Plot Thakur Baldev Singh (
Sajeev Kumar) hires two goons, Veeru (
Dharmendra) and Jai (
Amitabh
Bachchan) to bring him the dreaded dacoit, Gabbar Singh (
Amjad Khan), to him alive.
Jai and Veeru accept the offer and shift to Thakur's village, Ramgarh to catch Gabbar.
Can Jai and Veeru do it? Does the dreaded Gabbar fall into the Thakur's trap? Check out this landmark movie for the details.
Critic's Viewpoint As you can see, the plot is a two liner, so what is the secret that made
Sholay such a big blockbuster. A little analysis shows that Sholay is a perfect example that a good plot is not the only thing that makes a movie tick. There are other elements and if these other elements are taken care of, then even a lame plot can be a big success.
For starters, the cast of Sholay was mind-boggling.
Dharmendra, in the role of Veeru, the happy go lucky goon, gave a standout performance. Be it his sincerity in friendship, be it comical flirting with Hema Malini or be it action scenes with Gabbar, Dharmendra was excellent. The scene of the movie for him is when he proposes to HemaMalini from the top of a water tower in front of the whole village. Till date, many film producers try to borrow this scene into their movies!!
Amitabh Bachchan has given another brilliant portrayal as the quiet and efficient Jai. His silent and calm mannerisms are a perfect foil to the overtly excited mannerisms of Dharmendra. Together the duo are perfect friends, steadfast in friendship, but always ready to pull the other's leg with good natured humor. The scene for him was definitely his death shot which left the theaters crying!!
Amjad Khan brought the character of Gabbar Singh to life. Rarely, has one role been so much quoted, admired and looked upon by one and all as the role of Gabbar Singh. Right from the rusty looks, to the sharp tongued humor and the ruthlessness of his treatment, Gabbar Singh was the dacoit to fear!! Many of his dialogs have made it to the Bollywood folklore and are quoted even today. His best moment though was the "Kitne aadmi the" scene.
Others like Sanjeev Kumar as Thakur, HemaMalini as Basanti, Jagdeep as Soorma Bhopali and Macmohan as Sambha all are cult figures of Hindi cinema. The most amazing thing is that MacMohan had just one dialog in the movie and that was enough to make him a cult figure!!
The dialogs of the movie by the duo of Salim-Javed were absolutely mindblowing. It was the combination of the dialogs, performances and screenplay that mesmerized the Indian public. I thought that I would also add the music review of the music album, but this review already seems to be too big, so I will skip it!!
Critic's Nightmare When the movie was released it was deemed a flop and looking at the crowds coming to see the movie it was destined to be a failure. Then the movie started to gain word-of-mouth publicity from those who saw it and the crowds started coming to the theatres from the 3rd week onwards and then suddenly after around a month they were running full-houses everywhere. Queues as long as one kilometer in front of the ticket counters were being reported!!
In Bombay's Minerva theatres, the movie ran regular shows for three consecutive years!! After this the theater ran matinee shows of the movies for another two years!! Even today when this movie is shown in theaters people go to watch it. Overall, the movie is the highest ever grossing Hindi movie with collections of over 157 crores till date!!
Awards - What Awards!! The most amazing thing about Sholay was that the only award it won when it was released was for Best Editing to M.S. Shinde!! The most successful movie in India won just one award!! But, over the years the movie has been recognized world over and it has won many more awards. Some of the more prestigious awards include:
Filmfare Award for the Best Film in the Last 50 years Film of the Millenium by BBC India Legend of Sholay Sholay left behind a legacy the likes of which has never been witnessed in Indian cinema. Each one of the performers in the movie became cult figures, be it Soorma Bhopali, Sambha, Basanthi, Gabbar, Jai, Veeru, Thakur etc. each became a legend in their own right!! The other interesting aspect of the movie was the both leading pairs ended up married. Amitabh Bachchan married his lady love in the movie Jaya Bachchan in 1973 and Dharmendra married his lady love in the movie Hema Malini in 1980.
Also, books after books have been written on the legend of Sholay where people have tried to decipher what led to the success of the movie. There have also been a lot of remakes of Sholay, but none of them could replicate the magic of the original. The recent movie RGV's Aag was another remake of Sholay which bombed dramatically at the box office.
Summary All in all Sholay is the biggest blockbuster ever in Indian cinema. Later hits might have eclipsed the earnings of Sholay, but none them can challenge the Legacy of Sholay!!
I would give this movie a high 5 rating in the true Indian spirit!!:)