Here's why the 3D ‘Sholay’ tour in Karnataka will not feature Gabbar Singh's den

BENGALURU: When the Karnataka government begins its “virtual 3D” Sholay tour in Ramanagara district, where the iconic 1975 movie was shot, the itinerary will not include the den of its villain Gabbar Singh.

The location where the villain’s lair was set falls under a sanctuary for vultures, a critically endangered bird, and the forest department had objected to its inclusion in the tour. Karnataka’s tourism department had initially proposed to conduct the tour in an area spread across 42,184sqft around Ramadevara Betta, where the fictitious Ramgadh was set up by Ramesh Sippy. “The idea is to recreate the experience of ‘Sholay’ where the movie was shot. But a part of this region is in a vulture sanctuary. So, we have decided to exclude Gabbar Singh’s den from the virtual village,” tourism minister Priyank Kharge told TOI on Monday.

A senior state tourism department official said the region was “ideal” to develop as an “integrated cultural tourist destination”. As part of the Sholay tour project, the department also proposes to develop an adventure and culture centre, where tourists can interact with the film’s immortal characters — Gabbar, Jai, Viru, Basanti and Thakur. The department plans on executing the entire project at an estimated cost of Rs 7.5 crore, on a public private partnership model. Forest officials, however, are wary of the project, saying all the sites where the movie was filmed were also protected zones. Karnataka principal chief conservator of forests K S Sugara said, “There’s no question of allowing the so-called Sholay village project in the forest area in Ramanagara...”