‘Sholay’ turns 40 …down Memory lane


Coming 15th August, besides celebrating India’s Independence day, there is another occasion to celebrate. On this day, is the 40th anniversary of  super duper hit film ‘Sholay’ which was produced  by G.P.Sippy  and directed by Ramesh Sippy. On the occasion of this memorable day, ‘Sholay’ takes us down memory lane, to recall all those memorable moments, connected with this film.sholay poster

The muhurat of this film was held on 3rd November 1973 on the sets of a village called Ramgarh, located near Bangalore. After the completion of film’s shooting, the entire set turned into a real village, which still exists there.

For the role of SabbarSingh, initially Shatrughan Sinha was asked. But, when he said, ‘No’, the next choice was Danny Denzongpa .But, Danny was very busy with other films. So, Javed, from Salim Javed team,suggested the name of Amjad Khan, whom he had seen performing on stage.Till then, amjad had only performed in a small role in the film ‘Hindustan Ki kasam’.

Initially,  the  style of Gabbar Singh, his walking style and clothes were different, as per the script. But, later suitable changes were made, to present dangerous Gabbar, whom we finally saw on the screen. In fact, the dialogues like ‘Kitne aadmi the..’ and others, were written later. And, they became hit.

On 14th August 2014, premiere of this film was arranged at 9 pm. But, the invitees were shown the film in 35 mm print , as the 70 mm print , which was arriving from abroad, was held up at the airport for customs clearance.  Later, after this show, this 70 mm print with stereophonic sound was seen during  the midnight hours, by few like Ramesh Sippy, cinematographer Dwarka Dwivecha and other close associates.

‘sholay’ was released in 70 mm print only at Minerva and New Excelsior cinema, while at other cinema halls, it was shown in 35 mm. In New Excelsior Cinema , it had to be removed in 2 weeks, as per previous agreement. But, at Minerva, it was a real pleasure to watch this film, in 70 mm. Those days, at Minerva, the rates of Upper stalls was Rs. 4 and 50 paise, while the Balcony rate was Rs. 5 and 50 Paise.

When Sholay was released, another film ‘Garibi Hatao’ of actor Vinod kumar  was also released. And, this film could not stand in competition with a film like ‘Sholay’.

The dialogues of ‘Sholay’ had become so popular those days, that they were played at various functions and festivals. And, people used to stand near the loud speakers to listen to these dialogues.

Before ‘Sholay’, Ramesh Sippy had made films like ‘Andaz’, ‘Sita Aur Geeta’ and after ‘Sholay’, he made films like ‘Shaan’, ‘Shakti’, ‘Sagar’, Brashtachar’, ‘Akela’,’Jamana Diwana’ and so on. But, none of them could attain the heights of ‘Sholay’.

On 3rd January 2014 , ‘Sholay’ was released in 3 D Format. Later, on 19th April 2014, it was released in Pakistan.  Now, let us wait for few more events to follow, about  this film.

 

(Based on inputs by : Dilip Thakur)