50 years of The Godfather: Why the film is like a Bible for Sarkar (2005) writer Manish Gupta

Francis Ford Coppola’s classic The Godfather (1972) completes 50 years of release next month. To celebrate the occasion, the makers are re-releasing the film in the US and a few other countries, including India, today. In India, the film will mostly be screened in Mumbai and Delhi.

Starring Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard Castellano and Robert Duvall, The Godfather was the story of an ageing Italian mafia don, Vito Corleone, who hands over his empire to his youngest son Michael after he is shot. The film was adapted from the bestselling novel of the same name by author Mario Puzo.

The Godfather has been an inspiration for various mainstream Hindi films over the years. Some of these include Dharmatma (1975), Nayakan (1987, Tamil), remade in Hindi as Dayavan (1988), and Aatank Hi Aatank (1995).

Another film to be 'inspired' by The Godfather was Ram Gopal Varma’s iconic Sarkar (2005), which starred Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Kay Kay Menon, Supriya Pathak, Tanishaa Mukerji and Katrina Kaif.

Manish Gupta, screenwriter of Sarkar, was shocked to know that The Godfather is 50 years old already. “It feels like I saw the film only recently," he told Cinestaan.com. "It is so strong and prominent in memory. I saw it in my childhood for the first time. I was highly impressed with Pacino's performance.”

Asked if he could understand the film as a child, Gupta said, “I used to watch a lot of English movies in childhood. I also used to read a lot. So my understanding was more than that of normal kids.

“Also, more or less it’s a family drama where there is a father, a brother, a brother-in-law and the head [of the family] and someone taking revenge for someone’s killing. Such things can be understood by kids. It’s not complicated. It’s all about human emotions.”

As for many other film artistes, The Godfather is sacred for Gupta, too. “For us, it’s a textbook,” he said. “Actors look at Al Pacino and Marlon Brando to learn how to perform. We give lighting references to cinematographers from this movie. Similarly, we give art direction references. This film is like a Bible. Every filmmaker has seen it and he also uses its references.”

Gupta says there are several reasons why The Godfather is still loved by people of different generations even after 50 years. “It is made in such a monumental way,” he said. “The story, screenplay and dialogues are so brilliant. In fact, everything is so brilliant that it’s a profound film. It leaves an impression on you. You can’t forget it after watching it. In today’s time, there is so much of content coming in from every side, but you don’t remember it after watching it.”

Sarkar starts with a quote from Ram Gopal Varma that reads, “Like countless directors all over the world, I have been deeply influenced by The Godfather. Sarkar is my tribute to it.” Gupta said that while Sarkar was intended as a tribute to The Godfather, the characters were based on real individuals.

“Sarkar is basically on the life of [the late Shiv Sena founder] Balasaheb Thackeray,” he said. “There are similarities between his story and that of The Godfather. Ramuji had said he wants to make a film on the Thackeray family. He drew parallels with The Godfather and Thackeray. He told me Thackeray is such a person that he is above the law and has his own law system. So we haven’t copied or taken complete inspiration from The Godfather.”

Breaking down the characters, he said, “We have shown Smita Thackerayji’s character [played by Rukhsar]. We have combined Uddhay Thackeray and Raj Thackeray in Abhishek Bachchan’s character. We combined Jaidev Thackeray and Bindumadhav Thackeray into KK Menon’s character.”

Gupta was pleased that what they showed in the film’s climax actually took place in 2020: “It turned out to be true as Uddhavji has become the chief minister [of Maharashtra]. In the movie, we showed in the end that the son [Abhishek Bachchan] takes over.”

The Godfather had smart moments of silence. Sarkar also used silence in dramatic moments but made it more thrilling with the use of a powerful background score. “It was the director’s vision to play with silence,” said Gupta.

Gupta still remembers the senior Thackeray’s reaction on watching Sarkar. “He was so happy," he recalled. "He used to put his hand forward and say ‘Wah!’ during Amitabh Bachchan’s powerful dialogues. We had kept a special screening for him.”

Despite The Godfather being one of his favourite films, Gupta is not keen to watch it in theatres again. “I have seen it so many times," he said, laughing. "I can narrate it shot by shot and dialogue by dialogue. So there is no point watching it [again] in the theatre.”