Mumbai: There was no Basanti or Radha to start with it and Jai and Veeru shut down as the former army people had dismissed for indiscipline. And in this way the story of “Sholay” took roots in the minds of Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar for the first time.
At that time, two ace screenwriters had only one dacoit in the mind, Akhtar told PTI as he looked back in 50 years of the film, which achieved the status of the cult. “It was Salim Saheb’s view that we should make a film about a retired chief and two recruitments from the army, which has been removed due to indiscipline, so the story was about him. But then we had boundaries from the army and we could not take freedom, so we turned the characters into a policeman and (two) Hudlums.”
“At that point, we did not think about Basanti or Radha, we had just a dacoit. But when the story developed gradually, many characters came in the picture and we felt that it could be a great multi-starrer. We did not plan it as a multi-starrer and a grand spectacle.”
“Sholay” directed by Ramesh Sippy and the specialty of a attire of Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Amjad Khan, Jaya Bachchan and Hema Malini was released on 15 August 1975. It initially failed and was raised as weeks.
Salim-Javed had no ink that he was making a “timeless” Hindi cinema classic, Akhtar said.
This is the dialogue, the friendship between Amitabh Bachchan’s Jai and Dharmendra’s Veeru, Sanjeev Kumar’s Tamasic Mor Thakur or Amjad Khan’s dreaded dakoti Gabbar Singh went to define the Hindi film villain as a portrayal of Gabbar Singh, “Sholley stopped” for pop culture charts “.
“I believe that the canvas of the film was such that it was just timeless; it was not done intentionally. No attempts were made to do so (make it timeless).
“It was a sargam of human emotions, whether it is Vandetta, spoken or uninterrupted love, friendship, village simplicity, smartness of two urban hudlums. It was all symphony of human emotions.” The film just happened, Akhtar said. There was no conscious effort.
The 80 -year -old said, “Any art product that is relevant in its time and in other times, and it has timeless quality, even if it has been a piece of art, despite the change in the industry, the piece of art remains relevant,” said 80 -year -old.
The year 1975 is often celebrated as a landmark period in Indian cinema, along with other classics such as “Sholay”, also written by Salim-Javed, and “Andandi” defines the story in Hindi cinema.
Akhtar said that the year changed the life of himself and Salim Khan in both personal and professional.
He said, “With the release of ‘Dewar’ and ‘Sholay’, we made money, recognized, and made a name for ourselves. So 1975 was an important year,” he said.
The actors of the film include Sachin Pilgaonkar as Ahmed, Asrani as Jailor, Ak Hongal Imam Saheb, Sambh as Mac Mohan, Jagdeep as Surma Bhopali and Viju Khota as others.
If he was to re -write “Sholay” again, would he do anything differently? Akhtar said, “I will not change anything in ‘Sholay’. I will never write ‘Sholay’ again. We have made it in this way. I am happy that many people appreciated the film, and still talk about it.”
In June, a restored version of “Sholay”, which includes its original end, which includes Gabbar killed by Thakur, was screened at an international film festival in Italy.
The restoration process was conducted by the film Heritage Foundation and Sippy Films Private Limited and took more than three years.
In the original version of the film, Sanjeev Kumar’s Thakur took revenge by killing Gabbar in the last moments. It was replaced by the censor board during the Emergency. In the released edition, Thakur goes away from an injured Gabbar as the police swooped to arrest him.
Akhtar said, “At that time, I was sad and disappointed that the end was being changed, but we had no choice but to do so.”
And if he was in 2025, what would Jai and Veeru be doing? “They will be in the corporate world. They are so crooks where they will go?” Akhtar had a quick answer.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-early syndicate wire feed. In addition to the headline, there is no editing in the copy by ABP Live.)
