Sholay (1975)

Original title

शोले

Directed by

Ramesh Sippy

Genre

drama film, comedy film, action film, Western film, adventure film, buddy film

Country

India

Runtime

3h 24m

Rated

L

Rating

7.0 of 10 from 322 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Two small-time criminals are hired by a retired police officer to capture a violent bandit who terrorizes his village. The duo brings their wits and friendship to a dangerous mission that intertwines with romance and revenge.

thrillingdramatichumoroussuspensefulemotionalfast-pacednostalgicgrand-scale

What happens

Sholay (Hindustani: [ˈɕoːleː] , transl. 'Embers') is a 1975 Indian Hindi-language action-adventure film directed by Ramesh Sippy, produced by his father G. P. Sippy, and written by Salim–Javed. The film follows two criminals, Veeru (Dharmendra) and Jai (Amitabh Bachchan), who are hired by a retired police officer (Sanjeev Kumar) to capture the ruthless bandit Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan). Hema Malini and Jaya Bhaduri also star as Veeru and Jai's love interests, Basanti and Radha, respectively. The soundtrack was composed by R D Burman. Filming took place in the rocky terrain of Ramanagara, in the southern state of Karnataka, over two and a half years, beginning in October 1973. After the Central Board of Film Certification mandated the removal of several violent scenes, Sholay was released theatrically as a 198-minute long film. The first version of the director's cut (running at 204 minutes) became available on home media in 1990. In 2025, the fully restored Director's Cut was released worldwide as Sholay: The Final Cut. Sholay is a Dacoit Western (sometimes called a "Curry Western"), combining the conventions of Indian dacoit films with those of Spaghetti Westerns along with elements of Samurai cinema. Sholay was theatrically released on 15 August 1975. It received negative critical reviews and a tepid commercial response during its initial release. However, favourable word-of-mouth publicity helped it to become a box office success. It then went on to break records for continuous showings in many theatres across India, and ran for more than five years at Mumbai's Minerva theatre. The combined sales of the original soundtrack, scored by R. D. Burman, and the dialogues (released separately), set new records at the time. It was also an overseas success in the Soviet Union. Sholay was also at one point the highest-grossing Indian film ever at the time, and was the highest-grossing film in India up until Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (1994). Sholay is often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential Indian films of all time. It was ranked first in the British Film Institute's 2002 poll of "Top 10 Indian Films" of all time. In 2005, the judges of the 50th Filmfare Awards named it the Best Film of 50 Years. Sholay was also a defining example of the masala film, which mixes several genres in one work. Scholars have noted several themes in the film, such as glorification of violence, conformation to Indian feudalism, debate between social order and mobilised usurpers, homosocial bonding, and the film's role as a national allegory. The film's dialogue and certain characters became extremely popular, contributing to numerous cultural memes and becoming part of India's daily vernacular. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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