Uncut gem!

SaharaOne's latest initiative in the form of N G Takes, is one of the more creative and innovative ideas to originate from the programming sphere. A Saturday evening slot may not be most ideal one for settling down with the popcorn to watch never-seen footage from films like Sholay, but still, it makes for compelling viewing.

Host Suresh Menon and his witticisms take up nearly three fourths of the show, and although his cracks do have you in splits most of the time, you find yourself tapping your fingernails impatiently waiting for the real footage to air.

To his credit, Suresh did a fair job of portraying Gabbar Singh and Thakur alternately during the first episode, that promised uncut footage from Ramesh Sippy's classic Sholay. It's also interesting to watch veteran actors like Sachin and Viju Khote reminisce about how they felt when their scenes were left out of the final cut of the film. Yet, it would have been nicer to hear what the filmmaker himself had to say about the reasons for leaving out the scenes, rather than having it from the current CEO of Sippy Films, Sasha Sippy!

The footage itself is gripping, as any Hindi film buff will acknowledge. Has anyone ever watched the young Sachin squirm to his death at the hands of the vicious Gabbar? Or seen Thakur actually killing Gabbar, a scene that was modified to suit the censors' tastes?

But between these two scenes is a hefty lot of Suresh Menon's antics, something that could have been curtailed perhaps with snippets of conversations with the filmmakers, some more actors or the scriptwriters. A couple of other scenes from the film, even from the edited version, would have helped to ease the monotony. Too much of Menon can become a trifle tedious over time, one fears.

Nevertheless, the promise of another hit Bollywood film and its uncut footage is sure to drag to the couch with my bowl of popcorn next Saturday.