Sholay

Great Movie... Everyone should have seen this movie at least one time ! I bought this movie on DVD now, although I am not a big fan of elder films... i love this film, and especially the dialogs of GB ! For all Amitabh fans its a must have movie ! The whole story is really good and the movie has a flair of an American western. Even the sound of Sholay and the atmosphere which is given to the watcher are one of the best i have seen in Bollywood. I have heard, there will be a remake of this film, but I think it could not be as good as the original Sholay. All because of the actors like Amjad Khan who was born for this role. This film is one of bollywood's best movies ever.

Before adding my own review of this widely acknowledged iconic film of Hindi cinema, I went through several of the reviews of this film. Majority of the reviewers appear to have been born just before or just after this film was first released in August 1975. In other words, they didn't experience it firsthand at theaters and were probably already preconditioned with all the incredible hype surrounding this film. I remember its original release at Minerva Theater in Bombay very well. I have seen this film in both its endings: The one in which the Gabbar Singh character gets killed by Thakur and the alternative ending where Thakur just stops short of killing Hari "Gabbar" Singh at the behest of the police. Salim Khan (father of actor Salman Khan) and Javed Akhtar wrote one of the most memorable dialogues for a Hindi film character in Gabbar Singh. However, this film's key storyline is nothing but a rip off of several classic Westerns: Both from Sergio Leone and from John Sturges' remake of Akira Kurosawa's SEVEN SAMURAI. Gabbar's killing of Thakur's family is nothing but a rip off of Henry Fonda's "Frank" who kills off the McBain family (including McBain's little boy) in Leone's ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST. Amjad Khan (son of veteran Hindi film villain Jayant) owns this film. Without his interpretation of Gabbar Singh, this film would not be worth watching. With that being said, his interpretation of Gabbar is also a rip off of the great Italian actor Gian Maria Volonte's "Indio" from Leone's FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE. The base theme of SHOLAY is a Hindi reworking of SEVEN SAMURAI / THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN. The vast majority of the Hindi film audience who praised SHOLAY to no end were not aware that its key points were plagiarized from the classic Italian and Hollywood Westerns. There were also some really silly scenes: Dharmendra's ridiculous mock "suicide"; the very annoying Basanti character of Hema Malini; etc. Aside from Gabbar Singh, the only interesting characters were that of Thakur (portrayed by Sanjeev Kumar) and Thakur's widowed daughter-in-law (portrayed by Jaya Bhaduri). Film director Ramesh Sippy ought to be ashamed of his plagiarism of the classic Westerns he ripped off and never openly credited. Aside from the key action scenes, SHOLAY really drags. SHOLAY is hardly a true "Hindi" film in the tradition of Golden Age classics of Hindi cinema which were truly Indian subjects (e.g., Roti-1942; Do Bigha Zamin; Pyaasa; Sahib, Bibi, aur Ghulam; Mughal-E-Azam; Pakeezah; etc.). SHOLAY is one of those movies which can be truly be labeled "Bollywood"...AKA when (way too often) Hindi cinema rips off Hollywood. Having seen SHOLAY in its 2nd week of release back in late August 1975 at Minerva Theater and a couple of times since, I can only state that SHOLAY is the most overrated Hindi film ever.

I am shocked seeing that the IMDb ratings for this classic is just 6.6. Why? Because the movie is strongly influenced from the Westerns? or It it isn't entertaining enough? The 2nd cant be true because the movie had everything: strong script strong direction excellent characters and performances good action,comedy,romance,friendship,etc If the 1st is true then i feel sorry for the viewers because being influenced is not being copied.Besides there would remain only like 50-60 original scripts if counted correctly. I cannot find a single flaw in the movie which is my personal thinking and as it would be of true Hindi cinema fans. So people please judge the movie on its merits and not on something which is totally baseless. RATING:- *****/*****

"Kitne Aadmi Thei", every Indian film fan knows this dialog by heart. Sholay was released in 1975, also the year I was born in, coincidence, perhaps. The film became the longest running Indian film in the theaters, a record that stood for over 25 years until it was broken recently by another classic "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" (holds the current record 500 Weeks and still going - as on May 07, 2005). Sholay was written by the great Duo of Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan know as Salim-Javed. The duo also gave us films like Don, Shakti, Shaan, Zanjeer, Seeta Aur Geeta and Deewar. The film was directed by Ramesh Sippy and had music of legendary R.D. Burman. Sholay gave us a Character called "Gabbar Singh" played by Amjad Khan, who made his debut with this film. The character of Gabbar Singh is so creative that many film makers have tried to imitate him for their films. Sholay did for Indian Cinema what Casablanca did for Hollywood. It became an instant classic and broke all the rules of film making and characterization, while preserving the values of Indian cinema. Sholay just won the Filmfare Award (2005) for being the Best Film in the last 50 years of Indian Cinema. Sadly, when Sholay was first released in 1975 it didn't win any major Filmfare awards. But when you think about all the great films that were released in that year, its easy to see how it may have been over looked. 1975 may have been the best year for Hindi films with the likes of Deewar, Chupke Chupke, Hera Pheri, Khel Khel Mein, Julie, Mausam, Ponga Pandit, Rafoo Chakkar, Uljhan, Dharmatma, Do Jasoos, Faraar, Geet Gaata Chal, Chhoti Si Baat, Aandhi and Milli - all releasing along with Sholay. Sholay had the biggest star cast of its time with the likes of Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bhaduri, Sanjeev Kumar, Sachin, A.K. Hangal, Leela Mishra, Satyen Kappu, Mac Mohan, Jagdeep, Asrani, Helen, Jalal Agha, Iftekhar, Keshto Mukherjee and of course Amjad Khan. The Greatest Cast Ever Assembled for the Greatest Story Ever Told!

Everybody knows this is the Best Bollywood film ever made. I am surprised that this films rating in IMDb is not 10 /10 that it deserves. If you ask any Bollywood genius about this movie, they will tell you its the Best film of all time. Its no. 1 in the top 100 Best Bollywood Movies Stardust magazine. This movie had all the elements to make a great movie. Great Acting, Great Dialouges, Great music, Violence, comedy, Romance, Emotions and Relationships (Friendship). It stars Bollywood's Greatest ever actor Amitabh Bchchan in a Powerhouse performance. Dharmendra in his Best film that I've seen. Hema Malini is fantastic as the in famous fast talking Basanti. Jaya Bachchan is superb as the quiet widow. Amjad Khan steals the show as the legendary famous Villain Gabbar Singh. The other cast have done a decent job. This is the Greates Film Bollywood have released. Fullstop.

Can't find a single flaw in the movie. Probably one of the best ever made in Hindi. The camera work is flawless and grips you. The acting is inspired. The music is memorable. One of the movies you remember for life.

This movie has everything, comedy, action, drama, romance, fun, emotions. Great performance by all the characters. They are remembered even today in 2004 after nearly 30 years of the film release. I heard that this movie is now re-released with remastered sound. wow ! cant' wait to fetch the DVD of this remastered version. The most impressive role of Gabbar by Amjad Khan was portrayed extremely well. Its also one the longest movie. Its quite normal for bollywood movies to be 3 hours long. But this one is even longer than this. But certainly ever minute of the movie is enjoyable. This movie is my all time favorite.