Tuesday, May 11, 2004
‘The greatest story ever told’
(Spoilers ahead)
Watched the extended edition/director’s cut version of Sholay for the first time last night. For those of you who haven’t heard, this is the version in which Gabbar dies. Seen this movie an ungodly number of times, but the extended version was a first for me. Phew, what a movie!
‘Iss shtorii mein emoshun hai, drrrama hai, trrragedii hai!’ laments a drunk Dharmendra about his love life, from atop the water-tank, while he contemplates ’sosssiiiide’! So true of the movie itself! The many spices of storytelling that come together in perfect unison to create what is now considered the greatest ‘curry’ Western that Bollywood ever made - Sholay!
I grew up in a family of Sholay lovers. Methinks that my mom considered naming me Basanti, but better sense prevailed (Ah there is a god after all!). We owned the complete Sholay dialogues on a 3 LP set that got played once every couple of months, just so we kids didn’t forget the movie. I remember huddling around the LP player with my cousins during the summer holidays, eating raw mangoes, listening to the high-pitch screeching Gabbar theme, and being collectively scared (I guess i was about 5 then).
But despite having the dialogues memorized, I hadn’t yet seen the movie. VCRs weren’t common and Sholay wasn’t re-released until the mid-80s. So the sights and sounds of Ramgarh were all in my imagination.. and the movie grew larger than life. And thanks to all the hype I had generated about the movie in my head, I was hesitant to watch the movie. My imagination was a tough yardstick to measure up to, after all! :)
And then finally.. 1987 summer holidays - It happened! *sigh* What can I say about a movie that hasn’t already been said a hundred times before. A deceptively simple storyline that grew to become an inescapable part of the movie-going consciousness of the 70s and generations after!
The characterizations, the dialogues, the camera angles, the framing of seemingly simple shots, the comedic timing, the unspoken emotions, the Thakur’s turmoil, Veeru’s bumbling, Jai’s astuteness, Hema’s chatter, Jaya’s silences, Gabbar’s homicidal glee, the implied off-screen violence that sends chills down your spine .. and above all, the background music! Sholay would be a fraction of the masterpiece it is today had it not been for R D Burman’s magnificent background score! (Separate blogpost dedicated to that)
A story that had shades of the Akira Kurosawa classic The Seven Samurai as well as Sergio Leone’s western Once Upon A Time In The West (especially the Thakur family massacre scene). However, Ramesh Sippy’s individualistic treatment gave Sholay its own distinctive flavor and elevated it to cult status for Bollywood watchers.
Sholay became and will remain, close to my heart. Much like Parle-G Glucose biscuits. After all, they were ‘Gabbar ki asli pasand!’ ;)
(Photo courtesy rediff.com)
Stumbled on to your site from a link on my college buddy Ajeeth’s blog.. You must be commended , you write wonderfully well.. I have a similar liking for Sholay and Anand and Deewar and so many others .. :) ..Somehow reading your blog takes me back to those good old relaxed days in India ..makes me break into the song ..
“shaurat bhi lelo (although there is no shaurat till now ! :) bhale cheen lo mujhse meri jawani magar mujhko lauta do bachpan
ka saawan (especially with the heat in Boston !) woh kaagaz ki kashti woh baarish ka pani “..
Wednesday, May 12, 2004 @ 2:12 PM
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Wednesday, May 12, 2004 @ 3:07 PM
Umm Sholay. Great movie and your post brings back memories of this movie. I have a similar story to tell as I watched this movie late 80’s in many of the re-runs in theaters and I still feel no other hindi movie has matched the level of intensity this movie has till now. I love this movie more for its comedy than for its action scenes. I would love to watch the extended verison of this movie. This movie will keep up bollywood’s “sholay” for many years to come.
Wednesday, May 12, 2004 @ 3:25 PM
I just had to comment on this post.. We had 2 audio casettes of Sholay ,which we played “n” number of times every week.I ,my sis and bro had memorized the dialogues.aaah those days… I think you missed out AB’s mouth organ.. wah now that was heart wrenching stuff… *sigh
I am surprised that not many people have commented on this post.
Regards
A friendly neighbourhood blogger.
Wednesday, August 17, 2005 @ 6:09 AM
well, what can one say ? sholay’s is the best background score ever for any movie anywhere. i feel it still hasnt sunk in for many……the recording systems then just cudnt capture the essence of the score. i wonder what the score could have sounded like today with all the advanced recording technology. by the way i was lucky to witness much of the recordings with a few other friends as i knew pancham uncle well since childhood. i dont how many know this , but amjad too played side rhythms for background score in the orchestra as he was free in those days of 1973-74. R D gave him to play some acoustic sounds including the sound of the shoes for the gabbar intro scene . ironically it was amjad who said time and again that it was background score of sholay that made a massive impact and ultimately resulted in such success. you all of course know that pancham and amjad became best pals after sholay, a la viru and jay !!! sholay background music is the benchmark for any movie soundtrack world over.
Monday, December 4, 2006 @ 2:13 PM