Ramesh Sippy's Sholay completes 45 years today; the director and the cast talk about the classic cult

One of the most iconic films in Bollywood, Sholay completed 45 years today. Directed by Ramesh Sipppy, the cult classic, which released on August 15, 1975, has been every Indian’s one of the most favourite films. Be it the iconic dialogues, or the stellar cast, brilliant performances, and songs that people still can’t get over, Sholay continues to appeal to movie lovers.

Sholay was a film that was way ahead of its time in terms of technology. It was the first film in Indian cinema to hit a silver jubilee run in the theatres. The style and setting of the film was something that was never executed before in India and only seen in the Western cinema. But those elements were very well adapted in the film by placing them in an Indian setting. “I spoke to a theatre owner from South Bombay when the film was live on the box office and he showed me the popcorn and refreshments counter and said look, it's empty. At first, that upset me a little because I thought my film wasn’t doing well and that’s why there were no people at these counters. But then, he told me that all the audience was glued to their seats inside the theatre and they didn’t want to leave the hall, that is how capturing the film was. And I couldn’t have been happier.” said Ramesh Sippy, director Sholay.

The film used the most modern technology and new age style of filmmaking and had a power packed team. Right from Producer G.P. Sippy, Ramesh Sippy, the industry’s best actors, the writer duo Salim-Javed, music maestro RD Burman among others, brought the whole film to life by each putting their best foot forward. Sholay was the very first Indian film to have a stereophonic soundtrack and to use the 70 mm widescreen format. This was so novel to Indian cinema that even the posters highlighted upon the fact that it was a 70mm film. "I really wanted to incorporate the 70mm format because I knew it would just make the film look magnificent on screen and I also wanted the audio to be well spread so we used six-track stereophonic sound. I believe that these two technical elements really made the film stand out,” said Ramesh Sippy.
Each character of the film, including the supporting roles such as Sambha played by Mac Mohan, who mainly had one dialogue became widely popular and is remembered even today. A villain like Gabbar Singh, whose character is played by Amjad khan, is among the most iconic villains of Indian cinema.
Amitabh Bachchan who played the character of the witty and sharp Jai said, “Sholay, in hours, beautifully encapsulated the victory of good over evil and…it was the first time ever, a dialogue CD for an Indian film was released….action sequences were first time being directed by a British crew, specially invited to India for the film and then the film was edited in United Kingdom, so many firsts occurred. And Ramesh Sippy ji as a director did many unconventional changes in its reproduction and its making – the location, the action coordination, camera work, 70 mm and the scale – I guess it all worked out fine.”
Ramesh Sippy had an eye for perfection, there were scenes that took days and weeks to shoot at times because he wanted to get every aspect of it right. For instance the train robbery sequence took about 7 weeks to complete in order to get the train, the actors, technicians, horses, all aligned and in sync. Hema Malini who played the character Basanti said, “Before we started shooting itself, I was told that there is a dance sequence, where my character would be dancing on glass on a rough mountain. The shoot took place in the month of April when it is extremely hot, I remember Ramesh ji being very particular about it, but that sequence became an epic in itself.”