| Sholay | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | Ramesh Sippy |
| Produced by | G.P. Sippy |
| Screenplay by | Salim-Javed |
| Starring | Dharmendra Sanjeev Kumar Amitabh Bachchan Hema Malini Jaya Bhaduri Amjad Khan |
| Music by | Rahul Dev Burman |
| Cinematography | Dwarka Divecha |
| Editing by | M.S. Shinde |
| Studio | United Producers Sippy Films |
| Distributed by | Sippy Films |
| Release date(s) | 15 August 1975 |
| Running time | 204 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
| Budget | 2 crore (US$380,000) |
| Box office | 15 crore (US$2.85 million) |
Sholay (Hindi: शोले, Urdu: شعلے, English: Embers) is a 1975 Indian action-adventure film produced by G.P. Sippy and directed by his son Ramesh Sippy. It is considered among the greatest films in the history of Indian cinema.[1] Released on 15 August 1975, it stars Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Hema Malini, Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bhaduri and Amjad Khan. The film, shot in the rocky terrain of Ramanagara, Karnataka,[2] is the story of two criminals hired to capture a ruthless dacoit by the name of Gabbar Singh.
When first released, Sholay opened to a tepid response, but word of mouth convinced audience members 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 theatre. Sholay achieved a still-standing record of 60 golden jubilees (50 consecutive weeks) across India. It was the first film in the history of Indian cinema to celebrate a silver jubilee (25 weeks) at over a hundred theaters across India. By some accounts, Sholay is the highest grossing film of all time in Indian cinema when inflation is considered, although such figures are not known with certainty.
In 2005, Indiatimes ranked the film amongst the "Top 25 Must See Bollywood Films".[3] That same year, the judges of the 50th annual Filmfare Awards gave it a special award called Best Film of 50 Years. The film topped the British Film Institute's poll of "Top 10 Indian Films" of all time.[4]
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The small village of Ramgarh is home to ex-policeman Thakur Baldev Singh (Sanjeev Kumar). The film begins with the Thakur summoning an old colleague and requesting him to track down a pair of small-time thieves he once apprehended in the line of duty. Though the two petty criminals Veeru (Dharmendra) and Jaidev (Amitabh Bachchan) are notorious, the Thakur feels that they would be the ideal men to help him end the tyranny of Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan), an infamous dacoit (bandit) wanted by the authorities for a Rs 50,000 reward. After scenes showing how the three fought together during a train robbery attempt, and how the criminals often get in and out of jail, Veeru and Jai are found and brought to Ramgarh. They are told by the Thakur that they are to bring Gabbar to him alive for Rs 20,000, plus the Rs 50,000 reward.
Three of Gabbar's enforcers arrive in Ramgarh to collect supplies from the defenseless villagers, but they go back empty-handed due to Veeru and Jai's intervention. In Gabbar's camp, the tyrant interrogates the three about why they were defeated by only two men. His psychotic nature is shown when he subjects his men to a twisted version of Russian roulette, but eventually shoots the three men dead.
Gabbar attacks Ramgarh on Holi, and in a tough battle, Veeru and Jai meet their match and are held at gunpoint. With his two recruits facing death, Thakur has a chance to throw a gun to Veeru. Instead of helping, he simply stands watching. With quick thinking, Veeru and Jai manage to save their lives. They then state their intentions to leave the villagers to defend themselves, due to the Thakur's cowardice. Before they can leave, Thakur tells them the real reason of why he wants Gabbar, and why he could not help them. Some time ago, the Thakur had caught Gabbar and had him imprisoned only for him to escape and plot an evil revenge. Gabbar made his way to the Thakur's home and killed most of his family. The only person to survive this massacre was Thakur's younger daughter-in-law, Radha (Jaya Bhaduri). Thakur tracked down Gabbar, but this time the tyrant held the upper hand thanks to his gang, and cut off both of Thakur's arms. Thakur had hidden this disability from Veeru and Jai, but now it was clear why he could not physically help them.
Living in Ramgarh, the cynical young Jai and lively Veeru find themselves growing fond of the villagers, especially two girls. Veeru is attracted to Basanti (Hema Malini), a feisty, talkative young woman who makes her living driving a horse-cart. Jai is drawn to Radha, Thakur's reclusive widowed daughter-in-law, who very subtly returns his affections.
The battle approaches its climax when Basanti and Veeru are captured and Jai follows. The three escape, but Jai is wounded by a gunshot, and with the bandits still following, they hide behind a rock at the foot of a bridge, when they run short on ammunition. Jai orders Veeru to go back to the village with Basanti, and then return with some ammunition. Veeru, even though unaware of Jai's wound, hesitates, insisting that Jai return to the village instead, upon which Jai suggests they resolve the matter by tossing a coin. The toss, as usual, is in Jai's favor, and Veeru heads back to the village with Basanti. Jai, slowly dying and with only a few bullets remaining, manages to fend off advances by the bandits, and kills most of Gabbar's men. After failing in most of their advances (and unaware that Jai is alone), in one last attempt, the bandits throw a stick of dynamite, which lands on the bridge near him. Realizing he has only one bullet remaining, Jai attempts to shoot the bomb off the bridge, but ends up hitting the bomb itself, causing it not only to explode and kill all remaining bandits, but also to injure Jai. Veeru returns to find Jai dying, and immediately wants to take him back, but Jai refuses. He jokingly laments on missing Veeru's marriage, and telling stories to Basanti's and Veeru's children.. Some of the villagers rush to the scene, including Radha, who once again has to endure the anguish of losing someone. Veeru then notices Jai's coin lying on the ground, and, upon examination, discovers that both sides of the coin are the same, and realizes that Jai had cheated on every coin toss, including the one that eventually resulted in his demise.
Veeru goes after Gabbar in a rage. He catches Gabbar, and almost beats him to death, when the Thakur appears and reminds Veeru of his promise to hand over Gabbar to him alive. Veeru rubbishes the promise and is about to kill Gabbar anyway, when the Thakur reminds him that the promise was made by Jai and not him. Veeru tells the Thakur that the only reason for him doing so was because it was Jai who made the promise, and leaves. Thakur then advances towards Gabbar, revealing spike-soled shoes, intended to torture Gabbar and beg for death. Thakur severely assaults Gabbbar, destroying his hands, and is about to kill him, when the police intervenes, reminding Thakur that he, too, was once a police officer and that Gabbar must be arrested and dealt with by the law. As Gabbar is taken away, Thakur is denied vengeance, but walks away with solace in that Ramgarh is free.
The film ends with Veeru, after Jai's funeral, leaving on a train. However, as he boards, he sees Basanti in one of the seats. As they embrace, the train steams off, with Thakur watching.
(In the alternate ending to the film, Gabbar actually dies as he is kicked into a spike that is protruding from the posts where Thakur's arms were cut off. Thakur then falls to his knees and is comforted by Veeru. Thakur then begins to cry which he did not do even when his family was killed.)[5][6]
Sholay began as a four line idea that Salim-Javed pitched to Ramesh Sippy.[8] Sippy liked the concept and hired them to develop it. The original idea was simple. An army officer decides to hire two ex-soldiers to avenge the murder of his family. The officer was later changed to a policeman as Sippy felt it would be too difficult to get permission to film from the army. They completed the script in only one month, borrowing many character names and personalities from their friends and acquaintances.[9]
The film drew heavily from the conventions of Western films, especially Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns, such as Once Upon a Time in the West, and John Sturges' film The Magnificent Seven, itself being a remake of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 film, Seven Samurai.[10][11] Sholay was also influenced by the westerns of Sam Peckinpah, such as The Wild Bunch (1969) and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973); and also by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).[12] Some plot elements were also borrowed from the Indian films Mera Gaon Mera Desh and Khote Sikkay.[13]
The character of Gabbar Singh was modeled on a real-life dacoit of the same name who menaced the villages around Gwalior in the 1950s. He terrorized the local police. Any policeman captured by the real Gabbar Singh had his ears and nose cut off, and was then released as an object lesson to other policemen.[14]
Sippy at first wanted Shatrughan Sinha to play the part of Jai, but Amitabh Bachchan lobbied hard to get the part for himself.[8] The producers wanted Danny Denzongpa to play the bandit chief, but he was committed to Feroz Khan's Dharmatma.[15] Amjad Khan was a second choice. Khan prepared to play the bandit chief Gabbar Singh by reading a book titled Abar Abhishapta Chambal,[16] which told of the exploits of Chambal dacoits. The book was written by Taroon Kumar Bhaduri, the father of Jaya Bhaduri.[17]
During the film's production, four of the leads became romantically involved.[10] Bachchan married Jaya Bhaduri four months before filming started. This caused problems when shooting had to be postponed because Jaya became pregnant with her daughter Shweta Bachchan. Dharmendra had begun wooing Hema Malini during their earlier film Seeta Aur Geeta and used the location shoot of Sholay to further pursue her. During their romantic scenes, Dharmendra would pay the light boys to spoil the shot, thereby ensuring many retakes. The couple eventually married in 1980, five years after the film's release.[18]
The film was a lavish production for its time. It took two and a half years to make, and went Rs. 300,000 over budget. One reason for its high cost was that Ramesh Sippy re-filmed scenes many times to get his desired effect. The "Yeh dosti" sequence took 21 days to shoot while two short scenes where Radha is lighting lamps took 20 days due to lighting problems. Another shoot for the scene in which Gabbar kills the son of the Imam lasted 19 days.[19] The train robbery sequence, shot on the Mumbai-Pune railway route near Panvel, took more than 7 weeks to shoot.[20]
Much of the film is set in the rocky terrain of Ramanagara, a village near Bangalore, Karnataka. The filmmakers had to build a road from the Bangalore highway to Ramanagara for convenient access to the sets. One part of Ramanagara town was renamed "Sippynagar" after the director of the film. Even to this day, a visit to the "Sholay rocks" (where the film was shot) is offered to tourists traveling through Ramanagara (on the road between Bangalore and Mysore), and plans are being made to build a resort in the area.[21]
Sholay was the first Indian film to have a stereophonic soundtrack, and to be presented in the 70 mm widescreen format.[22] However, since actual 70mm cameras were deemed too expensive at the time, the film instead was shot on traditional 35mm film and the 4:3 picture was subsequently blown up, cropped and matted to a 2.20:1 frame.[5] Director Ramesh Sippy said,
A 70mm 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.[23]
An alternate director's cut of Sholay, where Gabbar Singh dies at the end, was not shown in theaters but was later released on video. Also there are some additional scenes with some different dialogues. Gabbar's death scene, and the scene in which the imam's son is killed were cut from the film by the Censor Board, as was the scene in which Thakur's family is killed.[19] The reason is that the censors claimed there are rules about people taking the law into their own hands and not being punished for it; this was not permitted as it may corrupt naive viewers. For this reason the ending of the film had to be re-shot for a 'U' Rating."[6]
The censored theatrical version was 188 minutes long, and was the only one seen by audiences for fifteen years after 1975. The original, unedited cut of the film finally saw the light of day in 1990 on a British VHS release.[5] Since then, Eros Labs has released two versions on DVD. The so-called "director's cut" of the film, from Eros/B4U, preserves the full frame as shot, and is 204 minutes in length. The widescreen version, from DEI/Eros is 198 minutes long.[24] The DVD packaging does not always state clearly which version is inside.[5]
The critic K.L. Amladi of India Today called the film a "dead ember" and added, "Thematically, it's a gravely flawed attempt."[25] Filmfare said that the film was an unsuccessful mincing of Western style with Indian milieu, making it a "imitation western—neither here nor there."[25] Trade journals and columnists initially called the expensive film a flop.[25]
Over time the critical reception to Sholay has improved to where it is now regarded among the greatest Hindi language films, and a classic.[10][26] On the film's 35th anniversary, the Hindustan Times said 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."[27] In 2006, The Film Society of Lincoln Center described it as "an extraordinary and utterly seamless blend of adventure, comedy, music and dance", labeling it an 'indisputable classic'.[28] In the obituary of the producer, The New York Times said that Sholay "revolutionized Hindi filmmaking and brought true professionalism to Indian script writing".[11]
Sholay was released on 15 August 1975 in Mumbai. Due to lackluster reviews and a lack of effective visual marketing tools, the first two weeks it didn't do well, but it picked up from the third week onwards on word of mouth, and became a sensation.[22]
During the earlier period when the film was not doing well commercially, the director and writer considered re-shooting some scenes so that Amitabh Bachchan's character would not die. When business finally picked up, they abandoned this idea.[29] Sholay went on to earn a still-standing record of 60 golden jubilees (50 consecutive weeks) across India.[30] It was the first film in the history of Indian cinema to celebrate a silver jubilee (25 consecutive weeks) at over a hundred theaters across India.[22] At Mumbai's Minerva theater, it was shown continuously for over five years.[11] Sholay was the longest running film in Indian cinema until Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge broke its record in 2001.[31]
Sholay earned about Rs. 15 crore rupees in its first run, equivalent to over US$ 3 million, which was many times its Rs. 2 crore budget.[30] That amount of earnings was a record that remained unbroken for the next nineteen years, which is a record for the longest time having held the record. It doubled its original gross over reruns during the late 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s.[30]
Official box office records are not kept in India, but it is often cited that after adjusting the figures for inflation, Sholay is the highest grossing film in the history of Indian Cinema.[30][32] Other sources place the adjusted figure lower, but still put it near the top of the highest grossing Bollywood films.[33]
When it was first released, Sholay was nominated for several Filmfare Awards[34] but only won a single one: film editor M. S. Shinde won for Best Editing. He had edited 300,000 feet of film into 20,000 feet of theatrical release.[35] After the censors mandated cuts, the film was 18,000 feet and ran for 3 hours and 20 minutes. Although the film did not receive any of the major awards when it was released, at the 50th Filmfare Awards it received a special award as the Best Film of 50 Years.[36]
This film was nominated in following categories of the Filmfare Awards in 1975:[37]
It also won the following at the Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards (Hindi section):[38][39]
Sholay has received more honors in the years that followed. It was declared "Film of the Millennium" by BBC India and in internet polls in 1999,[11][40] and in 2002 topped the British Film Institute's poll of "Top 10 Indian Films" of all time.[41] In 2006, Sholay was voted best film in Iran.[42]
| Sholay | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by R. D. Burman | |
| Released | 1975 |
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack |
| Length | 28:59 |
| Label | Universal Music India Pvt. Ltd. |
R. D. Burman composed the music for the film, and the lyrics were given by Anand Bakshi. It is revered as one of the best Hindi soundtracks.[43][44] Burman himself sang "Mehbooba Mehbooba", picturised on Helen and Jalal Agha, and for which he received his sole Filmfare Award nomination for playback singing. The songs picturized in the film were the following:
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Sholay" | Rahul Dev Burman | 02:46 |
| 2. | "Yeh Dosti" | Kishore Kumar and Manna Dey | 05:21 |
| 3. | "Haa Jab Tak Hai Jaan" | Lata Mangeshkar | 05:26 |
| 4. | "Koi Haseena" | Kishore Kumar and Hema Malini | 04:00 |
| 5. | "Holi Ke Din" | Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar | 05:42 |
| 6. | "Mehbooba Mehbooba" | Rahul Dev Burman | 03:54 |
| 7. | "Yeh Dosti" (Sad version) | Kishore Kumar | 01:49 |
Despite the soundtrack's success, at the time, the songs from Sholay attracted less attention than the dialogues—a rarity for Bollywood. This prompted the producers to release audio-cassettes with only dialogues.[45][46]
Among the songs, two versions of "Yeh Dosti" were released, an extended version which was cited as the 'happy version' and a shorter one called the 'sad version'. "Yeh Dosti" has been called the perfect friendship song.[44] This song was remixed in the 2010 Malayalam film Four Friends.
The song "Mehbooba Mehbooba", performed and composed by Burman, is often featured on Bollywood hit song compilations.[47] The song has been highly anthologized, remixed, and recreated.[48] It was remixed and sung by Himesh Reshammiya for his debut film Aap Kaa Surroor. Asha Bhosle also sings in this version. Another recent version is one created by the Kronos Quartet for their Grammy-nominated album You've Stolen My Heart.[49] However, "Mehbooba Mehbooba" itself is said to be based on Demis Roussos's song, called "Say You Love Me".[50]
Sholay has inspired many imitations, in cinema and television, and has spawned a whole sub-genre of films, the "Curry Western", which is a play on the term Spaghetti Western. Sholay is also considered the most important of the early Masala films, which popularized this genre in India.[51][52] The film was also a watermark for scriptwriters, who until Sholay were not paid very well. Film scriptwriting has become a more respected and lucrative profession since then.[22]
The stars of the film appeared in other films; they did not seem to be limited by their roles in Sholay. Amitabh Bachchan went on to become one of the biggest stars in the Indian film industry.[52] However, some of the supporting actors never escaped the shadow of their hit film. After 35 years, even the minor characters are used in ads, promos, films and sit coms.[22]
Amjad Khan, who played the bandit Gabbar Singh played many more villainous roles afterwards. He played Gabbar Singh again in the 1991 spoof Ramgarh Ke Sholay. He also reprised the role in a commercial for biscuits.[53]
Comedian Jagdeep, who played Soorma Bhopali in the film, also attempted to capitalize on his Sholay success; he directed and played the lead role in the 1988 film Soorma Bhopali; Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan also played cameos.
The last attempt to trade on Sholay's fame was Ram Gopal Varma's film Aag (2007), which was pulled from theaters after two weeks. Aag was originally also called Ram Gopal Varma Ki Sholay and was apparently meant to be a tribute to and "in the spirit of Sholay." The name was changed to Aag after legal action was taken by the makers of the original Sholay. Amitabh Bachchan played the villain, Babban Singh.[43]
Due to television, VCRs, and DVDs, Sholay is widely available and still extremely popular. In 1996, Sholay was first shown on the Indian government-run Doordarshan television channel; streets were virtually empty during the show.[54]
Sholay has been the subject of at least two books. Wimal Dissanayake and Malti Sahai's Sholay, A Cultural Reading (1992),[55] 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)[56] is an inside look at the film's production, based on interviews with the director, stars, and crew members.[52]
In 2004, Sholay was digitally remastered and shown again to packed theaters in India, including the Minerva, where it had run so successfully 29 years earlier.[57] As of 2011, Subhash Ghai is reportedly in negotiations to convert the film to 3D format.[58]
| “ | Sholay is no longer just a film, it's an event. | ” |
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—Anupama Chopra, author of Sholay - The Making Of A Classic, |
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