Bengaluru: Precisely 42 years after Bollywood created a ‘magnum opus’ called Sholay, literally bringing to life the dreaded character of ‘Gabbar’, who would majestically walk through his rocky den of Ramgarh, the Ramanagar district administration thought it was time to recreate the same!

A new proposal, jointly mooted by the district administration and Karnataka Tourism Department talks of recreating the reel Ramgarh village of Sholay in Ramanagar.

The iconic Bollywood blockbuster starring Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Amjad Khan, Hema Malini, Sanjeev Kumar and others was shot at Ramadevarabetta in Ramanagar and now there are plans to build an auditorium here so as to facilitate tourists to go on a 3-D virtual tour of the location that contributed in a big way for making of the most remembered Bollywood film. As per sources, the department concerned may also develop the same concept into sound and light show, incorporating some of the most popular dialogues of the film.

Though there were plans to undertake some development at Ramadevarabetta and transform it into ‘Sholay’ spot in the past, the plan had to be dropped as the hill comes under eco-sensitive zone and also happens to be Karnataka’s only vulture sanctuary.

Hence, keeping the connection between Ramanagar and Sholay in mind, the department has decided to make Ramgarh village all over again and give tourists an opportunity to relive the glorious moments of Sholay through a virtual tour. The proposed plan may cost Rs 7.5 cr and there are possibilities of the project taking off on PPP model, pooling in even the makers of Sholay.

Tourism Minister Priyanka Kharge has spoken positively about the plans and this plan if materialised will only add glorious feathers to the hat of Karnataka’s tourism department.