One of the best works of Salim-Javed, Sholay (1975), marked its 50th anniversary this year. It starred legendary actors such as Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Jaya Bachchan, and Amjad Khan, among others. Sholay continues to remain iconic with its storyline, powerful dialogues, and chartbuster songs such as Mehbooba Mehbooba and Yeh Dosti Hum Nahin Todenge, to name a few. On Mid-day’s Sit With Hitlist series, Javed Akhtar gets candid about the film and why he feels regret when appreciated for it. 

I worked on Sholay 50 years ago: Javed Akhtar 

The veteran screenwriter says that he doesn’t feel happy when people praise him by mentioning Sholay, a project he worked on 50 years ago. He explains in Hindi, “Mere liye kaafi afsos ki baat hai. Agar koi mujhe Sholay ki baat kare, toh 50 saal pehle main ek kaam kiya tha, jo wo appreciate kar rahe hain, toh main baaki 50 saal kya kar raha tha? I should think that, instead of feeling happy. "Ho ho, yeh Sholay ki tarif kar raha hai." Are bhaiya, tune 50 saal mein koi aur kaam nahi kiye, jiski wo tarif kar sakhe? Toh bade afsos ki baat hai. Aaram se raho, socho kya karna hai, don`t live in your past. Bilkul bekar baat hai.”