Mumbai mill owner Vallabh Thakkar murder case was to be the first baseline for RGV’s AAG. But, Varma decided to use another story, and thus, ended up creating the worst film in his career. 

Ram Gopal Varma, also often known as Ramu, has not given a hit in almost a decade. Yet, his interviews get millions of views within a few hours. He has a lot of trivia in store for fans. During his recent interview with trade analyst Komal Nahta, he shared some interesting anecdotes about how a Mumbai mill owner murder story was to be turned into Sholay 2.

 

But, who was Vallabh Thakkar? 

Vallabh Thakkar was a real estate tycoon, and also the owner of Raghuvanshi Mills. Thakkar had purchased the mill from Nayan Mehta in 1993. The mill was more like a real-estate investment as it had been closed since 1989. And, police investigation pointed out that after the purchase, Thakkar had used underworld favors to vacate some tenants from the property. Hussain Zaidi’s book Byculla to Bangkok pointed out that gangster Arun Gawli had invested Rs 30 lakh in the property. The dispute on the payment for helping in getting rid of tenants resulted in the murder. 

Thakkar was shot dead in his car by Rajendra Mandhar Sadwilkar and Rajesh Subhashchandra Roy on 17th April, 1997. Police charge sheet suggested both were hired by Arun Gawli’s right hand Sada Pawle (Mama) to do the job. 

What was the link between Sholay and Vallabh Thakkar murder case?

In the film Sholay, Thakur ends up losing his family in an attack orchestrated by Gabbar’s gang. Thakur hires Jai and Veeru to catch Gabbar in exchange for money.

As per Ramu, a close relative of Vallabhbhai tried to hire shooters and avenge the young businessman’s death. During his recent interaction with a Bollywood trade analyst, he suggested Thakkar’s close relative had all the money in this world. But he was not capable of extracting revenge due to his age and position just like the character Thakur in Sholay. Talking about further similarities between Sholay and Thakkar story, he claimed the person (Thakkar’s relative) had approached sharpshooters to kill all those involved in Vallabhbhai murder. Thus, this was his perfect story to make a Sholay sequel. Somehow, this idea remained on the backbench. The writer duo Sajid-Farhad wrote another story which was used in RGV Ki Aag, and a big flop was made.

Real life to reel 

Ram Gopal Varma’s team conducts consultations with retired cops, crime journalists, and on duty police officers while writing scripts. And this helps ensure realism, authenticity in stories. He has access to information which is not even in the public domain. The director brilliantly turns real life into reel life stories. And films like Satya, Company, Ab Tak Chappan, Sarkar, are some of the best examples. Perhaps, the story based on Vallabh Thakkar case could have helped in recreating the Sholay magic. The good news is that Ram Gopal Varma has restarted the work on the concerned script to make a new film on the case. 

Ram Gopal Varma has also recently announced a horror-comedy titled Police Station May Bhoot with Manoj Bajpayee in the lead role. It’s a story about a criminal’s ghost haunting a police station full of cops.

What happened in the Vallabh Thakkar murder case investigation? 

The Vallabh Thakkar murder case became a matter of shame for the Mumbai Police. Thus, the case was simultaneously handed over to the special squad. Three officers from the special squad, Praful Bhosale, Vijay Salaskar, and Pradeep Sharma, were chasing Sada Pawale. Later, Vijay Salaskar encountered Pawale. At the end of the court trial, the shooters Rajendra Mandhar Sadwilkar and Rajesh Subhashchandra Roy received life imprisonment.

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