Sholay

Plot

In the small village of Ramgarh, the retired policeman Thakur Baldev Singh ( Sanjeev Kumar ) summons a pair of small-time thieves that he had arrested. Thakur feels that the Duo-Veeru ( Dharmendra ) and Jai ( Amitabh Bachchan ) -would be ideal to help him capture Gabbar Singh ( Amjad Khan ), a dacoit wanted by the authorities for a ₹ 50,000 ^[b] reward. Thakur tells them to surrender Gabbar to him, alive, for an additional ₹ 20,000 reward.

The two thieves thwart the dacoits by Gabbar to extort the villagers. Soon afterwards, Gabbar and his goons attack Ramgarh during the festival of Holi . In a tough battle, Veeru and Jai are cornered. Thakur, does he have a gun within his reach, does not help them. Veeru and Jai fight back and the bandits flee. The two are, however, upset at Thakur’s inaction, and consider leaving the village. Thakur explains that Gabbar had been killed, and that it was not used the gun. He had concealed the dismemberment by always wearing a shawl .

Living in Ramgarh, the jovial Veeru and cynical Jai find themselves growing fond of the villagers. Veeru is attracted to Basanti ( Hema Malini ), a feisty, talkative young woman who makes her living by driving a horse-cart. Jai is drawn to Radha ( Jaya Bhaduri ), Thakur’s reclusive, widowed daughter-in-law, who subtly returns his affections.

Skirmishes between Gabbar’s gang and Jai-Veeru finally result in the capture of Veeru and Basanti by the dacoits. Jai attacks the gang, and the three are able to flee Gabbar’s hideout with dacoits in pursuit. Fighting from behind a rock, Jai and Veeru almost run out of ammunition. Veeru, unaware that I was wounded in the gunfight, is forced to leave for more ammunition. Meanwhile, Jai, who is continuing the gunfight singlehandedly, decided to sacrifice himself by using his last bullet to ignite dynamite sticks on a bridge from close range.

Veeru returns, and Jai dies in his arms. Enraged, Veeru attacks Gabbar ‘s den and catches the dacoit. Veeru nearly beats Gabbar to death when Thakur appears and reminds Veeru of the promise Gabbar alive. Thakur uses his spike-soled shoes to severely hurt Gabbar and destroy his hands. The police then arrive and arrest Gabbar. After Jai ‘s funeral, Veeru Leaves Ramgarh and finds Basanti waiting for him on the train. Radha is left alone again.

cast

• Dharmendra as Veeru
• Sanjeev Kumar as Thakur Baldev Singh, usually Addressed as ” Thakur “
• Hema Malini as Basanti
• Amitabh Bachchan as Jai (Jaidev)
• Jaya Bhaduri as Radha, Thakur’s daughter-in-law
• Amjad Khan as Gabbar Singh
• Satyen Kappu as Ramlaal, Thakur’s serving
• AK Hangal as Rahim Chacha, the imam in the village
• Sachin as Ahmed, sound of the imam
• Jagdeep as Soorma Bhopali, a comical wood trader
• Leela Mishra as Mausi, Basanti’s maternal aunt
• Asrani as the Jailor , a comical character after Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator (1940) ^[7]
• Keshto Mukherjee as Hariram, prison barber and Jailor’s side-kick
• Mac Mohan as Sambha, Gabbar Singh’s sidekick
• Viju Khote as Kaalia, another one of Gabbar’s men who he kills in a game of Russian roulette
• Iftekhar as Inspector Khurana, Radha’s Father
• Helen in a special appearance in song “Mehbooba Mehbooba”
• Jalal Agha in a special appearance in song “Mehbooba Mehbooba”

Production

Development

The peer screenwriter Salim-Javed , consistant en Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar , Began narrating the idea for Sholay have a four-line snippet to filmmakers in 1973. ^[8] [9] The idea Was rejected by two producer / director teams, Including directors Manmohan Desai and Prakash Mehra . ^[9] About six months after the release of Zanjeer (1973), Salim-Javed got in touch with Sippy GP and his son Ramesh Sippy , ^[8] and narrated the four-line snippet to them. ^[9] Ramesh Sippy liked the concept ofSholay 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 police officer because 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. ^[9] The film’s script and dialogue are in Hindi-Urdu , ^[2] primarily Urdu . ^[3] Salim-Javed wrote the dialogues in Urdu script , which was then transcribed by an assistant into Devanagari script so thatHindi readers could read the Urdu dialogues. ^[10]

The Film Was loosely styled after- Akira Kurosawa ‘s 1954 movie Seven Samurai , ^[11] [12] and is a defining example of the Dacoit Western film-combining the conventions of Indian dacoit film , Especially Mehboob Khan ‘s Mother India (1957) and Dilip Kumar ‘s Gunga Jumna (1961), ^[13] with that of Westerns , ^[11] [12] especially Sergio Leone ‘ s Spaghetti Westerns such as Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)The Magnificent Seven (1960). ^[12] It also some plot elements borrowed from the Indian films Mera Gaon Mera Desh (1971) and Khote Sikkay (1973). ^[9] A scene depicting an attempted train robbery was inspired by a similar scene in Gunga Jumna , ^[14] and has also been compared to a similar scene in North West Frontier (1959). ^[15] A szene showing the killing of Thakur’s family has-been Compared with the killing of the family in McBain Once Upon a Time in the West . ^[16] Sholay may have been influenced by Sam Peckinpah’s Westerns, such as The Wild Bunch (1969) and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), and George Roy Hill ‘ s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). ^[17]

The character Gabbar Singh was modeled on a real-life of the Gwalior in the 1950s. Any policeman captured by the Gabbar Singh had his ears cut off, and was released as a warning to other police. ^[18] The character was also inspired by Gunga Jumna , where Dilip Kumar’s character Gunga is a dacoit speaking with a similar dialect, a mix of Khariboli and Awadhi . ^[19] The character was also influenced by the villain “El Indio” (played by Gian Maria Volontè ) of Sergio Leone’s For a Few Dollars More (1965). ^[20] Soorma Bhopali, a minorcomic relief character, was based on an acquaintance of actor Jagdeep, a forest officer from Bhopal named Soorma. The real-life Soomma to be the first person to be exposed to the dead. ^[21] The main characters’ names, Jai and Veeru, mean “victory” and “heroism” in Hindi. ^[22]

Casting

The producers considered Danny Denzongpa for the role of bandit chief Gabbar Singh, but he could not accept it as he was committed to act in Feroz Khan ‘s Dharmatma (1975), under production at the same time. ^[23] Amjad Khan, who was the second choice, prepared for the book Abhishapta Chambal , which told of the exploits of Chambal dacoits. The book was written by Taroon Kumar Bhaduri, Jaya Bhaduri. ^[24] 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. ^[8]

Sippy wanted Shatrughan Sinha to play the part of Jai, but there were several big stars signed, and Amitabh Bachchan, who was not very popular yet, lobbied hard to get the part for himself. ^[9] He was cast after Salim-Javed recommended for Sholay in 1973; Bachchan’s performance in their first collaboration, Zanjeer , convinced Salim-Javed he was the right actor for the film. ^[25]

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. ^[26] Initially, Salim-Javed approached Dilip Kumar to play Thakur’s role, but he turned down the offer; Dilip Kumar later said he was one of the few films he regretted turning down. ^[8] Initially, Dharmendra was also interested in playing the role of Thakur. He eventually gave up the role when he knew that Sanjeev Kumar would play Veeru if that happened, and would be paired with Hema Malini, who would be trying to woo. Dharmendra knew that Kumar was also interested in Malini. ^[27]

During the film’s production, four of the leads became romantically involved. ^[12] Bachchan married Bhaduri four months before filming started. Bhaduri became pregnant with their daughter Shweta. By the time of the movie’s release, she was pregnant with their Abhishek . Dharmendra had begun wooing Malini during their earlier movie Seeta Aur Geeta (1972), 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 providing many retakes and allowing him to spend more time with her. The couple married years after the movie’s release. ^[28]

Filming

Much of Sholay was shot in the rocky land of Ramanagara , a town near Bangalore , Karnataka . ^[29] The filmmakers had to build a road from the Bangalore highway to Ramanagara for convenient access to the sets. ^[30] Art director Ram Yedekar had an entire township built on the site. A prison set was made by Rajkamal Studio in Mumbai, also outdoors, to match the natural lighting of the on-location sets. ^[31] One part of Ramanagara was for a time called “Sippy Nagar” as a tribute to the director of the film. ^[32] As of 2010, a visit to the “Sholay Rocks” (where much the film was shot) was still being traveled to Ramanagara. ^[33]

Filming began on 3 October 1973, with a scene featuring Bachchan and Bhaduri. ^[34] The film had a lavish production for its time, ^[35] took two and a half years to make, and went over budget. One reason for its high cost that is re-filmed many times to get his desired effect. “Yeh Dosti”, a 5-minute song sequence, took two days to shoot, two short scenes in which Radha lights lamps took part in the film, and the shooting of the scene in which Gabbar kills the imam’s lasted 19 days. ^[36] The train robbery sequence, shot on the Mumbai-Pune railway road near Panvel , took more than 7 weeks to complete. ^[37]

Sholay was the first Indian film to have a stereophonic soundtrack and to use the 70 mm widescreen format. ^[38] However, since actual 70mm cameras were expensive at the time, the film was shot on a traditional 35mm film and the 4: 3 picture was successfully converted to a 2.2: 1 frame. ^[39] Regarding the process, Sippy said, “At 70mm [sic] format takes the view 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 it is definitely a differentiator. ” ^[40]The use of 70 mm was emphasized by film posters on which the name of the film was stylized to match the CinemaScope logo. Film posters also sought to differentiate the film from those who had come before; One of them added the tagline : “The greatest star ever assembled – the greatest story ever told”. ^[41]

Alternate version

The director’s original cut of Sholay has a different ending in which Thakur kills Gabbar, along with some additional violent scenes. Gabbar’s death scene, and the scene in which the imam is his death, were cut from the film by India’s Censor Board , as was the scene in which Thakur’s family is massacred. ^[36] The Censor Board was concerned about violence, and that viewers may be influenced to violate the law by severely punishing people. ^[42]Though Sippy fought to keep the scenes, the police had just come back before Thakur can kill Gabbar. ^[43]The censored theatrical version was only seen by audiences for fifteen years. The original, unedited cut of the film finally came out in a British release on VHS in 1990. ^[39] 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. ^{[1] [39] [44] [a]}

Themes

Scholars have noted several themes in the film, such as glorification of violence, conformation to feudal ethos, debate between social order and mobilized usurpers, homosocial bonding, and the film’s role as a national allegory.

Koushik Banerjea, a sociologist in the London School of Economics , notes that Sholay exhibits a “sympathetic construction of” rogue “masculinity” exemplified by the likeable outlaws Jai and Veeru. ^[46] Banerjea argues during the film, the moral boundary between legality and criminality erodes. ^[47] Film scholar Wimal Dissanayake agrees that the film brought “a new stage in the evolving dialectic between violence and social order” to Indian cinema. ^[48] Film scholar Mr. Madhava Prasad states that Jai and Veeru represent a marginalized population that has been introducing the company. ^[49]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 . ^[49] Banerjea explains that although they are mercenaries, they are humanised by their emotional needs. Such dualism makes them vulnerable, in contrast to the pure evil of Gabbar Singh. ^[47]

Gabbar Singh, the film’s antagonist, was in the audience, despite his pervasive sadistic cruelty. ^[48] Dissanayake explains that the audience was fascinated by the dialogues and mannerisms of the character, and this element of show outweighed his actions, a first for Indian melodrama. ^[48] He notes that the picturization of violence in the film was glamourised and uninhibited. ^[50] 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 centerpiece. It becomes the battleground where good and evil compete for supremacy. ^[50] Dissanayake argues that Sholaycan 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 including the allegorical representation of India. ^[51] The narrative style of Sholay , with its violence, revenge, and vigilante action, is a comparison of scholars in the political unrest in India at the time of its release. This tension culminated in the Emergency ( rule by decree ) Declared by prime minister Indira Gandhi in 1975. ^[52]

Dissanayeke and Sahai note that, although the film borrowed heavily from the Hollywood Western genre, particularly in its visuals, it was successfully “Indianised”. ^[53] 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 emphasized Indian family values ​​and melodramatic tradition, while the Western was more materialistic and restrained in its approach. ^[16] Maithili Rao, in Encyclopedia of Hindi Cinema , notes that Sholay infuses the style of the Western genre into a “feudalistic ethos”. ^[54]Ted Shen of the Chicago Reader rating Sholay ‘s “hysterical visual style” and intermittent “populist message”. ^[55] Cultural criticism and Islamist 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. ^[56]Sardar notes that the two most prominent Muslim characters in the movie 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 stay in silence, while the other female lead (Basanti) is just a beautiful garrulous village. ^[56]

Some scholars have indicated that Sholay contains homosocial themes. ^[57] [58] Ted Shen describes the male bonding shown in the film as bordering on camp style . ^[55] Dina Holtzman, in his book Bollywood and Globalization: Indian Popular Cinema, Nation, and Diaspora , states that the death of Jai, and resulting break of bonding between the two male leads, is necessary for the sake of establishing a normative heterosexual relationship (that of Veeru and Basanti). ^[59]

Music

RD Burman composed the film’s music, and the lyrics were written by Anand Bakshi . The songs used in the film, and released on the original soundtrack are listed below. ^[60] Following that is a list of unused tracks and dialogues which were released later on an updated soundtrack. ^[61]

The song “Mehbooba Mehbooba” was sung by its composer, RD Burman, who received his sole filmfare nomination for singing for his effort. The song, which is featured on Bollywood hit song compilations, ^[62] is based on “Say You Love Me” by Greek singer Demis Roussos . ^[15]

“Mehbooba Mehbooba” has been extensively anthologised, remixed, and recreated. ^[63] A version created in 2005 by the Kronos Quartet for their Grammy -nominated album You’ve Stolen My Heart , featuring Asha Bhosle . ^[64] 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. ^[65] [66] It was remixed and sung by Shankar Mahadevan and Udit Narayan for the 2010 Malayalam movie Four Friends ,^[67] and also in 2010 it was used to symbolize India’s friendship with the United States during a visit from President Barack Obama . ^[68]

Several songs from the soundtrack were included in the Binaca Geetmala annual list of top filmi 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. ^[69] Despite the soundtrack’s success, at the time, the songs from Sholay attracted less attention than the movie’s dialogue-a rarity for Bollywood. The producers were thus prompted to release records with only dialogue. ^[70] [71] Taken together, the album sales totalled an unprecedented 500,000 units, ^[72]and became one of the top selling Bollywood soundtracks of the 1970s. ^[73]

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. ^[74] In a 1999 paper Submitted to London’s Symposium on Sound in Cinema, Film critic Shoma A. Chatterji Said, ” Sholay offers a model lesson is how sound can be used to signify the terror has character evokes. Sholay est exemplary in ict “” “” How do you do it? ”

Reception

Box Office

Sholay was released on August 15, 1975, Indian Independence Day , Mumbai. Due to lackluster and lack of effective visual marketing tools From the third week, however, viewership picked up owing to positive word of mouth . ^[76]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. ^[ 47 ] After being helped by a soundtrack release containing a dialogue snippets, ^[47] Sholay soon became an “overnight sensation”. ^[38]The Film Was Then released in other distribution areas Such As Delhi , Uttar Pradesh , Bengal , and Hyderabad is 11 October 1975. ^[78] It est devenu the highest-grossing Bollywood movie of 1975 and film ranking website Box Office India HAS Given the movie a verdict of “All Time Blockbuster”. ^[79]

Sholay went on to earn a still-standing record of 60 golden jubilees ^[c] across India, ^[38] and was the first film in India to celebrate a silver jubilee ^[d] at over 100 theaters. ^[38] It was shown continuously at Mumbai’s Minerva Theater for over five years. ^[11] Sholay was the Indian film with the longest theatrical run until Dilwale Dulhania The Jayenge (1995) broke its record of 286 weeks in 2001. ^[80] [81]

Exact figures are not available on the budget and box office earnings of Sholay . Selon Box Office India, Sholay earned about ₹ 150 million nett gross ^[e] (valued at about US $ 16,778,000 in 1975) ^[b] in India During icts first run, ^[5]qui Was Many Times icts ₹ 30 million (valued at about US $ 3,355,000 in 1975) ^[b] budget. ^[4] [5] These earnings were a record that remained unbroken for a year, which is also the length of time that a film has held the record. Its origin was increased with re-releases during the late 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. ^[83] It is Often Cited That after-adjusting the figures for inflation, Sholay is one of the Highest grossing film in the history of Indian cinema, ALTHOUGH Such figures are Not Known with certainty. ^[84] In 2012, India’s Box Office gave ₹ 1.63 trillion (US $ 25 million) as Sholay ‘ s net adjusted gross, ^[e][5] whereas Times of India, in a 2009 report of business of Indian films, reported over ₹3 billion (US$47 million) as the adjusted gross.^[85]

Critical response

Initial critical reviews of Sholay were negative. Among contemporary critics, KL Amladi of India Today called the film a “dead ember” and “a gravely flawed attempt”. ^[86] Filmfare said that the film was an unsuccessful mincing of western style with Indian middle , making it an “imitation western-neither here nor there.” ^[86] Others read it, and “second-rate take-off” of the 1971 film Mera Gaon Mera Desh . ^[81] Trade journals and columnists initially called the film a flop. ^[87] In a 1976 article in the journal Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review, author Michael Gallagher praised the technical achievement of the film, but otherwise criticized it stating, “As a show it breaks ground, but on every other level is intolerable: formless, incoherent, superficial in human image, and a somewhat nasty piece of violence “. ^[88]

Over time, the critical reception to Sholay greatly improved; it is now considered a classic, and among the greatest Hindi-language films. ^[12] [89] 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. ^[90] On the film’s 35th anniversary, the Hindustan Times wrote that it was a “trailblazer in terms of camera work,” and that “practically every scene, dialogue or even a small character was a highlight.” ^[91] In 2006, The Film Society of Lincoln Center Described Sholayas “an extraordinary and utterly seamless blend of adventure, comedy, music and dance”, labeling it an “indisputable classic”. ^[92] Chicago Review critic Ted Shen criticized the film in 2002 for its formulaic plot and “slapdash” cinematography, and noted that the film “alternates between slapstick and melodrama”. ^[55] In their obituary of the Sippy GP producer, the New York Times said that Sholay “revolutionized Hindi filmmaking and brought true professionalism to Indian script writing”. ^[11]

Awards

Sholay was nominated for nine Filmfare Awards , but the winner was MS Shinde , who won the award for Best Editing . ^[93] 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 (Color)” for Dwarka Divecha, and “Best Art Director “for Ram Yedekar. ^[94] Sholay received a special award at the 50th Filmfare Awards in 2005: Best Film of 50 Years . ^[95]