To Cinema, with Love

Director: Ramesh Sippy
Producer: G P Sippy
Story/Screenplay: Javed Akhtar,Salim Khan
Cinematography: Dwarka Divecha
Editor: M Shinde
Art Director: Ram Yedekar
Music Director: R D Burman,Basu Manohari,Maruti Rao
Lyricist: Anand Bakshi
Cast: Sanjeev Kumar,Dharmendra,Amitabh Bachchan,Hema Malini,Jaya Bhaduri,Amjad Khan
Length: 204 minutes
Release Date: August 15,1975
Country: India

Plot: Thakur Baldev Singh (Sanjeev Kumar) enlists the help of two small-time, but brave crooks, Jaidev (Amitabh Bachchan) and Veeru (Dharmendra), to seek revenge on Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan), who has killed all but one of his family members. Jai and Veeru's decision to stay and take up the landowner's offer - rather than raid his safe and run - is influenced by their attraction to the Thakur's widowed daughter-in-law, Radha (Jaya Bhaduri) and local girl, Basanti (Hema Malini), respectively. What follows is the battle of good versus evil entwined with romance, comedy, music and dance.

My Take: Sholay (Flames) starts with the most kinetic opening of Indian cinema.The first action, of bandits raiding the train sequence, gives us a clue about the treat we are about to receive.Perhaps, the greatest film in the history of Bollywood cinema (with one of the longest theatrical runs in Bollywood history), this is the definitive Bollywood action epic movie in the same way that Leone's 'The Good, The Bad & The Ugly' was the definitive Western.The film is based loosely around the concepts of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai & John Sturges The Magnificent Seven.The film features the acting talents of the actors and a visual delight is provided by the cinematographer Dwarka Divecha.The strength of the movie lies in the way the story is told.There are flashbacks in flashbacks.Got confused?But it isn't confusing when u see the movie.The dialogues are classy and have become a trademark with the people of future generation;especially “Arre o Saambha, kitne aadmi tay? (Oye Saambha, how many men were there?)”,"Jo darr gaya samjho margaya (Who ever is scared is dead)".Salim-Javed hit a creative high with their sterling work on dialogues and story in “Sholay”.Comedy has a pride of place here. Surma bhopali and The Angrezon ka zamane ka jailor are unforgettable. But the real comedian is our very own Dharmendra. His exuberance in everything from drinking away to glory to teaching Basanti to shoot is a pointer to every young lover.The scene when Amitabh goes to ask Hema Malini's hand for Dharmendra to her 'Mausi' is hilarious.In comedy the suicide scene steals the show.R D Burman's music is great and is exactly what the movie needs.Everyone who has seen the movie would have his/her own favourite scene.Finally the movie is a miracle in terms of its ingredients and its perfect casting.Be it in action, comedy, romance, storyline its a true cinematic masterpiece.

DID U KNOW?

• When first released, the film was declared a commercial disaster.The collections had dropped and the theatres started running empty.Then word of mouth convinced movie-goers to give the film a chance and soon it became a box-office phenomenon. It ran for 286 weeks straight (more than five years) in one Mumbai theater, the Minerva.

• Sholay was the first film in the history of Indian cinema to celebrate silver jubilee (25 weeks) at over a hundred theatres across India.

• Sholay's initial theatrical release was 10 years, where it played in a Mumbai theater. This record lasted until it was broken by Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995).

• Each actor wanted to play the other's role. Thakur's and Gabbar's role were the juiciest ones. Amitabh Bachhan and Sanjeev Kumar wanted to play Gabbar. Dharmendra wanted to play the Thakur. But he relented when the director informed him that in this case Sanjeev Kumar would play Veeru and get the heroine. Sanjeev had just then proposed marriage to Hema. Dharmendra was in love with her and so it did not take "Paaji" a single moment to go back to the role of Veeru.

• Sholay was an event which had long term effects on the lives of the film stars and the technicians involved with the film. It changed their careers forever. Especially Amjad Khan who eventually played Gabbar Singh.

• Danny Denzongpa was offered the Gabbar role but backed out two weeks before shooting began, and Amjad Khan stepped in at a salary of Rs500 a week.

• It was the first Indian film to have its dialogues released on audio cassette.And perhaps the only film in which the dialogues outsold the songs.
  

• A description of the famous overhead tank scene where Dharmendra threatens Mausi with suicide and Jai attempts at making a proposal of marriage was drawn from a real life scene. This was when Javed was in love with Honey Irani and wanted to marry her. Salim his partner and the lady's mother were against the tie-up between the two. But very reluctantly Salim went on to make a marriage proposal on Javed's behalf and the dialogues between Mausi and Jai were drawn from the actual dialogues between the lady's mother and Salim.

• The film was a lavish production for its time. It took two and a half years to make; it went Rs. 300,000 over budget. Much of the film was set in the rocky terrain of Ramanagaram, a village near Bangalore,Karnataka . The filmmakers had to build a road from the Bangalore highway to Ramanagaram for convenient access to the sets.In fact, one part of Ramanagaram town was renamed "Sippynagar" after the director of the movie. Even to this day, a visit to the "Sholay rocks" (where the movie was shot) is offered to tourists travelling through Ramanagaram (on the road between Bangalore and Mysore).

• In 1999,BBC India declared it the "Film of the Millennium".

• In that same year, the judges of the 50th annual Filmfare awards awarded it with a special award called 'Filmfare Best Film of 50 Years' .Interestingly when it was first released, Sholay won only one Filmfare award: film editor M. S. Shinde won for Best Editing.It didn't win any other Filmfare award including the best film award which went to Deewar, another masterpiece script by Salim-Javed.

• In 2006, Sholay was voted best film in Iran.

• The flamboyant Shatrughan Sinha was initially cast for the role of Jai, but Amitabh Bachchan convinced the producers that he was suitable for the role.