In an AI spin to 'Sholay', Julia Roberts turns Basanti, De Niro channels Jai, Al Pacino plays Veeru

Mumbai, July 20

Director Ram Gopal Varma posted an AI spin of Ramesh Sippy's 'Sholay' featuring Hollywood stars Robert De Niro, Julia Roberts, Jack Nicholson and Al Pacino as the lead characters.

In the AI version of the film, Julia was seen as Basanti originally played by Hema Malini, Amitabh Bachchan's Jai is essayed by De Niro, Al Pacino as Dharmendra's Veeru and Amjad Khan’s Gabbar is played by Nicholson.

The iconic character of Thakur Baldev Singh, originally played by Sanjeev Kumar, is seen played by Kevin Spacey in the re-imagined version of the film, which was released in 1975.

RGV took to Twitter, where he shared the video and wrote: "What if Robert de Niro played Amitabh Bachchan , Al Pacino played Dharmendra , Julia roberts played Hema Malini , Kevin spacey played Sanjeev kumar and Jack Nicholson played Gabbar in SHOLAY? ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE is just KILLING it."

He then added: "Hollywood strike against the use of AI will only speed up the usage of AI in Hollywood ..No technology in history could ever be stopped ..The only way to fight AI is to use it and not to resist it."

'Sholay' is about two criminals, Veeru and Jai, hired by a retired police officer (to capture the ruthless dacoit Gabbar Singh. Hema Malini and Jaya Bhaduri also star, as Veeru and Jai's love interests, Basanti and Radha, respectively.

The film was shot in the rocky terrain of Ramanagara, in the southern state of Karnataka, over a span of two and a half years.

In 2007, Ram Gopal Varma made 'Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag', an ction drama film featuring Amitabh Bachchan, Mohanlal, Ajay Devgn, Prashant Raj Sachdev, Sushmita Sen, J. D. Chakravarthy, and Suchitra Krishnamoorthi. The film is an adaptation of Sholay, upon release, it was considered as one of the worst films ever made.

RGV is known for acclaimed films such as 'Rangeela', 'Sarkar', 'Satya', 'Company', 'Jungle' and 'Bhoot'.