Its original ending showed Gabbar being killed by Thakur and the edited version was shown to the audience for the first 15 years after its release. The Censor Board of India asked Sholay’s makers to re-shoot the ending and several scenes because they were thought to be “extremely violent”.Sholay was the first Hindi film on 70 mm and the first to be made with stereophonic sound as well.Even the rocks around the area referred to as “Sholay-rocks” have become an attraction. As the film was shot in Ramnagar, Karnataka, the town, about 50 km from Bangalore is still called Ramgarh as mentioned in the film.Similarly, Jai and Veeru were named after the film’s scriptwriter Salim Khan’s college friends - Veerandar Singh Bias and Jai Singh Rao Kalevar. Jagdeep’s character Soorma Bhopali was named after a real-life person named Soorma who was a forest officer from Bhopal and an acquaintance of Jagdeep. Some of the characters of Sholay were based on Salim-Javed’s real-life friends.
Hindi movie sholay mac#
Mac Mohan’s character, Sambha, had only one line in the film, but he made an irreplaceable place in people’s hearts as Sambha.Thakur’s character was originally supposed to be a retired army officer which was changed to that of a police officer after the makers thought that getting the requisite permissions would be difficult.Jaya was even pregnant with Shweta Bachchan during the filming, which resulted in shooting delays many times. Amitabh Bachchan married Jaya Bachchan 4 months before the film went on floors.After 5 years of its release, Dharmendra and Hema got married. During the shooting, he would pay the spot boys to spoil his scenes with Hema Malini so retakes would be required. Dharmendra’s love for Hema Malini was evident throughout the film.However, he turned it down saying the role was too limiting after hearing the script. Salim Khan originally wanted Dilip Kumar to play the role of Thakur.He settled on playing Veeru only after he found out that he was to be paired with Hema Malini. Likewise, Shatrughan Sinha was initially considered for the role of Jai and Dharmendra wanted to play Thakur.The scriptwriter Javed Akhtar wasn’t very convinced by Amjad’s voice but Amjad was ultimately chosen and the rest is history. Actor Amjad Ali Khan who played the iconic role of Gabbar was almost dropped from the film. Danny Denzongpa was the first choice for the character of Gabbar Singh.There was actually a dacoit named Gabbar Singh around Gwalior in the 1950s who used to cut off the noses and ears of policemen!.While the original film was made with a budget of 3 crores, 25 crores were spent for the 3D version that released in January 2014.In Mumbai’s Minerva theatre, Sholay ran for over 5 years uninterrupted, with a digitally remastered version in 2004. The cost of the film went over-budget which was all paid off when the film was screened for 25 weeks in over 100 cinemas.Likewise, it took 40 retakes before the scene featuring the line “ kitne aadmi the” was finalized. Also, 20 days of shooting was done for the scene where Radha, played by Jaya Bhaduri, lights a lamp. The song “Yeh Dosti” took 21 days to shoot.The film’s shooting started on 2nd October 1973 and released on 15th August 1975. It took two and a half years to make Sholay.The screenplay of Sholay was originally a four-line snippet created by writers Salim-Javed. Several filmmakers had rejected the story of the film before it was accepted by Ramesh Sippy.Indian film history can be divided into Sholay BC and Sholay AD“.Īs Sholay celebrates 45 years of its release this August 15 th, here are 19 facts and trivia which are equally as interesting as the movie that will make you want to watch it one more time. Even Film Maker Shekhar Kapur in the same book said “ There has never been a more defining film on the Indian screen. Critic Anupama Chopra called the film the gold standard in the Hindi cinema, in her book “ Sholay: The Making of a Classic“. The film also topped British Film Institute’s all-time poll of the best Indian films. There is and there will never be a film as great as Sholay.īBC India called ‘Sholay’ the “Film of the Millennium” in 1999. There are umpteen reasons why millions of Indians will pick Sholay as their all-time favorite. Besides this, the film’s dialogues, screenplay, acting or characters are also class apart. Released on India’s independence day in 1975, each of the characters of Sholay has been iconized in Indian film history. Sholay’s wholesome package of action, drama, romance, and comedy is every filmmaker’s envy. Bollywood’s biggest blockbuster is indeed a movie no Indian would want to miss.