As Han goes Solo

From when he appears in that “wretched hive of scum and villainy”, Mos Eisley, 47 minutes into Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, Han Solo grabbed eyeballs. Played with insouciant charm and wry wit by Harrison Ford, the gifted pilot of the Millennium Falcon is an important part of the trinity of Luke, Leia and Han.

Star Wars is supposed to be the story of a farm boy, Luke Skywalker, embracing his destiny as the last Jedi. He trains with Yoda of the weird syntax, faces up to his father, Darth Vader, who has been seduced by the Dark Side, sends the wicked Emperor packing down a convenient shaft and restores the balance in the Force.

While A New Hope looked at romance blooming between the farm boy and the princess, Han Solo’s appearance tilted the balance — the weird kiss in The Empire Strikes Back notwithstanding. In the first draft, Solo was meant to have green skin and enormous gills. In that avatar, he would definitely have been the alien sidekick and not have got the girl. By the third draft, co-pilot Chewbacca provided the alien DNA and Solo was this Maverick-style Top Gun pilot that appears on screen.

Write stuff

There are times when the writing is so strong that the actor doesn’t have to do much and there are other times when the actor owns the character to such an extent that it is difficult to imagine the character without the actor. For instance, how much of the gangster Bhiku Mhatre in Satya was Manoj Bajpai and how much was the writing?

While Mark Hamill is not essential to Luke Skywalker, it is difficult to imagine anyone other than Ford as Solo, who incidentally was not director George Lucas’ first choice. Ford’s star was zooming into the stratosphere and anything he touched turned to gold. It is quite like Amitabh Bachchan’s angry young man persona. While writers Salim-Javed created the angsty Vijay persona, it was the Big B who personified the fury against a collapsing system. Together, they created box-office gold.

Adventurer-archaeologist

Ford’s Han Solo was the original space cowboy and has a lot in common with the other blockbuster franchise he was part of — Indiana Jones. The adventurer-archaeologist, like Solo, makes up plans as he goes along, is good at his job, is an accidental hero and does not have much patience with mystical mumbo-jumbo. Note Solo’s reaction to the Force and how Jones deals with the sword-wielding thug in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Solo is the prototypical rogue with a golden heart. He is a loyal friend. Though he says he will leave after collecting the reward, he flies back to help Luke take the shot to destroy the Death Star. Leia is his one true love, never mind when Leia tells him she loves him, he replies with “I know”. Even though the two have moved apart after their son has been seduced by the Dark Side, his heart beats only for his Princess.

Take me home

His ride, the Millennium Falcon, comes a close second, which is why in The Force Awakens, he says “Chewy we are home,” as he comes aboard the Falcon. He won it off Lando Calrissian and the movies have a running joke about the jump into hyperspace.

Solo: A Star Wars Story, premièring in Cannes on May 15, has been in the works for the longest time. Lucas was thinking of a Solo spin-off even before Disney bought the franchise. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were supposed to direct, but were fired for creative differences and Ron Howard took over the reins.

The film is described as a space western, which tells how Han Solo became the rogue smuggler that Luke and Obi-Wan Kenobi meet in Mos Eisley. Solo stars Alden Ehrenreich in the titular role with Woody Harrelson as his Long John Silver-inspired mentor, Emilia Clarke as Qi’ra, Solo’s partner and love interest, Donald Glover as Calrissian and Paul Bettany as the antagonist.

Advance reports say the movie works as a breathless caper with the lack of death stars, plans and dark sides being particularly liberating. The time is ripe to make the leap to hyperspace, and with Solo at the helm, thrills seem guaranteed.