A little over its 3D release in India (January 2014) and exactly 40 years after the original Ramesh Sippy film released to become a cult favourite, it comes to Pakistani cinemas in full, upgraded glory. The film isn’t just any popular classic; it has been honoured as the most classical film in Hindi film history and was also given the honour of being Best Film in 50 years at the 50th Filmfare Awards in 2005. Sholay hits cinemas across Pakistan today and here are five simple reasons why you should be queuing up to get tickets for the whole family…
A little over its 3D release in India (January 2014) and exactly 40 years after the 
original Ramesh Sippy film released to become a cult favourite, it comes to Pakistani cinemas in full, upgraded glory. The film isn’t just any popular classic; it has been honoured as the most classical film in Hindi film history and was also given the honour of being Best Film in 50 years at the 50th Filmfare Awards in 2005. Sholay hits cinemas across Pakistan today and here are five simple reasons why you should be queuing up to get tickets for the whole family…
Introduce it to a new generation
Many of us weren’t even born forty years ago and while we’ve heard the Sholay vernacular from absolutely everyone, we’re not exactly sure what all the fuss is about. Those of us who have seen it know better. It’s what a true Bollywood masala film is all about; it’s got romance, bromance, action, social message and above all, a kickass soundtrack! Jai (Amitabh Bachchan) and Veeru’s (Dharmendra) unconquerable friendship, the feisty chemistry between Veeru and Basanti (Hema Malini), the restrained attraction between Jai and Radha (Hema Malini), who is Thakur Baldev Singh’s (Sanjeev Kumar) widowed daughter. And above all, the villain…
Gabbar Singh
What would Sholay be without the ominous villain Gabbar Singh? You may wonder what Ramgarh – an extremely impoverished village full of skeletal villagers – has to offer Gabbar and his gang who continue to loot it year after year (what exactly can they take away?) but Gabbar is undoubtedly one of the most impressive villains in Bollywood history. “Kitney aadmi thay?” and “Ab tera kya hoga kaliya?” are dialogues used in popular culture even today. Simply put, Sholay is timeless.
The dialogues
It’s not just the dialogues mentioned above – though they are the most popular in the film – but so many more that have become household terms that make Sholay so spectacular. “Basanti, in kutton kay saamne matt naachna!” is what Veeru says when Gabbar and his gang holds him and Basanti hostage and she is ordered to dance to keep Veeru alive. In pure melodrama, she has to dance barefoot on broken glass, in front of a lecherous audience. Other than the obvious, one of our favourite-most dialogues is Asrani’s “Hum angrezon keh zamaney kay jailer hain!” which he delivers in his comic, Hitler avatar. And then “Jo darr gaya samjho marr gaya!”…does that ring a familiar bell?
The soundtrack
We could write a book on the fantabulous Sholay soundtrack that includes the melodious “Yeh Dosti”, the raunchy “Mehbooba Mehbooba”, the festive “Holi Keh Rang”, the romantic “Koi Haseena Jab” and the melancholic “Jab Tak Hai Jaan”. It’s R.D. Burman at his very best and you get to hear the super Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar too!
The honours
Sholay may not have won the Filmfare Award the same year it was nominated but it was honoured thirty years later, in 2005 at the Filmfare’s Fiftieth Anniversary.
It was credited as being the Best Film in 50 Years of Hindi cinema. Sholay has received many more Best Film honours; it was declared Film of the Millennium by BBC India in 1999. It also topped the British Film Institute’s Top 10 Indian Films of All Time poll of 2002 and was included in Time Magazine’s Best of Bollywood list in 2010. Do you still need a reason to revisit it?
