Sholay Tribute 5: Other Narratives & The Next Gen.

In this 5th & concluding piece, I look beyond the film at the other narratives that endear this epic to fans. And wonder if it will light fires in the next generation.

Committed to Excellence

Sholay managed to combine all these elements – 70mm scale, gold standard writing, a brilliant cast, finely etched characters, sterling action choreography & photography, sharp editing & inspired music – in a way that added up to much, much more than the sum of its parts. And that Gestalt Effect, was more than just visionary helmsmanship & a liberal dose of luck; it was nurtured with endless patience. At a time, when stars used to churn multiple movies every year, Sholay was almost 2 years in the making! 

Anupama Chopra’s book mentions how Jeetendra met Ramesh Sippy, during the making, at an airport and asked, ‘Tum log abhi bhi Sholay banaa rahe ho? I have finished 3 films, yaar!”

Leaving no stone unturned – from finding uncharted locations, to bringing in action choreographers from Hollywood, to taking weeks to film some of the simplest of scenes – this was truly a work of love. Such painstaking ardor that re-affirms faith in slow cooking.

Rising like a Phoenix

The other narrative that endears this movie to its fans is how the movie was made a super-hit by the watching public, rather than the reviewers, trade magazines or award shows. If you read some of the reviews from then, it was almost summarily declared as a ‘Dead-on-Arrival Curry Western’ by the Industry pundits.

Amitabh Bachchan, in an interview said, how, after the disastrous opening, they had all got together with Salim-Javed to discuss possible reasons for the failure, and had almost decided to go back & re-shoot a ‘happy ending’ with Jai surviving & marrying Radha. (In case you didn’t know that the ending in the film itself was the one that the censor board had forced the makers into, here’s the original one.) At which point, believe Ramesh Sippy had said, ‘let’s wait till Sunday and see’. They did, and in the course of that one week, the tide started to turn & the re-shoot idea was dropped.

By rising from the dead, entirely on word-of-mouth, this is truly a people’s blockbuster.

The Numbers, The Acclaim

Released with 250 prints, it was the first film in the history of Indian cinema to celebrate silver jubilee (25 weeks) at over a hundred theatres across India. Running non-stop for 5.5 years at Bombay’s Minerva theatre – and for 75 of those weeks, the current booking of Minerva remained shut as the it used to get house full in advance booking itself!

Made on a budget of Rs. 2 crores (in the early 1970s), according to this source, by 2012, it’s all time net adjusted for inflation had come to a whopping Rs. 236.45 crores. By returning over 120 times it’s cost in 30 years, the commercials of the film are just mind-boggling.

Hardly winning any awards that year, it went on to be declared as ‘The Film of the Millennium’ by BBC India in 1999. In 2005, Filmfare tried to make amends by declaring it ‘The Best Film of the last 50 years’. But then, it didn’t matter much; coz the rest of the nation knew it long back.

Will it work for the Millennials?

This is a question that hovers around me. Will we be amongst the last generations that will love it this passionately? For the first time, I’m wondering if the fame of this epic movie has an expiry date.

Have met several 20 somethings who haven’t seen the movie at all. they giggle when they admit that (but it still makes me wonder about the kind of upbringing they’ve had). Our daughter sat through it, and said ‘It was Ok’; maybe at 12 she’s too young to be able to articulate more than that.

Chanced upon this ‘Millennial’ review of Sholay which seemed to appreciate it overall, while frowning at the casual reference to Hitler & Veeru being a lech. It acknowledges how the film confronts some thorny philosophical dilemmas, but the big crib, of course, was the ‘OMG’ playing time & how ‘slow’ the reviewer found it –  explained admittedly, by their low attention spans.

Chances are, this passion for the movie would dim with time. And why not? After all, we weren’t as passionate about yesteryears’ blockbusters as the generation in whose time it released – say Dilip Kumar’s Devdas or even a Raj Kapoor’s Awara.

Then I asked myself, why is that important? I guess, sharing the passion for any cultural icon is a bridge of sorts across generations. I see the joy writ large on the faces my parents & uncles when I speak with excitement about the movies, songs, actors, cricketers of their era. When the appeal of such icons leaps across generations, I think it’s seen by the older generation as me having connected with their youth, almost as if they see some cherished values travel in the same trajectory to my generation.

For me, it’s not just a movie; it’s like a favourite wine I keep returning to. Not just seeking that certain comfort which comes from nostalgia, but also a sense of fulfilment, a quiet pride even, of having witnessed this watershed in our lifetimes, and in some small way, having helped grow this legend for 40+ years. You feel like a shareholder in its destiny, and that spreads a warm feeling.

As I once heard Javed Akhtar acknowledge, with great humility,

‘Sholay, hum se nahin hai. Hum Sholay se hain’
(Sholay doesn’t belong to us. We belong to Sholay)

Best of luck to the Millennial generation – hope they find their own Sholays! A cultural icon to belong to. And grow up with.

22 thoughts on “Sholay Tribute 5: Other Narratives & The Next Gen.”

  1. Loved every word and connected with it like how. You leave with a real question to ponder. Honest writing and your own words ‘You feel like a shareholder in its destiny’ sum it so beautifully, what I feel. Super, RP. Hungry for more

    1. Many thanks, Ashish, firstly, for sharing this passion for the movie. Which is why this connected with you – we are the Sholay generation, and proud of it.

  2. Well Prasad,
    I was thrilled to read the blog and I really enjoyed it

    It was true i missed it when all my Madras colleagues went to see the film taking you and Hema, however I enjoyed with your company while in Delhi.

    All I want to add here is that you totally missed Hema Malini,the famous Basanti….

    I was more eager to read about her while you were so brilliantly went thru the blog… coz,Hema Malini dancer , came with her mom Jaya Chakravarti, to the then famous photo studio G K Vale at Mount Road Madras , I was as an Accountant with them, was obliged to make a photo album for them , in view of my commitment to her father officially. That is my part with one of the cast of Sholay –the great movie of that period.

    1. Thanks, Appa! Yes, of course, that episode is etched in our memories! Hema Malini infused such liveliness into Sholay.
      I believe she wasn’t so sure about this movie, initially, saying she didn’t have too many scenes. Ramesh Sippy assured her that it would be a very memorable character. He saw what that role could be, and she placed her trust in him. This story was for you, her secret admirer 🙂

  3. Beautiful ending to this series. Shekar & I will send you some फ़रमाइशे offline for movie reviews. Hope you will oblige. 😺

  4. Awesome piece, RP. All of it. Read through all the 5 blogs at a go, much like a best seller favourite which one cannot put down. You’ve probably spoken for all of our generation who are still madly in love with this cult of a movie. Especially loved the piece on the music and background score. To my mind it was the fourth Hero of the movie.
    PS: I was able to answer all the trivia questions, but for Sachin’s remuneration. 😁

  5. Loved all the 5 episodes.of your wonderful review. By the way, you may be pleased to know that my daughter – who turned 12 yesterday – watched Sholay for the first time when she was barely 5 years old. Over the next 7 years, she has watched it at least 50 times if not more. Sholay is, by a far stretch, her most favourite movie, and have can’t seem to get enough of it.

    1. OMG, how many such 12 year olds would be there in India??!! If she has the patience, do show this series to her – would love to hear her comments too! Thanks much, Shailesh 🙂

  6. An absolutely delightful read RP. Certainly bringsback memories of my own encounter with the film. My many Jai Veeru moments from thereon, the angrezo ke zamane ke bosses and ofcourse the basanti(s) of the growing up years all come back.
    Congratulations & can’t wait for the next write

    1. Thanks, Rishi! Yeah, even I have seen parallels from my own life to such themes in the movie – just the kind of enormous influence this movie wields over us!

  7. Loved all 5 parts of this – thanks to Varun Khanna for pointing me to this on Facebook. I count myself as one of the greatest Sholay fans too, and like the author, have lost count of the number of times I have watched it – since the first time I saw it on the Saturday, the day after its release, in Milan theater in Bombay, and it wasn’t a full house! I went to school on Monday (I was in 8th grade then), and raved about it to all my classmates, and hopefully, I was part of that word-of-mouth buzz that led to its becoming a hit over the next few weeks:-)

    My sons, 22 and 18 now, make fun of the fact that I can’t resist watching it till the end each time I happen to chance on it while channel-surfing – but I know that they love it too. Although they have lived all their lives in California, I made sure that their education is complete (!) – they know each of these famous dialogue excerpts, and hum along with, not just the songs, but also the iconic background music bits!

    I didn’t know the Samta Prasad and the Sachin answer – but the other trivia questions are the stuff of lore that all Sholay fans treasure! By the way – that uncensored climax scene is a discovery for me – the Anupama Chopra book said that the clip was lost!

    Thank you, Ram Prasad – this was an absolute pleasure to read!

    1. Hi Shekar! Sholay geeks like you, seem like brothers separated-at-birth to me – I feel like hugging you straight away 😀
      Yup, we were amongst the million minions who raved about it to anyone they came across – just because we couldn’t contain ourselves.
      So, happy to hear how well you have ‘brought up’ your sons – am trying to, with our daughter as well.
      Since you liked the trivia, that Samta Prasad question came in Mastermind India once, and stumped me so badly that it left a scar – I had to inflict it on others too 🙂 Thanks for stopping by, and sharing your story.

  8. Bro just got the time to read all 5 blogs. Don’t have words to praise the way you have put it. God Bless

  10. Hi RP,

    Thoroughly enjoyed every bit of this read. In fact, it felt akin to a Netflix binge experience. I ended reading all at a single sitting. Keep them coming. I am sure there are more aspects of Sholay that you can peel.

    Cheers,

    Vivek

  11. Awesome RP …. your words create a magic …. looking forward to more of your posts now !!! Happy blogging dude !!!

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