Sholay - my most favourite movie of all time

I remember watching Sholay for the first time when I was in Grade 5 in India on a VCR. I liked it so much and before the climax I cried a lot because one of the main characters dies in the movie. I felt like I had seen something special. Overall, the movie was great and I felt I could not even afford to miss a second out of the entire 3 hours + screen time.

An action drama with a wonderful cast, it was shot in beautiful locales in south India. The director Ramesh Sippy had worked very hard on the movie and after its release in 1975 it became of one of the biggest superhits of all time (although it took a while for it to do well; initially the response was not too good the first two or three weeks but then business picked up at a rapid pace).

The movie had my favourite actors, Sanjeev Kumar and Amjad Khan, as well as other wonderful actors including Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini and Jaya Bhaduri. I think it is probably one of the best ensemble movies I have ever seen.

A revenge saga plays out for more than 3 hours but the audience would not feel as if it is a very long movie. Sanjeev Kumar plays the main protagonist, an injured, retired police officer, who seeks revenge against a ferocious bandit, played by the brilliant Amjad Khan. Dharmendra and Amitabh play two thieves, who are out on bail, and are eventually hired by Sanjeev to carry out his mission of revenge against Amjad and his gang. However, included with this basic story are dollops of romance, comedy, action, emotions, etc. It is a thorough joy ride.

I think this movie will always be remembered for Amjad Khan. His performance as the villain is the best I have seen till date. His dialogues are remembered even after 40 years. He inhabits the skin of the bandit and whenever he is on the screen, the audience can feel fear. His scenes with Sanjeev Kumar and later Dharmendra are electrifying. The scene in which he murders most of Sanjeev’s family members is horrifying.

Also, I think this movie has probably shown the best friendship between two characters in any movie I have seen so far. Dharmendra and Amitabh are best friends. More than friends, they are like brothers in the movie. Their scenes together are heartwarming. Sometimes they have comedic scenes while sometimes they have dramatic scenes. In each scene they are together (and there are many such scenes) each actor is complementing the other. For me it was difficult to believe that they were characters; their friendship came across so well that it felt very real.

Sanjeev Kumar has given one of his best performances in this movie. He was young when it was made but he played an older character. His body language and expressions are so good as Thakur Baldev Singh. The pain in his eyes is all too real when he sees his dead family after returning from work from another city for a holiday. When he confronts Amjad in the middle and then in the climax one can feel his seething anger towards him. He cannot believe Amjad destroyed his family and he needs to avenge them. In the entire movie he very rarely smiles. Most of the time he is silent and serious. Sanjeev has done complete justice to his role.

The film’s minor characters, Jailor (played by Asrani) and Soorma Bhopali (played by Jagdeep), are so good. Even though they each only have a few minutes of screen time they made their impact felt and contributed to moving the story forward.

All in all, Sholay is a wonderful movie. I recommend that cinema lovers see it at least twice. I have seen it at least seven times in the last 20+ years and would not mind seeing it again in the near future.