Sholay Turns 50: The classic Dharmendra-Amitabh Bachchan-Sanjeev Kumar blockbuster that continues to live on in Hindi cinema

When dialogues, characters and scenes become part of popular folklore, woven into the tapestry of national memory that rolls on generation after generation, is when celluloid magic happens.

“Sholay” is that film - and it doesn’t matter whether you have seen the film or not.

It has been 50 years since the film released, a cult classic so impactful it continues to thrive, almost a living, breathing entity evolving through time and referenced on just about any occasion. And so, a late entrant who walks into a silent conference room says “Itna sannata kyon hai bhai” and everyone breaks into smiles. The connect is instant. The film is familiar to all.

The Ramesh Sippy masterpiece that melded comedy and romance, terror and tragedy was released on August 15, 1975, with a runtime of more than three hours. The response was tepid to begin with but picked up over the weeks that followed.

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Cinema history was being made in 70 mm.

The cast was impressive with Sanjeev Kumar, Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Jaya Bachchan and almost newcomer Amjad Khan in an explosive first major role as Gabbar Singh. But Thakur, Jai, Veeru, Basanti and Gabbar are not the only ones who have stood the test of time.

A range of character artistes there for a scene or maybe two are remembered in detail. Some for their dialogues - the aged, blind father played by A K Hangal unaware that his son has been killed asking why everyone is so quiet or Mac Mohan who became famous as Samba mouthing just that one dialogue “poore pachas hazaar” - and others for their cameos.

Remember mausiji, Soorma Bhopali, ‘Angrezon ke zamane ke jailer’, Kaalia. Just some of the many characters populating the film, ensuring that audiences move from laughter to tears to terror in quicksilver succession, each a setpiece complete in itself.

“They have become part of Indian culture and common language. A picture made 50 years ago and till today its dialogues are used in stand-up comedy. There are its references which are used in other films and they are also used in language and even in political speeches, so on and so forth,” Javed Akhtar, one half of the famed scriptwriting duo of Salim-Javed, said.

The canvas of the film was such that it just became timeless, Akhtar who penned the film with Salim Khan, said.

“It was a symphony of all human emotions. It had come without any conscious effort. It just happened,” Akhtar said.

According to Amrit Gangar, film scholar, historian and curator, “Sholay” despite its spaghetti western influences defies the Western dogma of genre.

“It is a great thali film. Thali is a typical Indian multi-rasa food plate,” he said. In his view, the only other film to have that kind of impact on public imagination is “Mughal-e-Azam”.

“‘Sholay’ does the magic without being grandly spectacular but it has the power of the words,” he added.

Though “Mughal-e-Azam” is a period romance, “Sholay” is set in post-Independence rural India, not in a picturesque village of rolling greens and mustard fields but in rocky, arid and bleak landscape. Unlike many of its contemporaries, it has aged well, despite its feudal setting.

The women characters shine through, be it the motormouth tonga puller Basanti (Hema Malini) or the silent widow Radha (Jaya Bachchan). The flirtatious romance between Basanti and Veeru is contrasted beautifully with the unspoken love between Jai and the white-clad widow. And both would be equally relevant today.

The vengeful Thakur (Sanjeev Kumar) is an upright and progressive man who wants his daughter-in-law to find love again.

Salim-Javed were not just trying to stay not just with the times but were ahead of it.

Their imagination gave birth to the most quoted villain of Hindi cinema. Gabbar Singh, the dacoit without a back story, redefined the word menacing. His many dialogues are endlessly recounted – “Kitney admi they”, “Jo dar gaya, samjho mar gaya”, “Pachaas, pachaas kos…”

Film historian, author and archivist, S M M Ausaja said “Sholay” represents one of those rare occurrences when every department of the film delivered to the maximum.

“It is a curious case of everything falling into place at the right place and right time. The characterisation was very good and the kind of performances that Ramesh Sippy managed out of the stars, out of all the actors, is exemplary.” “Plus, all the emotions are there. From comedy to tragedy, it has every emotion you can dream of.”

You can meet any Indian and start discussing “Sholay”, then 100 per cent they’ll have a conversation with you, said actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar, also the son of Javed Akhtar.

“It’s something that connects us in a weird way. It was a mainstream, entertaining film which was incredibly made for its time… Technically, it’s a very superior film. It’s just an amazing film that you can keep going back to and watch it from wherever you want,” Farhan said.

Salim-Javed had already delivered hits such as “Zanjeer”, “Seeta Aur Geeta” and “Deewaar” before “Sholay”.

Many sequences have been embedded in India’s collective consciousness. Fifty years on, there are still those who clamber up on water and mobile towers in protest. A hark back to Veeru’s famous drunk scene when he climbs a water tower and refuses to come down until Basanti’s mausi relents.

Then there is the bromance between Jai and Veeru, an abiding friendship that finds expression in a coin - Jai often flips a coin to get his own way and it is only after he dies that Veeru discovers that the coin has two heads.

Such is the popularity of the film that this minting error where both sides carry heads is now called ‘Sholay coin’. The song “Yeh dosti hum nahin todenge” represents their bond.

The music by R D Burman, who famously sang the full-throated “Mehbooba Mehbooba”, is still recalled for not just the songs but its rousing background score that mirrors shifting moods as the film progresses.

Like a shared memory passed down generation to generation, “Sholay” too lives on.