Sholay: Interesting facts about the iconic film

Sholay is one of the most iconic films of Bollywood. It has taught some very important lessons of friendship, love and being faithful. The film starred some of the biggest actors of the ‘70s - Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Sanjeev Kumar and Amjad Khan. Sholay has achieved cult status over the years and is one of the most famous films of Bollywood. As Sholay completes 40 years of its release, we bring to you some interesting trivia about the film...

Dharmendra's portrayal of Veeru was impressive. However, the actor was initially keen to play the role of Thakur Baldev Singh in the film. According to IMDb, if Dharmendra had played Thakur then Sanjeev Kumar would have played the role of Veeru and get to romance Hema Malini. Apparently, Sanjeev Kumar had proposed marriage to Hema Malini at the time. Allegedly, Dharmendra, too, was in love with her. Seems like Dharmendra did not want to lose out on an opportunity to romance Hema and hence, finally agreed to play Veeru. Five years later, in 1980, Dharmendra tied the knot with Hema Malini.

Amjad Khan played a very convincing villain, Gabbar Singh. Apparently, if destiny hadn’t played its part, Amjad Khan may not have landed the role at all. According to a report on Movies.ndtv.com, Danny Denzongpa was the first choice to portray the villainous character. However, Danny had to drop out of the film as he was shooting for Feroz Khan's Dharmatma in Afghanistan. The report further stated that scriptwriter, Javed Akhtar, was not very convinced with Amjad Khan’s casting as he had felt that his voice was too weak for him to work as a villain.

Sholay starred some of the best names from the industry. Apparently, Amitabh Bachchan was not the original choice for the film. Shatrughan Sinha was initially shortlisted to play Jai in the film. However, according to IMDb, Amitabh Bachchan managed to convince the producers that he was suitable for the role. During the climax scene of the film, Big B and Dharmendra have an elaborate action sequence. Apparently, it was a narrow escape for Amitabh Bachchan, who ducked a stray bullet, fired by Dharmendra.

The most feared villain, Gabbar Singh, was supposed to be killed by Thakur in the original climax of the film, Sholay. According to a report, Sanjeev Kumar was supposed to kill Gabbar despite his disability in the film. This was how the scene was shot as well, but apparently the Censor Board did not agree with the film’s climax. The Board suggested that the criminal be arrested by the police and not killed by the respected Thakur, so as to set an example. Hence the film's climax was later changed.

The comedy scene in Sholay, where Amitabh Bachchan meets Basanti's mother, to talk about his friend, Veeru's marriage, has been inspired by a real-life incident. The inspiration for the scene was a conversation between Sholay's writer, Salim Khan, and Honey Irani's mother. Apparently, Salim was batting for Javed Akhtar, in the same manner as Amitabh does for Dharmendra in the film. Honey Irani and Javed Akhtar tied the knot later. The scene was also influenced by a scene from Kishore Kumar's Half Ticket, where he talks ill about himself to scare off a pandit.

Despite Sholay being a very popular movie, it had low attendance in theatres. It was about to be removed from cinemas because of its poor performance, but things changed with a positive word-of-mouth. The film then ran in cinemas for years. Apparently, Sholay was the first first film in the history of Indian cinema to celebrate a silver jubilee run in about 100 theatres across India.