Sholay at 50: The Film That Changed Bollywood Forever

In 1975 a watershed moment transformed Indian cinema forever. Sholay, widely regarded as Bollywood’s most iconic film, premiered on a Friday, as Indian films do. This, however, was not just any Friday—it was August 15, the anniversary of India’s independence from British rule in 1947. On the eve of independence, Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first prime minister, had delivered a famous speech heralding India’s “tryst with destiny.” Almost 30 years later, Sholay became Bollywood’s tryst with destiny; it held the box-office record as highest-grossing film for 19 years, ran for five years in a cinema hall in Bombay (now Mumbai), captured the public imagination as few Indian films have before or since, and is regarded as an evolutionary milestone in Hindi cinema.

The people who made Sholay

At once a western, revenge thriller, bandit drama, buddy film, comedy, and musical, Sholay is all things to all fans. The plot follows Jai and Veeru, best friends and petty criminals who are hired by former police officer Thakur Baldev Singh to capture the dreaded bandit Gabbar Singh, who is terrorizing Thakur’s village, Ramgarh.

Trivia

• The casting could have been very different. Actor Danny Denzongpa was the first choice for Gabbar Singh but declined because he was shooting the film Dharmatma (1975; "Righteous Soul") in Afghanistan. Dilip Kumar rejected the role of Thakur Baldev Singh. Dharmendra wanted to play Thakur initially, and Sanjeev Kumar was bent on playing Gabbar.
• The actors paired romantically in Sholay were also partners off-screen. Jaya Bachchan, who had married Amitabh Bachchan in 1973, was pregnant during filming. Their daughter, Shweta Bachchan, was born in March 1974. According to Bollywood lore Dharmendra conspired with Sholay’s lighting assistants to enable several retakes of his romantic scenes with Hema Malini so that he could spend more time with her. They married in 1980, even though Dharmendra was already married and had children with his first wife
• When Sholay was released, Amitabh Bachchan was not yet the cinematic icon he would later become. He was billed fourth in the film’s credits—after Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, and Hema Malini—and was reportedly paid 1 lakh rupees (about $12,500 in 1974–75 dollars). Dharmendra was the top billed and highest paid cast member, with a salary of 1.5 lakh rupees (about $18,750 in 1974–75 dollars)
• The first action scene in the film, featuring bandits attacking a moving train, included three British stuntmen. They were each paid a fee of 50,000 rupees (more than $5,700 in 1975) as well as life insurance coverage. The stunts involved executing triple somersaults on landing after jumping off the running train
• The film originally ended with Thakur Baldev Singh kicking Gabbar Singh to death, but the Indian censor board objected to this violent resolution. In the final cut Thakur hands a captive Gabbar over to the police.

What makes Sholay special

Although ticket sales were slow at the start, Sholay eventually became a blockbuster. In the five years after its release it collected 30 crore rupees (more than $350 million in 2025 dollars). It dethroned Mughal-e-Azam (1960; “The Great Mughal”) as Bollywood’s highest-earning film until it was in turn displaced by Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (1994; “Who Am I to You?”).

Sholay was revolutionary in its portrayal of villainy, and many of Gabbar Singh’s lines are embedded in the lexicon of Indian popular culture, including: “Kitney aadmi they?” (Hindi: “How many men were there?”). Also memorable was the film’s soundtrack. Sholay’s songs became chartbusters—“Yeh Dosti” (“This Friendship”), which underscores Jai and Veeru riding a motorbike, celebrates their bond; in “Jab Tak Hain Jaan” (“As Long as I Live”), Basanti dances at Gabbar’s behest for the sake of a captive Veeru.

To commemorate Sholay’s half century anniversary, a restored and uncut version of the film premiered at the Il Cinema Ritrovato Festival in Bologna, Italy, in June 2025. It included several deleted scenes, among which was the original climactic confrontation between Gabbar Singh and Thakur Baldev Singh, in which Thakur kicks the bandit to death. This was famously changed because of objections from the Indian censor board, and in the final cut of the film Thakur Baldev Singh hands Gabbar Singh over to the police.

Bollywood’s milestone year

The year 2025 also marks the anniversaries of two other landmark Bollywood films, both made by filmmaker Yash Chopra.

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge: 30 not out

Produced by Chopra and directed by his son Aditya Chopra, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (“The Brave-Hearted Will Win the Bride”) was released in 1995 and became Bollywood’s definitive romantic film. DDLJ, as it is popularly known, accelerated the superstardom of Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol. Thirty years later, it is still running—a daily screening at Maratha Mandir, a cinema hall in Mumbai, is faithfully attended by Khan fans, most of whom have watched the film multiple times. Just like the romantic ideals it glorifies, DDLJ does not get old.