FILM · 1975 · INDIA
Sholay
140 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
114 Interesting Facts About Sholay
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In the original ending, Thakur killed Gabbar. The Indian Censor Board rejected this ending, saying that the lawless side of the law undermined the rule of law and could negatively influence pure young minds. A new ending was therefore created in which the police run in at the last moment and arrest Gabbar, telling Thakur in particular that only the law has the right to punish criminals. The original ending was restored in the 204-minute director's cut.
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Initially, Dharmendra was willing to play the role of Thakur Baldev Singh. He was finally relieved when the director told him that if that happened, Sanjeev Kumar would play Veeru and take the hero's role. Sanjeev Kumar had just proposed marriage to Hema Malini. Dharmendra was in love with her and quickly went back to the role of Veeru.
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The film was shot extensively in Ramnagaram near the Indian city of Bangalore. This town has the giant granite rocks that form the backdrop of Gabbar Singh's hideout. As a mark of respect, the people of Ramnagaram renamed a locality in the town Sippynagar in memory of the film's director, Ramesh Sippy.
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Although it is universally accepted that Sambha has only one line of dialogue in Sholay, he speaks at least once more. As Ahmed rides away from Ramgarh, Gabbar's men are seen playing a card game. Sambha says, "Chal be Junga, chidi ki rani hai," and one of the other thugs replies, "Chidi ki rani toh thik hai Sambha, woh dekh chidi ka gulam aa raha hai."
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While presenting Dharmendra with the prestigious IIFA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007, Amitabh Bachchan famously thanked him for recommending him for the role of Jai, which he had won at the expense of Shatrughan Sinha thanks to Dharmendra's influence. He said: "I want to share a secret with you all. If it weren't for Dharamji, I couldn't have been a part of this wonderful film Sholay. He was the one who suggested my name to Mr Ramesh Sippy, and I truly thank him for that."
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Everyone says Sambha has only one line in Sholay, which is not true. He had three lines in the film in total. 1. Gabbar: Aare kim Sambha, Kitna Inam Rakha hai sarkar humpar? Sambha: Pure Pachas Hazar. 2. Sachin (Imam Saheb's son) on his way to work. Those who caught him were Sambha and Jagga. Sambha — Chal be Jagga. 3. Then they take Sachin to Gabbar. Sambha — Sardar. Gabbar — Humm. Sambha — Ye, Ramgadh ka chokra hai, istation ja raha tha, humain raaste ana meela.
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The massacre scene in which Gabbar destroys Thakur's family, the most important part of Sholay, was shot over three schedules in twenty-three days. It was a complex scene made up of several parts: the establishing of the family, Gabbar's arrival, the shootings, and then Thakur's arrival at the scene after Gabbar and his men slaughter his family and withdraw. Half of the scene had been shot when the weather changed and a cloudy sky replaced the bright sun. The unit waited two days for the sun to reappear. Then Ramesh realised the dark clouds were a celestial signal: the cloudy look was perfect for the scene. It emphasised the tragedy and heightened the sense of disaster. This also logically led to the point where the wind began to pick up and dry leaves flew over the bodies. He spoke with Divecha. Divecha said, 'It will not only look good, it will look very good. But what will we do if the sun comes out tomorrow?' Ramesh was willing to take his chances. 'Let's shoot,' he said. For the next two days they shot furiously. And then the sun reappeared. After a week's work, they had two versions of the same half-scene, one against a bright sky and one against cloudy weather. But Ramesh was determined. It would be clouds or nothing. So they waited for the gods to do the lighting. There were days when the sun played hide-and-seek, when they managed only a single shot, and some when they just looked at the sky. Shooting came to a complete standstill. To speed up the process, Divecha asked Anwar to make a screen to reflect the light. The screen had to be bigger than the house. Anwar bought up all the white cloth in the vicinity to create a hundred-by-seventy-metre screen. He sewed it himself with strong canvas thread. Once the giant screen was in place, shooting resumed, but there were takes where the effect created by the screen was not good enough. The gods had to intervene and bring the clouds back. But it was not just the clouds. Nothing seemed to go right. As they neared the end of the sequence, the small boy playing Thakur's grandson Alankar Usta had exams. If he did not sit them he would lose an academic year. Ramesh let him go. Later the fan that created a suitable wind by blowing dry leaves over the bodies decided to do its own thing. It would not start when they needed it. And once it started, it would not stop. In the end an aviation unit near Bangalore made another fan. It worked perfectly. The wind scattered yellow-brown leaves over the bodies and the white shrouds on them, as Thakur rode his horse, ready to seek out Gabbar in fury.
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At the Elite cinema in Calcutta, the film began its first week with a qawaali sequence. Gabbar Singh was shown to be in the army. He kills his officer and escapes from prison. Many people watched the film again a week later when it was shifted to the Jyoti cinema (because Elite had been reserved for another film) and the song and Gabbar Singh sequence had been removed.
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From October 1973 to May 1974, the 'Sholay' unit had a schedule of ten to fifteen days in Bangalore every month. Each time they managed to do some work, but it was not enough. Delays grew further because in 70 mm every shot had to be done twice. After seven months of work, nearly a third of the film had not been shot. 'Sholay' had been planned as a six-month project. No one had thought it would take so long that Macmohan, who played Sambha, one of the smallest roles in the film, would travel from Mumbai to Bangalore twenty-seven times. Ramesh kept his famous composure. He had a grand vision for 'Sholay' and would not let the delays force him to compromise. As the budget went beyond the original one crore, G. P. Sippy occasionally made noise. 'What is happening?' he would ask. But he never pulled the plug. He was a gambler who had made a big bet. The flow of funds continued. Yet despite all the planning, things began to go wrong. The first schedule lasted ten days but very little work was done. Some days they managed ten shots, on others none at all. In the November schedule Ramesh completed only one scene. The resolve of no compromise became firm. Ramesh and Divecha were like painters trying to perfect their canvases with G. P. Sippy, the patron of the art, staying in the background, financing their dreams, budget and timelines.
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Javed Akhtar suggested that Gabbar Singh's voice be re-dubbed with Kader Khan's voice. Sanjeev Kumar agreed. This was the week the film was released and it was declared a failure. Coincidentally, after Danny left the film, it was Sanjeev Kumar who recommended Amjad's name and got him included in the film. Amjad Khan would later refuse to work with Salim and Javed. This was because of their statements that Amjad Khan's voice was like a mouse's.
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An officer's family is massacred. He remembers two youths brought to court for childish behaviour. But both were very brave. The army general decided to enlist them to take his revenge. Salim and Javed sold these 4 lines, and only these 4 lines, to producer Baldev Pushkarna without any treatment. Baldev signed Manmohan Desai to direct his next film. However, Manmohan Desai did not like the script. He wanted a light, hot, breezy comedy. Salim and Javed decided to sell him a lost-and-found comedy formula that turned into Chacha Bhatija.
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It is true that Sholay is definitely one of the greatest Indian films of 100 years of Indian cinema. On the occasion of the 100th year of Indian cinema, Sholay was the number 1 film segment-wise. However, others had different views. For one segment the number 1 film is Mother India. Mughal-E-Azam was also chosen as the number 1 film. But what matters is this: Sholay, Mother India and Mughal-E-Azam are all among the top 10 films of 100 years of Indian cinema.
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Amjad Khan signed a film after a 10-year struggle. While flying Bombay-Bangalore for the shoot, the plane had to make an emergency landing at Bombay airport due to a technical problem, and the passengers were left in fear. However, this did not kill his hopes, and he decided to stay at the airport until the next flight was announced.
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Ramesh Sippy came to see one of Amjad Khan's stage plays. Ramesh's sister Soni (Sunita) was also acting in this role. Sippy was impressed by Amjad and promised him a good role soon. To prepare for his role, Amjad Khan read everything he could about real-life dacoits, including a book by Jaya Bachchan's father, T. C. Bhaduri. After researching dacoits, he realized that Gabbar Singh had existed in real life. Gabbar Singh had vowed to cut off the ears and noses of 100 people. By the time he was 20, he was shot dead. The first thing Amjad Khan did was consult Ramesh Sippy and tell him that he did not want to wear the traditional dhoti, kurta, pagdi and tilak that all screen dacoits wore. The first thing Amjad Khan noticed was that real dacoits wore fake army, police and border security uniforms. This was done to fool the villagers and make them think help was on the way. The villagers would then be attacked and raided because they would not suspect the dacoits.
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"Ke Chaand Sa Koi Chehra Na Pehlu Mein Ho" was initially planned as a qawwali, but was later composed as a Chaar Bhaand, a folk music form suited to the Bhopali character who was to sing it. The vocals in the song were panned hard left and right to create the effect of a listener seated in the middle of a conversation. The song was recorded but never filmed, as the film was already over three hours long.
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Javed Akhtar wrote the character of Soorma Bhopali because he belonged to Bhopal. The character was in fact a person in Bhopal. Javed Akhtar wrote the character, recorded its dialogue on an audio cassette and sent it to Jagdeep, who also imitated Javed Akhtar's manner of speaking in the role.
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"Basanti Inh Kutto Ke Samne Mat Nachna" was not the original dialogue. When Mac Mohan earlier aimed his gun at Dharmendra, Amjad Khan says the line "Utha De Bandook Aur Lag Nishana" on the Kutte Par. Dharmendra felt that his fans would not like a newcomer like Amjad Khan calling a senior actor like himself a Kutte. Dharmendra spoke to Ramesh Sippy and told him that he was Gabbar Singh, a villain, and could do it. Dharmendra then said he would use the same word in one of the dialogues; the original line was "Basanti Tum Nahi Nachna."
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Actor Ranjeet said: "When Sholay was first announced in a newspaper, it showed Danny as the villain, but at that time we were shooting for 'Dharmatma' in Afghanistan and Feroz Khan told him to stay behind. He reasoned about what he would do in a film with three heroes; 'here, I'm giving you a solo song with Hema Malini.'" "After completing my portions in Afghanistan, I was to shoot in Bangalore, and Sholay's producers came to me to make their film, which was being shot at the same location. But how could I take my friend's place without his permission? Who knew Gabbar Singh would be such a big hit! But maybe it wouldn't have worked if I had done the role either," he added.
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Producer V. K. Sobti wanted to make a film for his brothers-in-law Jeetendra and Shatrughan Sinha. He approached Salim and Javed for a script. They narrated the script of Sholay, but Sobti did not like it. Salim and Javed then told the story to Manmohan Desai. The dacoit element in the script also bothered him. He chose the script of Chacha Bhatija instead.
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When Sholay performed poorly in its first week, Amjad Khan's voice was also blamed. One suggestion was that Kader Khan dub for Amjad Khan. In the end the film recovered. However, the relationship between Javed Akhtar and Amjad Khan deteriorated, and Amjad Khan never worked with Salim-Javed again.
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Before Sholay, Ramesh Sippy and Amjad Khan visited the famous tarot card reader Delores. After laying out his cards, she told Ramesh Sippy that the film would run for 5 years and that this would be because of this man (pointing to Amjad Khan). Sippy and Khan were shocked and could not understand what she meant.
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