''Sholay'' (, ) is a 1975 Indian
epic
Epic commonly refers to:
* Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation
* Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale
Epic(s) ...
action-adventure film directed by
Ramesh Sippy, produced by his father
G. P. Sippy, and written by
Salim–Javed. The film is about two criminals, Veeru (
Dharmendra
Dharmendra Kewal Krishan Deol (born 8 December 1935), known mononymously as Dharmendra, is an Indian actor, producer, and politician who is primarily known for his work in Hindi films. Dharmendra is widely considered one of the greatest, most h ...
) and Jai (
Amitabh Bachchan
Amitabh Bachchan (; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema. He is often considered one of the greatest, most accomplished and commercially successful actors in the history of Indian cinema.*
*
*
*
* With a cinemati ...
), hired by a retired police officer (
Sanjeev Kumar) to capture the ruthless
dacoit Gabbar Singh (
Amjad Khan).
Hema Malini and
Jaya Bhaduri
Jaya Bachchan (''née'' Bhaduri; born 9 April 1948) is an Indian actress and politician.
She is regarded as one of the greatest actresses of Hindi cinema. She is serving as member of the parliament in the Rajya Sabha from the Samajwadi Party ...
also star, as Veeru and Jai's love interests, Basanti and Radha, respectively. The music was composed by
R D Burman.
The film was shot in the rocky terrain of
Ramanagara, in the
southern state of
Karnataka
Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...
, over a span of two and a half years, beginning in October 1973. After the
Central Board of Film Certification
The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory Motion picture content rating system, film-certification body in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of ...
mandated the removal of several violent scenes, ''Sholay'' was released as a 198-minute long film. In 1990, the original
director's cut of 204 minutes became available on home media. When first released, ''Sholay'' received negative critical reviews and a tepid commercial response, but favourable
word-of-mouth publicity helped it to become a box office success. It broke records for continuous showings in many theatres across India, and ran for more than five years at Mumbai's Minerva theatre. The film was also an
overseas success in the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. It was the
highest-grossing Indian film ever at the time, and was the
highest-grossing film in India up until ''
Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!'' (1994). By numerous accounts, ''Sholay'' remains one of the highest-grossing Indian films of all time, adjusted for inflation.
''Sholay'' is often regarded as
one of the greatest and most influential Indian films of all time. It was ranked first in the
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
's 2002 poll of "Top 10 Indian Films" of all time. In 2005, the judges of the
50th Filmfare Awards named it the
Best Film of 50 Years. The film is a
Dacoit Western (sometimes called a "
Curry Western"), combining the conventions of Indian
dacoit films with that of
Spaghetti Western
The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...
s along with elements of
Samurai cinema
, also commonly spelled "''chambara''", meaning "sword fighting" films,Hill (2002). denotes the Japanese film genre called samurai cinema in English and is roughly equivalent to Western and swashbuckler films. ''Chanbara'' is a sub-category of ...
. ''Sholay'' is also a defining example of the
masala film, which mixes several genres in one work. Scholars have noted several themes in the film, such as
glorification of violence, conformation to
feudal ethos, debate between
social order
The term social order can be used in two senses: In the first sense, it refers to a particular system of social structures and institutions. Examples are the ancient, the feudal, and the capitalist social order. In the second sense, social orde ...
and mobilised usurpers,
homosocial bonding, and the film's role as a
national allegory. The combined sales of the original soundtrack, scored by
R. D. Burman, and the dialogues (released separately), set new sales records. The film's dialogues and certain characters became extremely popular, contributing to numerous cultural
meme
A meme (; ) is an idea, behavior, or style that Mimesis, spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying c ...
s and becoming part of India's daily
vernacular
Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...
. In January 2014, ''Sholay'' was re-released to theatres in the
3D format.
Plot
Jai and Veeru are small-time crooks who are released from prison, where they are recruited by a former
Inspector
Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it.
Australia
The rank of Inspector is present in all Australian police forces excep ...
Thakur Baldev Singh to capture a notorious
dacoit named Gabbar Singh wanted for , as the duo had saved Thakur from a train robbery which makes Thakur to recruit them for the mission with an additional reward. The duo leave for Thakur's village in
Ramgarh, where Gabbar is residing and terrorizing the villagers.
After reaching Ramgarh, Veeru falls for Basanti, a feisty talkative
horse-cart driver. Jai meets Thakur's widowed daughter-in-law Radha and falls for her, who later reciprocates his feelings. The two thwart Gabbar's dacoits, who came to extort money. During the festival of
Holi
Holi () is a major Hindu festival celebrated as the Festival of Colours, Love and Spring.The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) p. 874 "Holi /'həʊli:/ noun a Hindu spring festival ...".Yudit Greenberg, Encyclopedia of Love in World ...
, Gabbar's gang attacks the villagers where they corner Jai and Veeru, but the duo manage to attack and chase them away from the village. The duo are upset at Thakur's inaction (when Jai and Veeru were cornered, Thakur had a gun within his reach, but did not help them) and consider calling off the mission. Thakur reveals that a few years ago, Gabbar had killed his family members (except Radha and Ramlal), and had both his arms cut off; he concealed the
dismemberment
Dismemberment is the act of completely disconnecting and/or removing the limbs, skin, and/or organs from a living or dead being. It has been practiced upon human beings as a form of capital punishment, especially in connection with regicid ...
by always wearing a
shawl
A shawl (from ''shāl'') is a simple item of clothing, loosely worn over the shoulders, upper body and arms, and sometimes also over the head. It is usually a rectangular piece of Textile, cloth, but can also be Square (geometry), square or tr ...
, which was the sole reason he could not use the gun.
Seeing how much Thakur has suffered, Jai and Veeru took pity by taking an oath that they will capture Gabbar alive, free of charge. After learning the duo's heroics, Gabbar kills the local
imam
Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...
Rahim Chacha's son Ahmed, all to threaten the villagers to make Jai and Veeru surrender to him. The villagers refuse and instead get the duo to kill a few of Gabbar's
henchmen in revenge for the boy's death. Gabbar angrily retaliates by having his men capture Veeru and Basanti. Jai arrives and attacks the hideout, where the trio are able to flee Gabbar's hideout with dacoits in pursuit. Shooting from behind a rock, Jai and Veeru nearly run out of
ammunition
Ammunition, also known as ammo, is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. The term includes both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines), and the component parts of oth ...
. Unaware that Jai was wounded in the
gunfight, Veeru is forced to leave for more ammunition and also to drop Basanti at a safe place.
Jai sacrifices himself by using his last bullet to ignite
dynamite sticks on a bridge from close range, killing Gabbar's men. Veeru returns, and Jai dies, leaving Radha and Veeru devastated. Enraged, Veeru attacks Gabbar's den and kills his remaining men where he catches Gabbar and nearly beats him to death. Thakur appears and reminds Veeru of the vow to hand over Gabbar alive. Thakur uses his
spike-soled shoes to severely injure Gabbar and his hands. The police arrive and arrest Gabbar for his crimes. After Jai's funeral, Veeru leaves Ramgarh and finds Basanti waiting for him on the train.
Cast
Production
Development
The screenwriter pair
Salim–Javed, consisting of
Salim Khan and
Javed Akhtar
Javed Akhtar (born 1945) is an Indian screenwriter, lyricist and poet. Known for his work in Hindi cinema, he has won five National Film Awards, and received the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 2007, two of India's highest civili ...
, began narrating the idea for ''Sholay'' as a four-line snippet to filmmakers in 1973.
The idea was rejected by two producer/director teams, including directors
Manmohan Desai
Manmohan Desai (26 February 1937 – 1 March 1994) was an Indian film producer and director. He was one of the most successful filmmakers of the 70s and 80s. Desai was an influential and sought-after film director of Bollywood and a pioneer of ...
and
Prakash Mehra. About six months after the release of ''
Zanjeer'' (1973), Salim-Javed contacted
G. P. Sippy and his son
Ramesh Sippy,
and narrated the four-line snippet to them. Ramesh Sippy liked the concept of ''Sholay'' and hired them to develop it. The original idea of the film involved an army officer who decided to hire two ex-soldiers to avenge the murder of his family. The army officer was later changed to a policeman because Sippy felt that it would be difficult to get permission to shoot scenes depicting army activities. Salim-Javed completed the script in one month, incorporating names and personality traits of their friends and acquaintances. The film's script and dialogues are in
Hindustani;
Salim-Javed wrote the dialogues in
Urdu script, which was then transcribed by an assistant into
Devanagari
Devanagari ( ; in script: , , ) is an Indic script used in the Indian subcontinent. It is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental Writing systems#Segmental systems: alphabets, writing system), based on the ancient ''Brāhmī script, Brā ...
script so that Hindi readers could read the Urdu dialogues.
The film's plot was loosely styled after
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese filmmaker who List of works by Akira Kurosawa, directed 30 feature films in a career spanning six decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the History of film, history of cinema ...
's 1954
samurai cinema
, also commonly spelled "''chambara''", meaning "sword fighting" films,Hill (2002). denotes the Japanese film genre called samurai cinema in English and is roughly equivalent to Western and swashbuckler films. ''Chanbara'' is a sub-category of ...
film, ''
Seven Samurai''.
''Sholay'' is a defining example of the
Dacoit Western film, combining the conventions of Indian
dacoit films, especially
Mehboob Khan
Mehboob Khan Ramzan Khan (9 September 1907
at filmreference.com. – 28 May 1964) was a pr ...
's ''
Mother India
''Mother India'' is a 1957 Indian epic drama film, directed by Mehboob Khan and starring Nargis, Sunil Dutt, Rajendra Kumar and Raaj Kumar. A remake of Khan's earlier film '' Aurat'' (1940), it is the story of a poverty-stricken village wo ...
'' (1957) and the
Dilip Kumar
Dilip Kumar (born Muhammad Yusuf Khan; 11 December 1922 – 7 July 2021) was an Indian actor and film producer, who worked in Hindi cinema. Credited with pioneering method acting in cinema, he dominated Hindi cinema from the 1950s throughout t ...
and
Nitin Bose
Nitin Bose (26 April 1897 – 14 April 1986) was an Indian film director, cinematographer and screenwriter of the nation's film industry. He was born in Calcutta and died in the same city. In the 1930s and early 40s, he worked with New Theatr ...
film ''
Gunga Jumna'' (1961),
with that of
Westerns,
especially
Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone ( ; ; 3 January 1929 – 30 April 1989) was an Italian filmmaker, credited as the pioneer of the spaghetti Western genre. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema.
Leone's film-making style ...
's
Spaghetti Western
The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...
s such as ''
Once Upon a Time in the West'' (1968) as well as ''
The Magnificent Seven'' (1960).
It also has some plot elements borrowed from the Indian films ''
Mera Gaon Mera Desh'' (1971) and ''
Khote Sikkay'' (1973). A scene depicting an attempted train robbery was inspired by a similar scene in ''Gunga Jumna'', and has also been compared to a similar scene in ''
North West Frontier'' (1959). A scene showing the massacre of Thakur's family has been compared with the massacre of the McBain family in ''Once Upon a Time in the West''. ''Sholay'' may have also been influenced by
Sam Peckinpah
David Samuel Peckinpah (; February 21, 1925 – December 28, 1984) was an American film director and screenwriter. His 1969 Western epic '' The Wild Bunch'' received two Academy Award nominations and was ranked No. 80 on the American Film Instit ...
's Westerns, such as ''
The Wild Bunch'' (1969) and ''
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid'' (1973), and
George Roy Hill
George Roy Hill (December 20, 1921 – December 27, 2002) was an American actor and film director.
His films include ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' (1969) and ''The Sting'' (1973), both starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford; both fil ...
's ''
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' is a 1969 American Western (genre), Western buddy film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman. Based loosely on fact, the film tells the story of Wild West outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, k ...
'' (1969).
The character
Gabbar Singh was modelled on a real-life dacoit
Gabbar Singh Gujjar who had menaced the villages around
Gwalior
Gwalior (Hindi: , ) is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; It is known as the Music City of India having oldest Gwalior gharana, musical gharana in existence. It is a major sports, cultural, industrial, and political c ...
in the 1950s. Any policeman captured by Gujjar had his ears and nose cut off, and was released as a warning to other policemen. The fictional Gabbar was also influenced by larger-than-life characters in Pakistani author
Ibn-e-Safi's
Urdu novels, Dilip Kumar's dacoit character Gunga from the film ''Gunga Jumna'' who speaks with a similar mixed
Khariboli and
Awadhi dialect, and villains from Sergio Leone's films. Sippy wanted to do away with the clichéd idea of a man becoming a dacoit due to societal issues, as was the case in other films, and focused on Gabbar being an emblem of pure evil. To emphasise the point of Gabbar being a new type of villain, Sippy avoided the typical tropes of dacoits wearing
dhoti
The dhoti is an ankle-length breechcloth, wrapped around the waist and the legs, in resemblance to the shape of trousers. The dhoti is a garment of ethnic wear for men in the Indian subcontinent. The dhoti is fashioned out of a rectangular p ...
s and
pagris and sporting a
tika and worshipping "
Ma Bhavani"; Gabbar would be wearing
army fatigues. The character of the jailer, played by
Asrani was influenced by
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
. Javed Akhtar brought a book on
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
which had several pictures of Hitler posing to set the typical posture of the character in the film. Asrani spiced up his character with some ideas about Hitler's speech delivery he had heard from a teacher in
FTII. The trademark 'Ha Ha' at the end of his monologues was inspired by a similar performance by
Jack Lemmon
John Uhler Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was an American actor. Considered proficient in both dramatic and comic roles, he was known for his anxious, middle-class everyman screen persona in comedy-drama films. He received num ...
in ''
The Great Race
''The Great Race'' is a 1965 American Technicolor epic slapstick comedy film directed by Blake Edwards, starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood, written by Arthur A. Ross (from a story by Edwards and Ross) and with music by Henr ...
''. Soorma Bhopali, a minor
comic relief
Comic Relief is a British charity, founded in 1986 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Sir Lenny Henry in response to the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The concept of Comic Relief was to get British comedians to make t ...
character, was based on an acquaintance of actor Jagdeep, a forest officer from
Bhopal
Bhopal (; ISO 15919, ISO: Bhōpāl, ) is the capital (political), capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes,'' due to ...
named Soorma. The real-life Soorma eventually threatened to press charges when people who had viewed the film began referring to him as a woodcutter. The main characters' names, Jai and Veeru, mean "victory" and "heroism" in Hindi.
Casting
The producers considered
Danny Denzongpa for the role of Gabbar Singh, but he could not accept it as he was committed to act in
Feroz Khan's ''
Dharmatma
''Dharmatma'' () is a 1975 Indian Hindi-language thriller film produced and directed by Feroz Khan. The cast includes Khan, Hema Malini, Rekha, Premnath, Imtiaz Khan, Danny Denzongpa, Farida Jalal, Ranjeet, Helen, Madan Puri, Jeevan, ...
'' (1975), under production at the same time. Amjad Khan, who was the second choice, prepared himself for the part by reading the book ''Abhishapta Chambal'', which told of the exploits of
Chambal dacoits. The book was written by Taroon Kumar Bhaduri, the father of fellow cast member Jaya Bhaduri. Sanjeev Kumar also wanted to play the role of Gabbar Singh, but Salim-Javed "felt he had the audience's sympathy through roles he'd done before; Gabbar had to be completely hateful."
Sippy wanted
Shatrughan Sinha
Shatrughan Prasad Sinha (born 15 July 1946) is an Indian actor and politician. He is a Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Asansol constituency as a member of All India Trinamool Congress (TMC). Earlier he was elected as Member of Parliament ...
to play the part of Jai, but there were already several big stars signed, and Amitabh Bachchan, who was not very popular yet, lobbied hard to get the part for himself. He was cast after Salim-Javed recommended him for ''Sholay'' in 1973; Bachchan's performance in their first collaboration, ''Zanjeer'', convinced Salim-Javed he was the right actor for the part. Salim-Javed were also impressed with Bachchan's performance in ''
Raaste Kaa Patthar'' (1972), and at Bachchan's request, Dharmendra had personally put in a word for him. All these factors ensured that the role was Bachchan's.
As cast members had read the script ahead of time, many were interested in playing different parts.
Pran was considered for the role of Thakur Baldev Singh, but Sippy thought Sanjeev Kumar was a better choice. Initially, Salim-Javed approached
Dilip Kumar
Dilip Kumar (born Muhammad Yusuf Khan; 11 December 1922 – 7 July 2021) was an Indian actor and film producer, who worked in Hindi cinema. Credited with pioneering method acting in cinema, he dominated Hindi cinema from the 1950s throughout t ...
to play Thakur's role, but he turned down the offer; Dilip Kumar later said it was one of the few films he regretted turning down.
Initially, Dharmendra was also interested to play the role of Thakur. He eventually gave up the role when Sippy informed him that Sanjeev Kumar would play Veeru if that happened, and would thus be paired with Hema Malini, who Dharmendra was trying to woo. Dharmendra knew that Kumar was also interested in Malini. Malini was reluctant to play the role of a ''tangewali'', more so after Sippy told her that the film belongs to Sanjeev Kumar and Amjad Khan, but she trusted Sippy to give her a meaty role, given that he had played a huge role in essaying her stardom through their previous collaborations.
During the film's production, four of the leads became romantically involved.
Bachchan married Bhaduri four months before filming started. This led to shooting delays when Bhaduri became pregnant with their daughter
Shweta. By the time the film released, she was pregnant with their son
Abhishek. Dharmendra had begun courting Malini during their earlier film ''
Seeta Aur Geeta'' (1972), also directed by Sippy, and used the location shoot of ''Sholay'' to further pursue her. During their romantic scenes, Dharmendra would often pay the light boys to spoil the shot, thereby ensuring many retakes which would allow him to spend more time with her. The couple married five years after the film's release.
Filming

Much of ''Sholay'' was shot in the rocky terrain of
Ramanagara, a town near
Bangalore
Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...
,
Karnataka
Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...
. The filmmakers had to build a road from the Bangalore highway to Ramanagara for convenient access to the sets. Art director Ram Yedekar had an entire township built on the site. A prison set was constructed near
Rajkamal Studios in
Bombay
Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...
, also outdoors, to match the natural lighting of the on-location sets. One part of Ramanagara was for a time called "Sippy Nagar" as a tribute to the director of the film. , a visit to the "Sholay rocks" (where much of the film was shot) was still being offered to tourists travelling through Ramanagara.
Filming began on location on 3 October 1973, with a scene featuring Bachchan and Bhaduri. The film had a lavish production for its time (with frequent banquets and parties for the cast), took two and a half years to make, and went over budget. One reason for its high cost was that Sippy re-filmed scenes many times to get his desired effect. "Yeh Dosti", a 5-minute song sequence, took 21 days to shoot, two short scenes in which Radha lights lamps took 20 days to film because of lighting problems, and the shooting of the scene in which Gabbar kills the imam's son lasted 19 days. The train robbery sequence, shot on the
Bombay–Poona railway route near
Panvel, took more than 7 weeks to complete.
''Sholay'' was the first Indian film to have a
stereophonic soundtrack and to use the
70 mm widescreen
Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratio (image), aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ...
format.
However, since actual 70 mm cameras were expensive at the time, the film was shot on traditional
35 mm film and the
4:3 picture was subsequently converted to a 2.2:1 frame.
Regarding the process, Sippy said, "A 70 mm ''
ic' format takes the awe of the big screen and magnifies it even more to make the picture even bigger, but since I also wanted a spread of sound we used six-track stereophonic sound and combined it with the big screen. It was definitely a differentiator." The use of 70 mm was emphasised by film posters on which the name of the film was stylised to match the
CinemaScope
CinemaScope is an anamorphic format, anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter.
Its cr ...
logo. Film posters also sought to differentiate the film from those which had come before; one of them added the
tagline
In entertainment, a tagline (alternatively spelled tag line) is a short text which serves to clarify a thought for, or is designed with a form of, dramatic effect. Many tagline slogans are reiterated phrases associated with an individual, so ...
: "The greatest star cast ever assembled – the greatest story ever told".
Alternate version
The
director's cut of ''Sholay'' has a different ending in which Thakur kicks Gabbar onto a nail on one of the two poles that Gabbar had used to chain Thakur when he had cut off his arms, stabbing him in the back and killing him, along with some additional violent scenes. Thakur's shoe soles getting armed with spikes, Gabbar's death scene, and the scene in which the imam's son is killed, were cut from the film by India's
Censor Board, as was the scene in which Thakur's family is massacred. The Censor Board was concerned about the violence, and that viewers may be influenced to violate the law by punishing people severely.
Although Sippy fought to keep the scenes, eventually he had to re-shoot the ending of the film, and as directed by the Censor Board, have the police arrive just before Thakur can kill Gabbar. The censored theatrical version was the only one seen by audiences for fifteen years. The original, unedited cut of the film finally came out in a British release on
VHS in 1990.
Since then,
Eros International has released two versions on DVD. The director's cut of the film preserves the original full frame and is 204 minutes in length; the censored widescreen version is 198 minutes long.
Themes and interpretations
Scholars have noted several themes in the film, such as
glorification of violence, conformation to
feudal ethos, debate between
social order
The term social order can be used in two senses: In the first sense, it refers to a particular system of social structures and institutions. Examples are the ancient, the feudal, and the capitalist social order. In the second sense, social orde ...
and mobilised usurpers,
homosocial bonding, and the film's role as a
national allegory.
Koushik Banerjea, a sociologist in the
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...
, notes that ''Sholay'' exhibits a "sympathetic construction of 'rogue'
masculinity
Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as Social construction of gender, socially constructed, and there i ...
" exemplified by the likeable
outlaw
An outlaw, in its original and legal meaning, is a person declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, all legal protection was withdrawn from the criminal, so anyone was legally empowered to persecute or kill them. ...
s Jai and Veeru. Banerjea argues during the film, the moral boundary between
legality
Legality, in respect of an act, agreement, or contract is the state of being consistent with the law or of being lawful or unlawful in a given jurisdiction, and the construct of power. ''Merriam-Webster'' defines legality as "1: attachment to or ...
and
criminality
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Cane ...
gradually erodes. Film scholar Wimal Dissanayake agrees that the film brought "a new stage in the evolving dialectic between violence and social order" to Indian cinema. Film scholar M. Madhava Prasad states that Jai and Veeru represent a
marginalised population that is introduced into conventional society. Prasad says that, through the elements of revenge included in the plot and the application of Jai and Veeru's criminality for the greater good, the narrative reflects reactionary politics, and the audience is compelled to accept
feudal order. Banerjea explains that though Jai and Veeru are
mercenaries
A mercenary is a private individual who joins an War, armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rath ...
, they are humanised by their emotional needs. Such dualism makes them vulnerable, in contrast to the pure evil of
Gabbar Singh.
Gabbar Singh, the film's antagonist, was well received by the audience, despite his pervasive sadistic cruelty. Dissanayake explains that the audience was fascinated by the dialogues and mannerisms of the character, and this element of spectacle outweighed his actions, a first for Indian melodrama. He notes that the picturisation of violence in the film was glamourised and uninhibited. He further notes that, unlike earlier melodramas in which the
female body occupies the audience's attention as an object of male fetish, in ''Sholay'', the male body becomes the centrepiece. It becomes the battleground where
good and evil
In philosophy, religion, and psychology, "good and evil" is a common dichotomy. In religions with Manichaeism, Manichaean and Abrahamic influence, evil is perceived as the dualistic cosmology, dualistic antagonistic opposite of good, in which ...
compete for supremacy. Dissanayake argues that ''Sholay'' can be viewed as a national allegory: it lacks a comforting logical narrative, it shows social stability being repeatedly challenged, and it shows the devaluation of human life resulting from a lack of emotions. Taken together, these elements comprise the allegorical representation of India. The narrative style of ''Sholay'', with its violence, revenge, and
vigilante action, is occasionally compared by scholars to the political unrest in India at the time of its release. This tension culminated in
the Emergency (
rule by decree
Rule by decree is a style of governance allowing quick, unchallenged promulgation of law by a single person or group of people, usually without legislative approval. While intended to allow rapid responses to a crisis, rule by decree is easily ab ...
) declared by prime minister
Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...
in 1975.
Dissanayeke and Sahai note that, although the film borrowed heavily from the
Hollywood Western genre, particularly in its visuals, it was successfully "Indianised". As an example, William van der Heide has compared a massacre scene in ''Sholay'' with a similar scene in ''Once Upon a Time in the West''. Although both films were similar in technical style, ''Sholay'' emphasised Indian family values and melodramatic tradition, while the Western was more materialistic and restrained in its approach.
Maithili Rao, in ''Encyclopedia of Hindi Cinema'', notes that ''Sholay'' infuses the style of the Western genre into a "feudalistic ethos". Ted Shen of the ''
Chicago Reader
The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. The ''Reader'' has been ...
'' notes ''Sholay''s "hysterical visual style" and intermittent "populist message".
Cultural critic and Islamic scholar
Ziauddin Sardar lampoons the film in his book ''The Secret Politics of Our Desires: Innocence, Culpability and Indian Popular Cinema'', both for its caricature and stereotyping of Muslim and women characters, and for what he calls mockery of innocent villagers. Sardar notes that the two most prominent Muslim characters in the film are Soorma Bhopali (a buffoonish criminal), and an impotent victim of the bandits (the imam). Meanwhile, the sole function of one female character (Radha) is to suffer her fate in silence, while the other female lead (Basanti) is just a garrulous village belle.
Some scholars have indicated that ''Sholay'' contains
homosocial themes. Ted Shen describes the male bonding shown in the film as bordering on
camp style.
Dina Holtzman, in her book ''Bollywood and Globalization: Indian Popular Cinema, Nation, and Diaspora'', states that the death of Jai, and resultant break of bonding between the two male leads, is necessary for the sake of establishing a
normative
Normativity is the phenomenon in human societies of designating some actions or outcomes as good, desirable, or permissible, and others as bad, undesirable, or impermissible. A Norm (philosophy), norm in this sense means a standard for evaluatin ...
heterosexual
Heterosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions ...
relationship (that of Veeru and Basanti).
Music
R. D. Burman composed the film's music, and the lyrics were written by
Anand Bakshi
Anand Bakshi (21 July 1930 – 30 March 2002) was an Indian poet and lyricist. He won Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist 4 times during his career. He wrote over 6000 film songs in more than 300 films.
Early life
Anand Bakshi (Bakshi Anand Pr ...
. The songs used in the film, and released on the original soundtrack are listed below. Following that is a list of unused tracks and dialogues which were released later on an updated soundtrack.
Kishore Kumar
Kishore Kumar (born Abhas Kumar Ganguly; ; 4 August 1929 – 13 October 1987) was an Indian playback singer, musician and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest, most influential and dynamic singers in the history of modern India ...
,
Lata Mangeshkar
Lata Mangeshkar (; born Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. He ...
and
Manna Dey
Prabodh Chandra Dey (; 1 May 1919 − 24 October 2013), known by his stage name Manna Dey, was an Indian playback singer, music director, and musician. He had a classical music background, being part of the Bhendibazaar gharana, Bhendibazaar Gh ...
performed vocals for Dharmendra, Malini and Bachchan, respectively.
The song "Mehbooba Mehbooba" was sung by its composer, R. D. Burman, who received his sole
Filmfare Award nomination for playback singing for his effort. The song, which is often featured on Bollywood hit song compilations, is based on "Say You Love Me" by Greek singer
Demis Roussos
Artemios "Demis" Ventouris-Roussos ( ; , ; 15 June 1946 – 25 January 2015) was a Greek-Egyptian singer, songwriter and musician. As a band member, he is best remembered for his work in the progressive rock music act Aphrodite's Child, but as a ...
.
"Mehbooba Mehbooba" has been extensively anthologised, remixed, and recreated. A version was created in 2005 by the
Kronos Quartet
The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classical musi ...
for their
Grammy
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...
-nominated album ''
You've Stolen My Heart
''You've Stolen My Heart'' is a 2005 studio album from the Kronos Quartet, featuring arrangements of the music of Indian composer Rahul Dev Burman, with vocals by Asha Bhosle. She sang the original versions of the album's songs and was married t ...
'', featuring
Asha Bhosle
Asha Bhosle (; ; born 8 September 1933) is an Indian playback singer, entrepreneur, actress and television personality who predominantly works in Indian cinema. Known for her versatility, she has been described in the media as one of the ...
. It was also remixed and sung by
Himesh Reshammiya, along with Bhosle, in his debut acting film ''
Aap Kaa Surroor'' (2007). "Yeh Dosti" has been called the ultimate friendship anthem. It was remixed and sung by
Shankar Mahadevan and
Udit Narayan
Udit Narayan Jha (born 1 December 1955) is an Nepali and Indian playback singer whose songs have been featured mainly in Hindi cinema, Hindi films. He has also sung in various other languages including Telugu language, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil ...
for the 2010 Malayalam film ''
Four Friends'', and also in 2010 it was used to symbolise India's friendship with the United States during a visit from President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
.
Several songs from the soundtrack were included in the annual ''
Binaca Geetmala'' list of top
filmi
Filmi () music soundtracks are music produced for India's mainstream motion picture industry and written and performed for Cinema of India, Indian cinema. In cinema, List of Indian film music directors, music directors make up the main body of c ...
songs. "Mehbooba Mehooba" was listed at No. 24 on the
1975 list, and at No. 6 on the
1976 list. "Koi Haseena" was listed at No. 30 in 1975, and No. 20 in 1976. "Yeh Dosti" was listed at No. 9 in 1976. Despite the soundtrack's success, at the time, the songs from ''Sholay'' attracted less attention than the film's dialogue—a rarity for Hindi language films. The producers were thus prompted to release records with only dialogue. Taken together, the album sales reached an unprecedented 500,000 units. By 1979, the soundtrack went
Platinum
Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...
(equivalent to 1million sales at the time), becoming one of the top-selling
Bollywood soundtracks of the 1970s.
Music critic Oli Marlow reviewed the soundtrack in 2013, calling it a unique fusion of religious, folk, and classical music, with influences from around the world. He also commented on the sound design of the film, calling it psychedelic, and saying that there was "a lot of incredible incidental music" in the film that was not included in the soundtrack releases. In a 1999 paper submitted to London's Symposium on Sound in Cinema, film critic Shoma A. Chatterji said, "''Sholay'' offers a model lesson on how sound can be used to signify the terror a character evokes. ''Sholay'' is also exemplary in its use of soundmatching to jump cut to a different scene and time, without breaking the continuity of the narrative, yet, intensifying the drama."
Reception
Box office
''Sholay'' was released on 15 August 1975,
Indian Independence Day, in Bombay. Due to lackluster reviews and a lack of effective visual marketing tools, it saw poor financial returns in its first two weeks. From the third week, however, viewership picked up owing to positive
word of mouth
Word of mouth is the passing of information from person to person using oral communication, which could be as simple as telling someone the time of day. Storytelling is a common form of word-of-mouth communication where one person tells others a ...
. During the initial slow period, the director and writer considered re-shooting some scenes so that Amitabh Bachchan's character would not die. When business picked up, they abandoned this idea. After being helped additionally by a soundtrack release containing dialogue snippets, ''Sholay'' soon became an "overnight sensation".
The film was then released in other distribution zones such as
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...
,
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...
,
Bengal
Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...
, and
Hyderabad
Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...
on 11 October 1975. It became the highest-grossing
Hindi language film of 1975, and film ranking website
Box Office India
Box Office India is an Indian film website dedicated to tracking, reporting, and analyzing the financial performance of films released in the Hindi entertainment industry.
Established in 2003, Box Office India has become a prominent source of ...
has given the film a verdict of ''All Time Blockbuster''.
''Sholay'' went on to earn a still-standing record of 60 golden jubilees across India,
and was the first film in India to celebrate a silver jubilee at over 100 theatres.
It was shown continuously at Bombay's Minerva theatre for over five years.
''Sholay'' was the Indian film with the longest theatrical run until ''
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge'' (1995) broke its record of 286 weeks in 2001.
Exact figures are not available on the budget and box-office earnings of ''Sholay'', but film trade sources provide estimates of its success. According to Box Office India, ''Sholay'' earned about in net income (valued at about US$16,778,000 in 1975) in India during its first run,
which was many times its 30 million (valued at about US$3,355,000 in 1975) budget.
Those earnings in India were a record that remained unbroken for nineteen years, which is also the longest amount of time that a film has held
the record
The Record may refer to:
Music
* The Record (Fear album), ''The Record'' (Fear album), a 1982 studio album by the hardcore-punk band Fear
* The Record (Boygenius album), ''The Record'' (Boygenius album), a 2023 studio album by the indie rock supe ...
for being the highest grossing film in India. Its original gross was increased further with re-releases during the late 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. The film's total gross revenue in India amounted to
(). Box Office India estimates the film's total footfalls in India as over 100million tickets sold.
The film was also an
overseas success in the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
, where it was released in 1979. The film sold 48.4million tickets during its initial run at the
Soviet box office, before eventually selling 60million tickets including re-runs.
The film was also released in China, as two parts in 1988.
It was the
highest-grossing Indian film ever up until ''
Disco Dancer'' (1982), and the
highest-grossing film in India up until ''
Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!'' (1994).
In 1985, ''
India Today
''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media, Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' laun ...
'' estimated that the film drew a total audience of 250million over the years,
which is comparable to the
number of tickets sold by some of the world's
highest-grossing films of all time adjusted for inflation. It is often cited that, after adjusting the figures for inflation, ''Sholay'' remains one of the
highest-grossing films in the history of Indian cinema, although such figures are not known with certainty. Box Office India estimated as ''Sholays adjusted domestic net income in 2008, while ''
Times of India
''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...
'' estimated over as the adjusted domestic gross in 2009. ''
Mid-Day
''Mid-Day'' (stylised as mid-day) is a morning daily Indian compact newspaper. Editions in various languages including Gujarati and English have been published out of Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Pune so far. In 2011, the Delhi and Bangalore ...
'' estimated the film's total adjusted gross as () in 2014.
Critical response
Initial critical reviews of ''Sholay'' were negative. Among contemporary critics, K.L. Amladi of ''
India Today
''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media, Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' laun ...
'' called the film a "dead ember" and "a gravely flawed attempt". ''
Filmfare
''Filmfare'' is an Indian English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of India's most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, reviews, events, ...
'' said that the film was an unsuccessful mincing of Western style with Indian
milieu
The social environment, social context, sociocultural context or milieu refers to the immediate physical and social setting in which people live or in which something happens or develops. It includes the culture that the individual was educated ...
, making it an "imitation western—neither here nor there." Others labelled it as "sound and fury signifying nothing" and a "second-rate take-off" of the 1971 film ''Mera Gaon Mera Desh''.
Trade journals and columnists initially called the film a flop. In a 1976 article in the journal ''Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review'', author Michael Gallagher praised the technical achievement of the film, but otherwise criticised it stating, "As a spectacle it breaks new ground, but on every other level it is intolerable: formless, incoherent, superficial in human image, and a somewhat nasty piece of violence".
Over time, the critical reception to ''Sholay'' greatly improved; it is now considered a classic, and among the greatest Hindi-language films.
In a 2005 BBC review, the well-rounded characters and simple narrative of the film were commended, but the comical cameos of Asrani and Jagdeep were considered unnecessary. On the film's 35th anniversary, the ''
Hindustan Times
''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...
'' wrote that it was a "trailblazer in terms of camera work as well as music," and that "practically every scene, dialogue or even a small character was a highlight." In 2006, The
Film Society of Lincoln Center
Film at Lincoln Center (FLC), previously known as the Film Society of Lincoln Center (FSLC) until 2019,Aridi, Sara (April 28, 2019).. ''The New York Times''. nytimes.com. Retrieved April 29, 2019. is a nonprofit organization based in New York Cit ...
described ''Sholay'' as "an extraordinary and utterly seamless blend of
adventure
An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...
,
comedy
Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium.
Origins
Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...
,
music and dance", labelling it an "indisputable classic". ''Chicago Review'' critic Ted Shen criticised the film in 2002 for its formulaic plot and "slapdash" cinematography, and noted that the film "alternates between
slapstick
Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such as ...
and melodrama".
In their obituary of the producer G.P. Sippy, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' said that ''Sholay'' "revolutionized Hindi filmmaking and brought true professionalism to Indian script writing".
Awards
''Sholay'' was nominated for nine
Filmfare Awards
The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Indian cinema.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were introduced by Filmfare magazine of The Times G ...
, and the only winner was
M. S. Shinde, who won the award for
Best Editing. The film also won three awards at the 1976
Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards (Hindi section): "Best Actor in Supporting Role" for Amjad Khan, "Best Cinematographer (Colour)" for
Dwarka Divecha
Dwarka Divecha (Dwarkadas Divecha, March 19, 1918 – January 5, 1978) was an Indian actor and cinematographer.
Early life
Divecha was born in Mumbai, India.
Career
Divecha worked as a cameraman and cinematographer on about 30 movies. In 1955 he ...
, and "Best Art Director" for Ram Yedekar. ''Sholay'' received a special award at the 50th Filmfare Awards in 2005:
Best Film of 50 Years.
Legacy and cultural influence
''Sholay'' has received many "Best Film" honours. It was declared the "Film of the Millennium" by
BBC India in 1999.
It topped the
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
's "Top 10 Indian Films"
of all time poll of 2002, and was voted the greatest Indian movie in a
Sky Digital poll of one million British Indians in 2004. It was also included in the magazine ''
Time
Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
''s "Best of Bollywood" list in 2010, and in
IBN Live's list of the "100 greatest Indian films of all time" in 2013. In 2023,
Time Out ranked it #1 on its list of the "100 Best Bollywood Movies."
''Sholay'' inspired many films and
pastiche
A pastiche () is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking ...
s, and spawned a genre of films, the "Curry Western", which is a play on the term
Spaghetti Western
The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...
. A more accurate label for the genre is the Dacoit Western, due to its roots in earlier Indian dacoit films such as ''
Mother India
''Mother India'' is a 1957 Indian epic drama film, directed by Mehboob Khan and starring Nargis, Sunil Dutt, Rajendra Kumar and Raaj Kumar. A remake of Khan's earlier film '' Aurat'' (1940), it is the story of a poverty-stricken village wo ...
'' (1957) and ''
Gunga Jumna'' (1961).
It was also an early and most definitive
masala film,
and a trend-setter for "multi-star" films. The film was a watershed for scriptwriters in Hindi language films, who were not paid well before ''Sholay''; after the film's success, its writing duo Salim-Javed became stars in their own right and script writing became a more respected profession.
The
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
has described ''Sholay'' as the "''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...
'' of Bollywood", comparing its impact on Hindi language films to the impact that ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...
'' (1977) later had on
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood ...
, while comparing Gabbar Singh to
Darth Vader
Darth Vader () is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He was first introduced in the original film trilogy as the primary antagonist and one of the leaders of the Galactic Empire. He has become one of the most iconic villain ...
.

Certain scenes and dialogues from the film earned iconic status in India, such as "''Kitne aadmi the''" (How many men were there?), "''Jo dar gaya, samjho mar gaya''" (One who is scared is dead), and "''Bahut yaarana laagta hai''" (Looks like you two are very close) – all dialogues of Gabbar Singh.
These and other popular dialogues entered the people's daily vernacular. Characters and dialogues from the film continue to be referred to and parodied in popular culture. Gabbar Singh, the sadistic villain, ushered in an era in Hindi films characterised by "seemingly omnipotent oppressors as villains", who play the pivotal role in setting up the context of the story, such as Shakal (played by
Kulbhushan Kharbanda
Kulbhushan Kharbanda (born 21 October 1944) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi and Punjabi films. He is best known for his role as the antagonist Shakaal in '' Shaan'' (1980), Starting off with the Delhi-based theatre group ' Yatrik' in the ...
) of ''
Shaan'' (1980), Mogambo (
Amrish Puri
Amrish Puri (22 June 1932 – 12 January 2005) was an Indian actor, who was one of the most notable and important figures in Cinema of India, Indian cinema and Theatre of India, theatre. He acted in more than 450 films, established himsel ...
) of ''
Mr. India'' (1987) and Bhujang (Amrish Puri) of ''
Tridev'' (1989). ''Filmfare'', in 2013, named Gabbar Singh the most iconic villain in the history of Indian cinema, and four actors were included in its 2010 list of "80 Iconic Performances" for their work in this film.
The film is often credited with making Amitabh Bachchan a "superstar", two years after he became a star with ''
Zanjeer'' (1973).
Some of the supporting actors remained etched in public memory as the characters they played in ''Sholay''; for example,
Mac Mohan
Mohan Makijany (24 April 1938 – 10 May 2010), popularly known as Mac Mohan, was an Indian actor, who worked in Hindi cinema. He was known for his villainous roles in films throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He appeared in over 200 films, in ...
continued to be referred to as "Sambha", even though his character had just one line. Major and minor characters continue to be used in commercials, promos, films and sitcoms.
Amjad Khan acted in many villainous roles later in his career. He also played Gabbar Singh again in the 1991 spoof ''
Ramgarh Ke Sholay'', and reprised the role in commercials. The British Film Institute in 2002 wrote that fear of Gabbar Singh "is still invoked by mothers to put their children to sleep". The 2012 film ''
Gabbar Singh'', named after the character, became the highest-grossing
Telugu film up to that point. Comedian
Jagdeep, who played Soorma Bhopali in the film, attempted to use his ''Sholay'' success to create a spinoff. He directed and played the lead role in the 1988 film ''
Soorma Bhopali'', in which Dharmendra and Bachchan had cameos.
''Sholay'' was remade in
Bangladesh
Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...
as ''Dost Dushman'' (1977), becoming the first
Dhallywood film to portray a number of lengthy action scenes, was condemned by many film critics for 'bringing violence' to the cinema screen in the country. In 2004, ''Sholay'' was digitally remastered and shown again to packed theatres in India, including Mumbai's Minerva, where it had run successfully 29 years earlier. Another attempt to remake ''Sholay'',
Ram Gopal Varma
Penmetsa Ram Gopal Varma (born 7 April 1962), often referred to by his initials RGV, is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer, primarily known for his work in Hindi cinema, Hindi and Telugu cinema, Telugu films.**
*
* Varma has dir ...
's film ''
Aag'' (2007), starring Amitabh Bachchan as the villain, was a commercial and critical disaster. Because of television and home media, ''Sholay'' is widely available and still popular. Twenty years after its release, ''Sholay'' was first shown on the Indian
DD National
DD National (formerly DD1) is an Indian state-owned entertainment television channel, founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. It is the flagshi ...
television channel, where it drew the highest ratings ever for an Indian film broadcast. Video game producer Mobile2win released the ''Sholay Ramgarh Express'' game for mobile phones in 2004, along with other ''Sholay'' themed content such as wallpapers, video clips, and ringtones; another video game ''Sholay: Bullets of Justice'' developed by
Gameshastra has also been released. ''Sholay Adventures'', a 2014
Indian animated television film adaptation of ''Sholay'' aired on
Pogo TV. In 2019, a film titled ''
The Sholay Girl'', based on the stunt woman Reshma Pathan, was released. Pathan had worked as the body double for Malini in the film.
''Sholay'' has been the subject of two books and many articles. Wimal Dissanayake and Malti Sahai's ''Sholay, A Cultural Reading'' (1992) attempts a comprehensive scholarly study that sets the film within the broader history of popular cinema in India.
Anupama Chopra's ''
Sholay: The Making of a Classic'' (2000) provides an inside look at the film's production based on interviews with the director, stars, and crew members.
''Sholay'' has been labelled by Chopra as the gold standard in Indian cinema, and a reference point for audiences and trade analysts. Over the years, the film has reached a mythic stature in popular culture, and has been called the greatest Hindi film of all time. It belongs to only a small collection of films, including ''
Kismet'' (1943), ''
Mother India
''Mother India'' is a 1957 Indian epic drama film, directed by Mehboob Khan and starring Nargis, Sunil Dutt, Rajendra Kumar and Raaj Kumar. A remake of Khan's earlier film '' Aurat'' (1940), it is the story of a poverty-stricken village wo ...
'' (1957), ''
Mughal-e-Azam
''Mughal-e-Azam'' () is a 1960 Indian Epic film, epic historical drama film produced and directed by K. Asif. Starring Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, and Durga Khote, it follows the love affair between Mughal Empire, Mughal Prince ...
'' (1960) and ''
Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!'' (1994), which are repeatedly watched throughout India, and are viewed as definitive Hindi films with cultural significance. The lasting effect of ''Sholay'' on Indian cinema was summarised by Anupama Chopra, when in 2004 she called it "no longer just a film,
utan event". In the 2000 book ''Sholay: The Making of a Classic'', the noted director
Shekhar Kapur stated "there has never been a more defining film on the Indian screen. Indian film history can be divided into ''Sholay'' BC and ''Sholay'' AD". The film was jointly released in Pakistan by
Geo films and Mandviwalla Entertainment on 17 April 2015, almost 40 years after its theatrical release. The film's premiere in the country was held in
Karachi
Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...
.
Screenwriter
V. Vijayendra Prasad, responsible for a number of blockbusters in the early 21st century, including the South Indian franchise
''Baahubali'' and the Hindi film ''
Bajrangi Bhaijaan'' (starring Salim's son
Salman Khan), cited ''Sholay'' as a major inspiration on his work.
3D re-release
Filmmaker
Ketan Mehta's company Maya Digital was responsible for converting ''Sholay'' into the
3D format.
Mehta was approached by G. P. Sippy's grandson, Sasha Sippy, about the project in 2010.
In March 2012, Shaan Uttam Singh, the grandson of producer G. P. Sippy, said that he would sponsor a conversion of the film to 3D, and release it in late 2012; this was later postponed to late 2013, and eventually finalised for 3 January 2014. It took to convert ''Sholay'' to 3D.
Under the leadership of computer animator Frank Foster, 350 people worked to convert the film into the digital 3D format, for which every scene had to be individually
restored
''Restored'' is the fourth studio album by American contemporary Christian musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004, by BEC Recordings.
Track listing
Standard release
Enhanced edition
Deluxe gold edition
Standard Aus ...
, colour-corrected and re-composited in 3D to match the depth.
New set-pieces, particularly those suited to the new format were also included, such as digital logs which scatter in the direction of the camera during the first half of the film when the train collides with them, the gunshot scene which frees Jai and Veeru from their handcuffs, and
panoramic views of Gabbar's hideout in the caves.
The theatrical trailer and release date were unveiled by the original script-writers Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar. The two original leads, Bachchan and Dharmendra, were also involved in promoting the re-release. The film was released in 1,000 screens in India, and additional screens overseas.
It earned approximately during its re-release, becomes the
third highest grossing re-released Indian film of all time.
See also
*
List of cult films
*
List of highest-grossing Indian films
This ranking lists the highest-grossing Indian films produced by Cinema of India, Indian cinema, based on conservative global box office estimates as reported by organisations classified as green by Wikipedia. The figures are not adjusted for ...
*
Gabbar Singh (disambiguation)
*
Remakes of films by Akira Kurosawa
Footnotes
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
*
*
Sholayat the
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
*
''Sholay'' 30th Anniversary siteat
BBC Asian Network
BBC Asian Network is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station's target audience is people "with an interest in British Asian lifestyles", especially those between the ages of 18 and 34. The station has produc ...
{{Authority control
Hindustani language
1970s Hindi-language films
1970s Indian films
1970s Urdu-language films
1970s Western (genre) comedy films
1970s action adventure films
1970s adventure comedy films
1970s buddy comedy films
1970s buddy comedy-drama films
1970s masala films
1970s musical comedy films
1970s police procedural films
1970s vigilante films
1975 Western (genre) films
1975 action comedy films
1975 controversies
1975 films
70 mm film
Action film remakes
Buddy action films
Censored films
Chambal River
CinemaScope films
Cultural depictions of Adolf Hitler
Fictional portrayals of police departments in India
Film censorship in India
Fictional film duos
Films about amputees
Films about bounty hunters
Films about con artists
Films about criminals
Films about disability in India
Films about feuds
Films about landlords
Films about masculinity
Films about mercenaries
Films about organised crime in India
Films about outlaws
Films about social class
Films about social issues in India
Films about social realism
Films about society
Films about the caste system in India
Films about the upper class
Films about train robbery
Films about violence
Films about widowhood in India
Films adapted for other media
Films adapted into television shows
Films based on adaptations
Films based on Seven Samurai
Films directed by Ramesh Sippy
Films scored by R. D. Burman
Films set in India
Films set in Madhya Pradesh
Films set in prison
Films shot in Karnataka
Films shot in Maharashtra
Films shot in Mumbai
Films with screenplays by Salim–Javed
Gun violence in popular culture
Hindi films remade in other languages
Hindi-language films based on actual events
Holi
Homosociality
Horse driving
Ibn-e-Safi
Indian 3D films
Indian Western (genre) comedy films
Indian action adventure films
Indian action comedy films
Indian action drama films
Indian adventure comedy films
Indian buddy comedy-drama films
Indian crime action films
Indian crime drama films
Indian epic films
Indian films about revenge
Indian gangster films
Indian heist films
Indian musical comedy-drama films
Indian police films
Indian records
Indian remakes of American films
Indian remakes of Japanese films
Indian slapstick comedy films
Indian vigilante films
Melodrama films
National personifications
Obscenity controversies in film
Raigad district
Rail transport films
Revisionist Western (genre) films
Sergio Leone
Siege films
Stereophonic sound
UTV Motion Pictures films
Western (genre) epic films
Works subject to expurgation
1975 musical films
3D re-releases
2014 3D films