If you are from India, then you must be fan of Hindi films. Today I am talking about the most successful hindi film, ever made. Yeah, you are right it is Sholay. It is the biggest hit in the history of Indian Cinema. Sholay was released in 1975, starred Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Sanjeev Kumar, Jaya Bhaduri and Amjad Khan. It is the still highest grossing film of all time in India. It has earned around Rs. 2,36,45,00,000 which is equivalent to US$ 60 million. It is the only film in the history of Indian cinema which celebrated silver jubilee (25 weeks) at 234 movie theatres across India. Sometimes, I think why it became so big hit. What is special about this movie ? Actually this movie was a inspired from different hollywood movies. It was a mixture of some of the most selling trends (in movies) of its time.
- Its most scenes and ideas are directly copied from several hollywood films, especially Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti Westerns. The massacre of a family (of Thakur Baldev Singh) near the middle of the film is taken from Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in the West” as well as a scene from John Ford’s “The Searchers”.
- It picturised slow-motion scenes during shoot-outs which is influenced from films like “The Wild Bunch” and “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid”
- The concept of hiring mercenaries to protect itself from bandits was taken from Japanese director Akira Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai” and hollywood’s “The Magnificent Seven”. “Seven Samurai” the story of a village of farmers that hire seven samurai to combat bandits who steal their crops. Even “The Maginificent Seven” is remake of “Seven Samurai”.
- The idea of friendship of Jai and Veeru is a inspiration from “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”.
- The item song of Sholay “Mehbooba” is inspired by a Western tune, “Say You Love Me” by Demis Roussos, a Greek singer-songwriter.
- Marlon Brando used the same double-sided coin in “One-Eyed Jacks” is much like the Jai uses in Sholay.
Sholay was an outstanding , well directed and extremely well acted Hindi film. I have no count, how many times I have watched this movie. Even after 33 years of its release, it is still the most significant movie in Indian Cinema.
Sholay :: a quick look :-
Actors and their roles.
Veeru — Dharmendra
Thakur Baldev Singh — Sanjeev Kumar
Basanti — Hema Malini
Jaidev — Amitabh Bachchan
Radha — Jaya Bhaduri
Gabbar Singh — Amjad Khan
Soorma Bhopali — Jagdeep
Jailor — Asrani
Ramlaal — Satyen Kappu
Mausi — Leela Mishra
Kaalia — Viju Khote
Hariram — Keshto Mukherjee
Radha’s father — Iftekhar
Sambha — Mac Mohan
Imam Saab — A.K. Hangal
Ahmed — Sachin
Gypsy dancer — Helen
Gypsy singer — Jalal Agha
Some famous dialogues from Sholay ::
Gabbar: Yeh haath mujhe de de Thakur (Give me these hands, Thakur)
Jai: Basanti, tumhara naam kya hai (Basanti, what is your name)
Gabbar: Kitney aadmi the (How many men were there)
Gabbar: Bahut yaarana lagta hai (Looks like you two are very close)
Basanti: Kyonki mujhe befizul baat karne ki aadat toh hain nahee (Because I don’t have the habit of talking needlessly)
Gabbar: Jo dar gaya samjho mar gaya (He who gets scared, is dead)
Some memorable songs from Sholay ::
Jab Tak Hai Jaan by Lata Mangeshkar
Koi Haseena by Kishore Kumar and Hema Malini
Holi Ke Din by Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar
Yeh Dosti by Kishore Kumar and Manna Dey
Mehbooba Mehbooba by Rahul Dev Burman
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