Dharmendra fired real gun on the sets; 'Thakur' killed 'Gabbar' in original climax, lesser known facts that changed film's destiny
Bollywood has produced many iconic films, but Sholay stands in a league of its own. The film is still remembered for its epic dialogues, funny punch lines and the vengeful tactics with 'Gabbar'. And now, after 50 years, the film had its world premiere in Italy, on June 27, Friday, in the restored, uncut version.
The full version of Ramesh Sippy's 1975 magnum opus had its world premiere at Il Cinema Ritrovato Festival in Bologna, Italy.
Unknown facts related to Sholay
When the film was first released, it ran for five uninterrupted years at Mumbai's 1,500 seater Minerva theatre. The film premiered with its original version, showcased many scenes which were not present in the 1975 released film.
Climax scene was objected by CBFC
In the original version of Sholay, Gabbar dies. He is killed by Thakur, who crushes him with spiked shoes. But the censor board objected. They were uncomfortable with a former police officer taking the law into his own hands and felt the film's stylised violence was excessive.
After failed negotiations, director Ramesh Sippy was forced to re-shoot the climax. The cast and crew returned to the rugged hills of Ramanagaram that is fictionalised as Ramgarh for a toned-down ending, where Gabbar is captured instead of killed. Only then did the film receive censor clearance.
Interestingly, Sholay had a rocky start at the box office. Early reviews were harsh, and even the 70mm print was delayed at customs. During initial screenings, the film struggled to gather audience, although it picked up the pace.
'Just silence,' writes film critic Anupama Chopra in her book Sholay: The Making of a Classic. However, by the weekend, theatres were full and the audience enjoyed Basanti's masti along with punch lines of 'Jai' and 'Veeru'. 'By the third week, the audience was repeating dialogues. It clearly meant that at least some were coming in to see the film for the second time,' writes Chopra.
The film was later released in Pakistan in April 2015, and despite being 40 years old, it outperformed several Indian films over a decade old including the 2002 hit Devdas starring Shah Rukh Khan.
Other interesting facts of 'Sholay'
After hearing the final script, Dharmendra expressed interest in playing Thakur, knowing how central the Thakur-Gabbar dynamic was to the story. But director Ramesh Sippy had other plans.
He cleverly convinced Dharmendra to stick with the role of Veeru by joking that if the roles were swapped, it would be Sanjeev Kumar playing Veeru, who would end up with Hema Malini in the end. At the time, Dharmendra and Hema's romance was just beginning, while Sanjeev Kumar had already proposed to Hema once.
Amitabh Bachchan's name was recommended by Salim Khan. Dharmendra too lobbied for his role.
Danny Denzongpa was the first choice for Gabbar Singh, but he had to turn it down due to prior commitments.
The iconic one-minute scene of Radha (Jaya Bachchan) extinguishing the lamps as Jai (Amitabh Bachchan) played the harmonica at sunset took an astonishing 20 days to film. Cinematographer Dwarka Divecha and director Ramesh Sippy insisted on capturing the golden hue of the magic hour, believing it was essential to the emotional tone of the moment.
Real bullets were used in climax scene
In one of the episodes of KBC, Amitabh Bachchan mentioned about the climax scene. He said
When we were shooting that scene, Dharam ji was down below, and I was on top of the hill. He had to open a chest and pick up the ammunition. He tried once but, failed. Tried again, still couldn’t manage. Frustrated, he loaded the cartridge real bullets and fired the gun in sheer irritation. I heard a ‘whoosh’ as the bullet flew past my ear. He had fired a real bullet! I was lucky, main bach gaya. There were many such incidents on the set. Sholay truly was a special film.
Dharmendra would secretly pay the light boys to deliberately mess up shots during romantic scenes. Just so he could hug and embrace Hema Malini again and again.
