Sholay (1975)

After his family is murdered by a notorious and ruthless bandit, a former police officer enlists the services of two outlaws to capture the bandit.

Director:

Ramesh Sippy

Writers:

Javed Akhtar (as Salim-Javed), Salim Khan (as Salim-Javed)

Stars:

Sanjeev Kumar, Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan

Top Rated Indian Movies #48 | 2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sanjeev Kumar	...	Thakur Baldev Singh
Dharmendra	...	Veeru
Amitabh Bachchan	...	Jai
Amjad Khan	...	Gabbar Singh
Hema Malini	...	Basanti
Jaya Bhaduri	...	Radha
A.K. Hangal	...	Imaam Saheb
Satyendra Kapoor	...	Ramlal (as Satyen Kappu)
Iftekhar	...	Narmalaji (Radha's father)
Leela Mishra	...	Mausie (as Leela Misra)
Vikas Anand	...	Jailer assigned to bring Veeru & Jaidev
Mac Mohan	...	Sambha
Keshto Mukherjee	...	Hariram
Sachin	...	Ahmed
Alankar Joshi	...	Deepak (as Master Alankar)

Storyline

Sholay means embers in Hindi. In this particular movie, a Police Officer, who's family was killed by a bandit named Gabbar Singh, decides to fight fire with fire and recruits two convicts, Jai and Veeru to capture Gabbar. He approaches them in jail, puts the proposal in front of them, and they agree to bring in Gabbar Singh alive - for a hefty price. After their discharge from jail, they travel by train to the village where the Police Officer lives - now with only his widowed daughter-in-law. The three band together to fight one of the most elusive and dreaded bandits of all time. Will the two ex-cons be able to bring Gabbar alive to the Police Officer?

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Plot Keywords:

cult film | melodrama | low budget film | police | bandit | 

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Taglines:

The greatest star cast ever assembled.......The greatest story ever told

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Drama | Musical | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Release Date:

15 August 1975 (India)

Also Known As:

Embers

Filming Locations:

Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Company Credits

Production Co:

NH Studioz

Technical Specs

Runtime:

198 min 204 min (director's cut) 246 min (rough cut)

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Mono (35 mm prints) Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was the first film in the history of Indian cinema to celebrate a silver-jubilee (25-week) initial release at over 100 theaters across India.

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Goofs

When Thakur is chasing Gabbar for the first time, around 88 minutes into the movie, for a brief moment a paved road can be seen. Thakur is supposed to chase Gabbar through rough unpaved terrain.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Jailer: Errr... Thakur sahib?

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Alternate Versions

There has recently been a director's cut of Sholay shown on the asian u.k. satellite channel 'Zee TV', this has not been released up till now on cinemas. It contains the original ending director Ramesh Sippy intended that shows GabarSingh being killed at the hands of Thakur, instead of just being arrested by police. The film ran into problems with Indian Censors who claimed their rules about people taking the law into their own hands and not being punished for it was not permitted and may corrupt naive viewers; for this reason the ending of the film had to be re-shot for a 'U' Rating. Other unrated footage includes a more graphic footage of the fight between Gabar and Thakur in the film's ending, the subsequent pre-torture footage of a young village boy (showing Gabar's ruthlessness), Veeru dragging a bandit with a neck-noose galluping on horse- back, Ramlal fitting metal-spiked studs on Thakur's shoes, a village person on fire during a raid by Gabar.

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Connections

Referenced in Lover Boy (1985)

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Soundtracks

Jab Tak Hain Jaan
Performed by Lata Mangeshkar
Lyrics by Anand Bakshi
Music by Rahul Dev Burman

User Reviews

The Definitive Masterpiece...

As a strong fan of the American Western genre and of course the directing of Sergio Leone, it is with great enthusiasm that i recommend Sholay to any audiences or fans of Westerns and Bollywood cinema.

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 features the acting talents of such Bollywood legends...Amitabh Bachan and Dharmendra and focuses at its heart, a story of friendship, courage and revenge, based loosely around the concepts of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai & The Magnificent Seven.

If you have not watched it, then make it your priority to watch it at least once in your life, as this is definitely one of the movies that every person needs to experience.

A true cinematic masterpiece.