Arrey o Sholay

It was August 15 1975 when Ramesh Sippyrsquos Sholay was released in Minerva the Pride of Maharashtra in Grant Road We were 13 when Jaswinder Sawney a school mate and I ldquosnuckrdquo into the auditorium mdash Jaswinderrsquos dad being the theatre managerWe couldnrsquot catch the ldquofirst day first showrdquo being a school day so the 530 pm show on Sunday was As the crowds poured out into the street there was a stunned ldquopaisa vasoolnessrdquo that would guarantee repeated viewings The handdrawn poster that ran across the front face of the theatre had Jai Veeru Basanti Thakur Radha and Gabbar staring out at usIf the poster had wound its way round the back of Minerva the Sippys would have had Soorma Bhopali the Jail Warden Kaalia Sambha Mausie Rahim Chacha and Dhanno the horse on it Armed with our greasy samosas we climbed up the stairs to the first floor we were virtually stampeded as audiences sped towards their seats desperate not to miss a single word of dialogue not a moment of screen timeAs I sat there watching a 70mm film for the first time stereophonic sound surrounded me bullets flying horses stomping hooves coins being flipped mdash at well over three hours This was unhurried film making subtle inspite of the scale seminal inspite of the spectacle and hugely emotional inspite of the epicness In 1980 our voices were deeper and our moustaches fuller we were done with our ICSE boards and Jaswinderrsquos dad treated us to a second viewing Five years later the trolls and the trade critics had been silenced the word of mouth was overwhelming The crowd favourite was Gabbar Singh stained teeth and sneering smile that a vision of pure evil savage and sadistic could be so popular there were ldquotaalisrdquo and ldquoseetisrdquo every time he appeared with the audiences echoing ldquoKitne aadmi thherdquo ldquoArre o Sambhardquo ldquoTera kya hoga Kaaliardquo ldquoBahut yaarana lagta hairdquo Gabbar was the villain but he was everymanrsquos ldquobhidurdquo bindaaas in his ldquobadismrdquoNobody could compartmentalise or cardboxise this movie into easy generalisations mdash ldquoOh itrsquos a Kurosawa Seven Samurai copyrdquo ldquoItrsquos a Magnificent Seven remakerdquo Sippy and SalimJaved had woven elements of Sergio Leone the spaghetti western Sam Peckinpahrsquos falling bodies the use of slow motion adding dollops of masala Romance revenge ravines rollicking humour rifles into a fabulous bhelpuri giving Bollywood its first real ldquocurry Westernrdquo mdash the Good the Badmashes and the AgniAs we live in an era when itrsquos getting harder to get audiences to come to the cinema sequels soppy love stories South remakes no formula is a slam dunk certainty theyrsquore even rereleasing films that Sholay ran five years in a single cinema on sheer word of mouthWhat was it about Sholay that blew us away in rsquo75 and continues to fifty years on Did the first experience of widescreen make us wideeyed and work its way into our collective DNA was it the sheer craft that every frame had rigour and detailing of a directorcameraman camaraderie RD Burmanrsquos orchestrated background score down to the tiny themes take Jai Veerursquos ldquoYeh Dostirdquo as a leitmotifWhat was it that made us remember so many slices of cinematic history snatches of evergreen dialogue as we enter into the arena of evil being a perfectly acceptable form of behaviour preferable to even heroism We talk of most movies being a onetime watch but I settled down to watch Sholay for the nth time well certainly my favourite scenes The train battle the JaiVeeru bromance Gabbar Singh in all his scenes Javed Akhtarrsquos Awadhi dialect the Holi fight as Jai throws powder into Gabbars eyes Jairsquos death scene and finally Thakurrsquos revengeBack in 1975 they lived and shot together for over two years in Ramangara Dharmendra Hema Malini Jaya Bhaduri Amjad Khan and Amitabh Bachchan with Ramesh Sippy The bonding the chemistry between them that is so apparent that extensive rehearsals numerous retakes were possible mdash the film is being rereleased with the original ending where Gabbar dies in the end except Amjad Khan will live forever in our collective soulsAs will Sholay the Pride of IndiaRahul da Cunha is an adman theatre directorplaywright filmmaker and traveller Reach him at rahuldacunhamiddaycom