Ramesh Sippy‘s Sholay is regarded as one of the landmark films in Indian cinema. The film revolutionized Indian cinema’s technical brilliance. It revived the 70 MM format, stereophonic sound, and Technicolor, and introduced Hollywood-style cinematography. Sholay’s other vital contribution was its impetus to the ‘flashback’ style. This technique disrupts chronological narrative, inserting previous events.
If you recall Sholay, you’d realize that the entire tale of Thakur Baldev Singh (Sanjeev Kumar) and his encounter with dread dacoit Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan) is told in flashback. Writers Salim Javed brilliantly wrote the narrative, and film director Ramesh Sippy excellently edited the narration. This made the film gripping, captivating cinephiles. Though the film is an exhaustive 204 minutes (3 hours and 15 minutes) but the slick editing makes the film an enjoyable affair!
The Rise of Flashback Techniques
Before Sholay, the ‘Flashback’ technique has been used by filmmakers but not on large scale. The Flashback narration is originally an old style of writing by Western authors. For instance, William Shakespeare used flashback in Henry V. He explained King Henry’s past and its effect on his present judgement.
Speaking about the film, the ‘Flashback’ technique was First introduced in Indian films by Pramathesh Chandra Barua, popularly known as P.C. Barua, the Bengal film director cum actor who hit stardom with his film Bangla film Devdas (1935). In the year 1934 P.C. Barua introduced Flashback in his film Roop Lekha (1934). The film was re-made in Hindi as Mohabbat Ki Kasauti staring Bollywood star K.L. Saigal.
Kamal Amrohi’s Successful Techniques
Filmmaker Kamal Amrohi used the same flashback technique as’Roop Lekha’ quite successfully in his ‘Reincarnation’ horror tale Mahal (1949). The success of the film opened doors for the ‘Reincarnation’ genre of movies like Bimal Roy‘s Madhumati (1958), Mehbooba (1976) Chetan Anand‘s last movies, Kudrat (1981). Even Shah Rukh Khan‘s Om Shanti Om (2007) used the same trick. In fact, Akshay Kumar‘s latest hit Housefull 4 used the Reincarnation formula in an entertaining.
Among the recent films to adopt Flashback successfully include Bajrangi Bhaijaan, which starts with a narrative of a mute Pakistani girl becoming stranded in India and depicts an extended flashback introduction as to how Salman Khan (Hero) meets Kareena Kapoor Khan (Heroine) the woman he loves. Similarly the superlative suspense in Baahubali 2 about the secret of Katappa Ne Bahubali Ko Kyon Maara? Brilliantly told in a flashback by film director S. S. Rajamouli was truly Paisa Vasool!!
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