Sholay

This movie is just one of the best Hindi movie i have seen. Its one of my favorite film. It has all the elements that a good Hindi movie must have. The settings of the hilly mountainous village, the dusty n tough terrain, the train sequence n the villain Gabbar played menacingly by Amjad Khan, were all awesome. Such is the impact of the villains acting is that u always remember him by his character's name frm the movie. One of the movies you remember for life. Amitabh Bachan and Dharmendra were awesome too. The character of Hema malini was cheesy n unbelieavable though. A woman riding a horse chariot that too in the cow belt area wher rape is rampant. Nevertheles the film is solid entertainment. It is a story of friendship, courage and revenge, based loosely around the concepts of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai & The Magnificent Seven with shades of Once uopn a time in the west. A true cinematic masterpiece.

The Indian filmmaker G.P. Sippy died last December at the age of 93. his son Ramesh directed this film, which remains the most famous Hindi-language movie and the biggest commercial success for Bollywood. If you want to watch one Bollywood film in his honor, this is it.

This epic has everything. It has a magnificent Seven type story, but there are only two who come to save the village. They are thieves hired by a former policeman to capture the bandit leader.

It is a spaghetti-western of sorts as there are plenty of horses, and shooting, and fights.

It is a lavish musical with amazing color and costumes as the villagers really put on a show for their simple festival of colors.

It has comedy, slapstick, romance (but NO kissing!), music, a little horror, almost continuous action, tragedy, and triumph. Like, I said, if you only see one Sippy production, this should be it.

I think Sholay is a great Hindi film of its times, although with the amount of praise and superlatives it has been getting throughout the years, I must admit it's a little overrated. The film was indeed ahead of its time in many ways. First, the action was really good - there were some glitches here and there, but it was far more credible than what the times had set the public for. Secondly, the attention to detail, as expected from Ramesh Sippy, is first-rate. Sippy, a great director whose combination of professional, technically skilled direction, impressive storytelling, and the delicate yet honest depiction of his stories, produced several classic Hindi pictures. Sholay is a good product although sadly it mixes too many genres and is overlong for the story it tells. It could have easily edited out some parts. Given the extraordinary brutality of the villainous characters and the situations, as well as the marked contrast between the good and the evil, I think the comedic parts (except for those of Basanti) were grossly redundant, among others, as they dragged the narrative and undermined its consistency as well as the minimalist approach that was so successfully employed by Sippy in some key scenes.

Set in a rural, remote region in southern India, the film is beautifully shot, and Sippy manages to capture the essence of the village and its people. One wonderful scene shows the routine of the village and the different activities of its inhabitants in the morning, a rare glimpse into the cultural weight of the place, which few directors would bother to tap into. This is where our heroes and villains are thrown, in an interesting story which benefits from Sippy's unique direction. The realism with which some of the situations are portrayed is striking, and it is matched by a careful handling of the proceedings in ways the Indian moviegoing public, which was used to being spoonfed by Hindi filmmakers, had not been accustomed to. Note for one the way the romance between Veeru and Radha is portrayed. Just watch the scene in which Jai is playing his harmonica as Radha is walking around and turning off the Kerosene lamps. Such subtlety is rarely seen in Hindi films. This is not to say that the film is devoid of any sentimentality. Still, the overall thing is really good - the film is both entertaining and then it is also quite moving and heartbreaking in some hard-hitting scenes, not to mention the famous, harrowing parts.

The film's authenticity is achieved in large parts through the acting, particularly the grounded, authentic performances of the main characters. Sholay is in my view Sanjeev Kumar's story as it is his character's determination that carries the narrative forward. He is tremendous. Dharmendra plays the energetic and happy-go-lucky Veeru pretty well, but Bachchan is fantastic in a subdued, quiet performance as Jai. Hema Malini is wonderful as the iconic, highly talkative and kind-hearted village belle Basanti; her comic timing is top-notch, and her dance numbers are never less than fabulous. Out of the two couple, it is Jaya Bhaduri of course who can always be trusted to do so much by doing so little. Her quietly understated performance is one of the film's assets, the other one being Amjad Khan's phenomenal turn as one of the greatest screen villains of Hindi cinema. Sholay is greatly aided by the great background score which enhances some of the most difficult scenes and helps alleviate others. R. D. Burman's soundtrack is as memorable as the film. Sholay is definitely a classic in many ways. It is not flawless, nor do I think it matters. In many ways it is a landmark film, and I'm sure non-Indians might enjoy it just as much.

Some of the most pathetic conversion from 2D-3D available on screen, that puts the shoddy 'Clash of the Titans' on a pedestal for how to do things. The wonderful original background score has also been screwed-with (thankfully, not to a great extent) by someone called Raju Singh. Atmos sound works most of the time. Better viewed in 2D, and I shall remedy the mistake when/if I get the chance, though I'd have to live with the screwed-over score in any case (I think).

Having said that, the audience members who watched this one when I did, had the following attributes: 1. Intent in capturing selfies during the movie's running time. Cams pointed right at the audience as well, flashes going off to the tune of 5-10 occasions every half hour. 2. Babies, who (obviously) brought the house down with the (oh so pleasant) screaming when Atmos accentuated every gunshot, every death-scream, and every swear word. 3. Cam phones once again, being used by geniuses to take snaps of the (3D) images on screen. Wait, there's more... 4. Cacophonous laughs and jeers at every quite moment, some of which were romantic, most of which were tragic/poignant. Same batch of geniuses (see above) joining in, with quite a few followers to boot......

Now, in spite of not blowing a blood vessel at all that (quite used to putting up with, nee living with, said geniuses that populate most cinemas, including multiplexes), I confess to having not felt bored even during (what I consider the weakest element of this masterpiece) those interminable flashbacks, and dated-looking/sounding/seeming scenarios on display. The performances are still top-notch, the music plays a huge role (the not-too-destroyed RDB-original score during the train sequence being a case-in-point - the rest having been butchered by Raju Singh).

All-in-all, I do hope someone coverts this for IMAX (hopefully, without the 3D), or someone updates the 3D sometime, even with crowd-funding, if that's an option. Still, this compares well against most of the other trash playing, and being appreciated, out there.

If you liked "Once upon a time in the west", "The magnificent seven" and "A fistful of dollars", you will love "Sholay". It takes all the good ingredients of a western, spices it with a lot of Indian ingredients and lets it simmer until you get one of the finest "curry" westerns imaginable. Though obviously very much inspired by the "spaghetti" westerns of the late 1960s/early 1970s, this easily surpasses most of the films it's modeled after. A masterpiece.