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Time of India
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
50 years later: Sholay's unstoppable pop culture ride
Sholay has been an important of the country's pop-culture. "Arre o Sambha, kitne remakes, ads, parodies, aur spoof hain?' Too many, Sardar. If you got the reference, you are a Sholay connoisseur; it would be unfair to call you just a fan. The Ramesh Sippy film, which ran for five consecutive years at Mumbai's Minerva Cinema after its release on August 15, 1975, is 50 years old now. Its iconic scenes and quotable dialogues, written by Salim-Javed, are deeply woven into India's pop culture fabric. Whether it is Jai-Veeru's yaarana or Thakur's hands being as deadly as a noose (ye haath nahi phaansi ka fanda hai), Basanti's titter-tatter (Yun ki, ye kaun bola?) or Gabbar's menacing 'Kab hai Holi?', there is a bevy of Sholay moments which TV shows, movies and ads have mined for clever and hilarious callbacks. Soorma Bhopali, Mausi, Kaalia and Sambha are the stuff of folklore. One of Hindi cinema's finest creations has birthed of numerous parodies and homages. Sholay lives on as a meme machine Just like films and ads, memes have borrowed liberally from Sholay, introducing the cult classic to a Gen Z audience that may have never watched it. The most viral of the lot being the iconic 'Yeh haath humein de de Thakur' dilaogue, with meme-makers inventing savage comebacks from Thakur. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like They Were So Beautiful Before; Now Look At Them; Number 10 Will Shock You Reportingly Undo The film's scenes and characters continue to serve as readymade comic strips, adaptable to everything from politics and cricket to heartbreak and Monday blues. Thakur and Gabbar have been the most popular Sholay characters for the memers. The visual grammar of Sholay has also made its way into lifestyle marketing. Several apparel and lifestyle brands have dabbled in Sholay-inspired graphics and slogans. Gabbar T-shirts, Ramgarh road-sign merch, and even pop-up cafés themed around the film have found traction in metros. In 2023, Coca-Cola India launched a limited-edition 'Basanti's Orange' retro can, a tribute to Hema Malini's iconic character, which sold out within days. In the same year, Bharti Airtel's #KitneAadmiThe Reels challenge saw over 12,000 user-generated videos in just 72 hours. Sholay: The marketing gold mine For decades, Sholay has echoed across radio jingles, billboards, TV commercials, and viral videos, celebrated through both loving tributes and tongue-in-cheek parodies. What draws viewers in is the magnetic presence of each protagonist, snappy dialogues, and the film's strikingly vivid sequences, which lyricist Prasoon Joshi once said 'make sense even if pulled out from the film.' Interestingly, while many rank Jai (Amitabh Bachchan) as their favourite character, it's Gabbar, played by Amjad Khan, who dominates the advertising world. 'Arey o Kaalia, gaanv se mere liye kya laaye re?' 'Yeh biscuit laaya hoon, Sardar.' The iconic Glucose-D biscuit ad gave Hindi cinema its first advertising icon – Gabbar Singh , the soft-voiced villain who ended up selling biscuits to children. Ad filmmaker Kailash Surendranath recalls tapping into the Sholay craze and turning Bollywood's most feared villain into a brand ambassador back in 1976. 'From being scary to being the face of a children's brand was really something. Gabbar's popularity contributed to the success of the ad,' he shares. Gabbar's biscuit ad was one of the most popular ads. Sunil Alagh, then Britannia's group product manager, had initial doubts – until his wife convinced him. As per The Economic Times, she told him, 'Children wanted to be Gabbar and not any hero,' adding that kids wouldn't even remember Amitabh, Dharmendra, or Sanjeev Kumar's dialogues. The bigger hurdle was convincing Amjad to appear in the commercial. 'In those days, doing an ad was beneath the dignity of actors... 'We do such big films, why should we do 'sabun-tel ki ad?'' shares Kailash. Amjad agreed to reprise Gabbar – on one condition – 'He said that if the press asks you about this ad, you must say I gave the money to charity and didn't keep it for myself.' The actor found it embarrassing to accept payment for the ad, so he donated the money. Mac Mohan and Viju Khote also returned as Sambha and Kaalia, respectively. Kailash even sourced the original props from JP Sippy Films and recreated the rugged backdrop at a stone quarry near Mumbai. The ad's script was written by Javed Akhtar and echoed the same dialect, attitude, and even sound effects from the film. The ad was a game-changer. 'It was a complete revolution in advertising. It is one of the most memorable ads, and after 50 years, people are still talking about it,' says Kailash. From Maggi to Clinic Plus, Alpenliebe to Bajaj, brands have gleefully borrowed from Sholay. In a 2005 Tetley Tea ad, Sambha refuses to cower before his Sardar, flipping Gabbar's trademark menace into domestic comedy. Goli, the vada pav food joint chain, used a famous dialogue 'Ab goli kha' for its promotions. In an internet advertisement for Orbit chewing gum made in 2011, animated versions of Gabbar and Thakur enact a hilarious altercation. Even government and public service campaigns have jumped on the bandwagon. In one voter awareness ad, a Thakur lookalike uses his mouth to stamp and drop a ballot into the box. UNICEF's Sampoorna Swachhta Abhiyan featured look-alikes of all four main protagonists to drive home its message. And in 2014, when Sholay was re-released in 3D, Amul ran a clever ad with Jai and Veeru back on the motorbike and sidecar, Basanti in tow - all wearing 3D glasses. Iss kahani mein action hai, emotion hai aur iske bohot saare remakes hain... There have been many reakes and parodies of Sholay. Sholay has long inspired parodies, spoofs, and reboots. From Ramgarh Ke Sholay (1991) to Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag (2007), filmmakers have reinterpreted the film for decades. There's a Bhojpuri version titled Gabbar Singh , starring Ravi Kishan and produced by Ekta Kapoor, and a comic spin-off Malwa ke Sholay , where Basanti marries Gabbar. Salman Khan once expressed interest in a reboot. 'If I had to remake any of their films, I would want to remake Sholay . I can play Jai and Veeru both, I can also play Gabbar,' he said in the documentary Angry Young Men , about Salim-Javed. And why not? As Veeru says, "Iss kahani mein action hai, emotion hai, tragedy hai.' Actor Sachin Pilgaonkar, who had a small role in the original, created a parody titled Chholay in 1998 for Star TV's Ek Do Teen . It featured Sumeet Raghavan as a duplicate Jai. ' Sholay is iconic—we've grown up watching it. It still draws fanfare and will remain relevant even in 2075. Every character is legendary, even Mausi, Sambha, and Soorma Bhopali,' says Sumeet. Even the kids got a slice of Sholay . In 2015, Cartoon Network's Pogo channel launched Sholay Adventures , an animated series featuring Jai and Veeru as two mischievous, golden-hearted eight-year-olds. Gabbar was reimagined as a tech-savvy supervillain plotting world domination with his intergalactic minions, while Thakur led a secret police agency named Sholay. "Get the latest news updates on Times of India, including reviews of the movie Coolie and War 2 ."
BBC News
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Sholay: Bollywood epic roars back to big screen after 50 years with new ending
Sippy Films Fifty years after it first exploded on Indian screens, Sholay (Embers) - arguably the most iconic Hindi film ever made - is making a spectacular return. In a landmark event for film lovers, the fully restored, uncut version of Ramesh Sippy's 1975 magnum opus will have its world premiere at Il Cinema Ritrovato Festival in Bologna, Italy, on Friday. This version includes the film's original ending - changed due to objection from the censors - and deleted scenes. The screening will take place on the festival's legendary open-air screen in Piazza Maggiore - one of the largest in Europe - offering a majestic setting for this long-awaited cinematic resurrection. Crafted by writer duo Salim-Javed and featuring an all-star cast led by Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Jaya Bhaduri, Sanjeev Kumar and the unforgettable Amjad Khan as Gabbar Singh, Sholay draws cinematic inspiration from Western and samurai classics. Yet, it remains uniquely Indian. The 204-minute film is a classic good-versus-evil tale set in the fictional village of Ramgarh, where two petty criminals, Jai and Veeru (Bachchan and Dharmendra), are hired by a former jailer, Thakur Baldev Singh, to take down the ruthless bandit Gabbar Singh - one of Indian cinema's most iconic villains. When it first released, Sholay ran for five uninterrupted years at Mumbai's 1,500-seater Minerva theatre. It was later voted "Film of the Millennium" in a BBC India online poll and named the greatest Indian film in a British Film Institute poll. Half a million records and cassettes of RD Burman's score and the film's instantly recognisable dialogues were sold. Sippy Films The film is also a cultural phenomenon: dialogues are quoted at weddings, referenced in political speeches and spoofed in adverts. "Sholay is the eighth wonder of the world," Dharmendra, who plays a small-town crook and is paired up with Bachchan in the film, said in a recent statement. Shooting the film was an "unforgettable experience," Bachchan said, "though I had no idea at the time that it would become a watershed moment in Indian cinema." This new restoration is the most faithful version of Sholay, complete with the original ending and never-before-seen deleted scenes, according to Shivendra Singh Dungarpur of the Film Heritage Foundation. In the original version, Gabbar Singh dies - killed by Thakur, who crushes him with spiked shoes. But the censors objected. They balked at the idea of a former police officer taking the law into his own hands. They also found the film's stylised violence too excessive. The film faced unusually tough censors because it hit the theatres during the Emergency, when the ruling Congress government suspended civil liberties. After failed attempts to reason with them, Sippy was forced to reshoot the ending. The cast and crew were rushed back to the rugged hills of Ramanagaram in southern India - transformed into the fictional village of Ramgarh. With the new, softened finale - where Gabbar Singh is captured, not killed - in place, the film finally cleared the censors. The road to the three-year-long restoration of the epic was far from easy. The original 70mm prints had not survived, and the camera negatives were in a severely deteriorated condition. But in 2022, Shehzad Sippy, son of Ramesh Sippy, approached the Mumbai-based Film Heritage Foundation with a proposal to restore the film. Sippy Films Sippy Films He revealed that several film elements were being stored in a warehouse in Mumbai. What seemed like a gamble turned out to be a miracle: inside the unlabelled cans were the original 35mm camera and sound negatives. The excitement didn't end there. Sippy Films also informed the Foundation about additional reels stored in the UK. With the support of the British Film Institute, the team gained access to archival materials. These were carefully shipped to L'Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna, one of the world's premier film restoration facilities. Despite the loss of the original 70mm prints and severely damaged negatives, archivists sourced elements from Mumbai and the UK, collaborating with the British Film Institute and Italy's L'Immagine Ritrovata to painstakingly piece the film back together. The effort even uncovered the original camera used for shooting the film. Sippy Films Interestingly, Sholay had a rocky start when it first hit the screens. Early reviews were harsh, the box office was shaky, and the 70mm print was delayed at customs. India Today magazine called the film a "dead ember". Filmfare's Bikram Singh wrote that the major problem with the film was the "unsuccessful transplantation it attempts, grafting a western on the Indian milieu". "The film remains imitation western - neither here nor there". In initial screenings, audiences sat in silence - no laughter, no tears, no applause. "Just silence," writes film writer Anupama Chopra in her book, Sholay: The Making of a Classic. By the weekend, theatres were full but the response remained uncertain - and panic had set in. Over the next few weeks, audiences warmed up to the film, and word of mouth spread: "The visuals were epic, and the sound was a miracle…By the third week, the audience was repeating dialogues. It meant that at least some were coming in to see the film for the second time," writes Chopra. A month after Sholay hit screens, Polydor released a 48-minute dialogue record - and the tide had turned. The film's characters became iconic, and Gabbar Singh - the "genuinely frightening, but widely popular" villain - emerged as a cultural phenomenon. Foreign critics called it India's first "curry western". Sholay ran for over five years - three in regular shows and two as matinees at Mumbai's Minerva. Even in its 240th week, shows were full. Sholay hit Pakistani screens on April 2015, and despite being 40 years old, it outperformed most Indian films over a decade old - including the 2002 hit Devdas starring Shah Rukh Khan. As film distributor Shyam Shroff told Chopra: "As they used to say about the British Empire, the sun never sets on Sholay." Why does Sholay still resonate with audiences, half a century later? Amitabh Bachchan offers a simple yet profound answer: "The victory of good over evil and… most importantly, poetic justice in three hours! You and I shall not get it in a lifetime," he told an interviewer. Asia Film Bollywood India
BBC News
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Sholay: The Bollywood epic roars back to the big screen after 50 years
Fifty years after it first exploded on Indian screens, Sholay (Embers) - arguably the most iconic Hindi film ever made - is making a spectacular a landmark event for film lovers, the fully restored, uncut version of Ramesh Sippy's 1975 magnum opus will have its world premiere at Il Cinema Ritrovato Festival in Bologna, Italy, on Friday. This version includes the film's original ending - changed due to objection from the censors - and deleted screening will take place on the festival's legendary open-air screen in Piazza Maggiore - one of the largest in Europe - offering a majestic setting for this long-awaited cinematic by writer duo Salim-Javed and featuring an all-star cast led by Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Jaya Bhaduri, Sanjeev Kumar and the unforgettable Amjad Khan as Gabbar Singh, Sholay draws cinematic inspiration from Western and samurai classics. Yet, it remains uniquely 204-minute film is a classic good-versus-evil tale set in the fictional village of Ramgarh, where two petty criminals, Jai and Veeru (Bachchan and Dharmendra), are hired by a former jailer, Thakur Baldev Singh, to take down the ruthless bandit Gabbar Singh - one of Indian cinema's most iconic it first released, Sholay ran for five uninterrupted years at Mumbai's 1,500-seater Minerva theatre. It was later voted "Film of the Millennium" in a BBC India online poll and named the greatest Indian film in a British Film Institute poll. Half a million records and cassettes of RD Burman's score and the film's instantly recognisable dialogues were sold. The film is also a cultural phenomenon: dialogues are quoted at weddings, referenced in political speeches and spoofed in adverts. "Sholay is the eighth wonder of the world," Dharmendra, who plays a small-town crook and is paired up with Bachchan in the film, said in a recent the film was an "unforgettable experience," Bachchan said, "though I had no idea at the time that it would become a watershed moment in Indian cinema."This new restoration is the most faithful version of Sholay, complete with the original ending and never-before-seen deleted scenes, according to Shivendra Singh Dungarpur of the Film Heritage Foundation. In the original version, Gabbar Singh dies - killed by Thakur, who crushes him with spiked shoes. But the censors objected. They balked at the idea of a former police officer taking the law into his own hands. They also found the film's stylised violence too excessive. The film faced unusually tough censors because it hit the theatres during the Emergency, when the ruling Congress government suspended civil failed attempts to reason with them, Sippy was forced to reshoot the ending. The cast and crew were rushed back to the rugged hills of Ramanagaram in southern India - transformed into the fictional village of Ramgarh. With the new, softened finale - where Gabbar Singh is captured, not killed - in place, the film finally cleared the road to the three-year-long restoration of the epic was far from easy. The original 70mm prints had not survived, and the camera negatives were in a severely deteriorated condition. But in 2022, Shehzad Sippy, son of Ramesh Sippy, approached the Mumbai-based Film Heritage Foundation with a proposal to restore the film. He revealed that several film elements were being stored in a warehouse in Mumbai. What seemed like a gamble turned out to be a miracle: inside the unlabelled cans were the original 35mm camera and sound excitement didn't end there. Sippy Films also informed the Foundation about additional reels stored in the UK. With the support of the British Film Institute, the team gained access to archival materials. These were carefully shipped to L'Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna, one of the world's premier film restoration the loss of the original 70mm prints and severely damaged negatives, archivists sourced elements from Mumbai and the UK, collaborating with the British Film Institute and Italy's L'Immagine Ritrovata to painstakingly piece the film back together. The effort even uncovered the original camera used for shooting the film. Interestingly, Sholay had a rocky start when it first hit the screens. Early reviews were harsh, the box office was shaky, and the 70mm print was delayed at customs. India Today magazine called the film a "dead ember". Filmfare's Bikram Singh wrote that the major problem with the film was the "unsuccessful transplantation it attempts, grafting a western on the Indian milieu"."The film remains imitation western - neither here nor there".In initial screenings, audiences sat in silence - no laughter, no tears, no applause. "Just silence," writes film writer Anupama Chopra in her book, Sholay: The Making of a Classic. By the weekend, theatres were full but the response remained uncertain - and panic had set the next few weeks, audiences warmed up to the film, and word of mouth spread: "The visuals were epic, and the sound was a miracle…By the third week, the audience was repeating dialogues. It meant that at least some were coming in to see the film for the second time," writes Chopra. A month after Sholay hit screens, Polydor released a 48-minute dialogue record - and the tide had turned. The film's characters became iconic, and Gabbar Singh - the "genuinely frightening, but widely popular" villain - emerged as a cultural phenomenon. Foreign critics called it India's first "curry western".Sholay ran for over five years - three in regular shows and two as matinees at Mumbai's Minerva. Even in its 240th week, shows were full. Sholay hit Pakistani screens on April 2015, and despite being 40 years old, it outperformed most Indian films over a decade old - including the 2002 hit Devdas starring Shah Rukh film distributor Shyam Shroff told Chopra: "As they used to say about the British Empire, the sun never sets on Sholay." Why does Sholay still resonate with audiences, half a century later? Amitabh Bachchan offers a simple yet profound answer: "The victory of good over evil and… most importantly, poetic justice in three hours! You and I shall not get it in a lifetime," he told an interviewer.
