and reportedly separated due to poor health.
Dharmendra and Hema were going to be a part of the film but
Ramesh Sippy wanted to repeat the star cast of Sholay. Everything was set but Dharmendra did not like his role and he backed out. Seeing this, Hema also avoided it. This pair was replaced by Shashi Kapoor and Bindiya Goswami. So the role of Sanjeev Kumar was played by Kulbhushan Kharbanda. Not only this, Vinod Khanna also parted ways. He became associated with spiritual guru Rajneesh. In this situation the role fell in Shatrughan Sinha’s lap.
The most expensive film of that era was Shaan
Shaan was an expensive film of that era. A lot was spent. The movie was made with a budget of Rs 6 crores, which was almost twice the cost of ‘Sholay’. When it was released, the shows were going well but then negative word of mouth publicity dashed everyone’s expectations. Proved to be a flop but was later re-released.
Shaan became a cult film
Due to this the makers earned more than the cost. The total collection of the movie was 8 crores. When it was shown on Doordarshan, it was included in the list of cult films. State-of-the-art technology was used. The sets were inspired by foreign films.
With the release, one character stuck in our hearts and minds and that was Takla Shakal. After Gabbar, Shakal became the king of villains. He was the life of the movie.
The dialogues and look were not like that of the dreaded dacoit of Sholay but the style and style was awe-inspiring. This character was inspired by Ernst Stavro Blofeld of the ‘James Bond’ series. The character of laughingly committing crimes in suits and boots was new for the Indian audience and this strange treatment penetrated into the hearts of people.
Read more: This year was in the name of Bollywood stars, in this matter South actors were left behind.
