In my opinion the best Hindi film ever made. Everything is top notch, the theme tune, songs, dialogues, the casting and so much more. This is the highest grossing action movie ever, most classics such as KKHH AND DDLJ were love stories. Sholay was inspired by the Hollywood hit The Magnificent Seven which in turn was a remake of the Kurosawa masterpiece The Seven Samurai but in my opinion Sholay is just so so much better In my opinion Sholay is a mix of genres, there is action, romance comedy etc. Another remarkable quality is the characterizations, The characters are just so well thought out. There was the vengeful Thakur(played by the superb Sanjeev Kumar), Jai and Veeru( Amitabh and Dharmendra) Basanti(Hema Malini) and last and certainly not least Amjad Khan as the tyrant Gabbar. His entry sequence is one of the best and well known in Bollywood history. Gabbar set the standard for Bollywood villains, especially in the scene when he cuts off Thakur’s arms. His dialogues are often repeated especially Kitne Aadmi thee.
Most people claim this is just a revenge movie but its much more than that, Sholay is also a tale of redemption. Jai and Veeru at the start are no for nothing crooks but during the movie they start to change. For instance when they first turn up at Thakur’s house they plan to rob him and flee but later on during the movie they return his money and say that they will get Gabbar for nothing. They even decide to stop their evil ways and start making a living farming like the villagers.
Sholay is also a tale of friendship, probably the best ever portrayed in a Bollywood movie. Two great instances is when at the end Jai spares Veeru’s life by sending him back to the village and gets killed himself. Another great instance is after Jai dies Veeru goes to kill Gabbar and then lets him go after Thakur reminds him that it was Jai that had promised that Gabbar would be returned alive, after that Veeru says if it was his promise he would have broken it.
Another remarkable quality of Sholay is the emotional impact. I don’t normally cry whilst watching movies but Jai’s death scene gets me every time. Also the scene where Ahmed gets killed by Gabbar and he is sent back to the village on a horse is just unbearable for me.
All the cast play their roles to perfection but it is Sanjeev Kumar that stands out for me. For instance the last scene where he demands Gabbar to give him his hands. Amjad Khan also more than delivered. I cannot imagine any other actor playing him other than Amjad Khan.
The music by the my genius R.D. Burman was superb. My favourite are yeh dosti or Mehbooba(sung by R.D. Burman himself). In my opinion this was his best score for a movie. The action scenes also deserve a special mention, the sequence in which Sanjeev Kumar, Dharmendra and Amitabh are trying to fend off bandits whilst travelling on train is one of my favourite action sequences ever.