49 Years of ‘Sholay’: Here’s 10 Anecdotes From the Making of the Film & Its Sets

'Sholay', starring Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra, released on 15 August 1975.

Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, and Sanjeev Kumar on the sets of Sholay.

(Photo Courtesy: X/ @SrBachchan)

Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay is easily one of the most iconic films in Indian cinema – even the horse ‘Dhanno’ became an unforgettable character. And enough has been said about the popularity of the leads Jai (Amitabh Bachchan) and Veeru (Dharmendra) and the effervescent Basanti (Hema Malini). Now, almost 50 years since Sholay’s release on 15 August 1975, here are 10 anecdotes from the sets (and other facts) you didn’t know about the film:

1. Thakur Baldev Singh was the name of Salim Khan’s father-in-law and the original story by Salim-Javed was about a retired Army officer. The character was later changed to a retired police officer who hires two convicts to exact revenge.

2. Speaking of revenge, the scene where Gabbar kills Thakur’s entire family – one of the film’s most vital scenes – took 23 days to shoot.

3. Even the iconic sequence of Radha (Jaya Bachchan) extinguishing the lamps while Jai watches her while playing the harmonica took about 20 days to shoot. The reason behind this was that Sippy and the DOP Dwarka Divecha wanted to shoot the scene during the ‘magic hour’ which only lasted for a few minutes between sunset and nightfall.

4. Both Thakur (Sanjeev Kumar) and Gabbar (Amjad Khan) were initially offered to different actors. While Dilip Kumar was approached for Thakur but rejected the role, Danny Denzongpa couldn’t sign up for Gabbar’s role because he was shooting for Dharmatma at the time.

5. Another role that faced hurdles in casting was that of Jai even though it’s impossible to imagine anyone but Amitabh Bachchan in the role. But the actor hadn’t had success in the box office for a while and distributors were wary of him being cast in Sholay. However, both Salim Khan and Dharmendra believed in Bachchan.

6. The Amitabh Bachchan-Dharmendra jodi as Jai and Veeru became symbolic for ‘true friendship’ in India. But did you know that Bachchan was almost hit with a real bullet while shooting for the film?

“When we were shooting for that scene, then Dharam ji was down below and I was on top of the hill. Dharam ji opens a chest and picks up the ammunition. He did it once and was unable to pick up the bullets, did it again and failed again. Dharam ji got very irritated. I don’t know what he did, he put the cartridge in the gun and they were real bullets! He was so irritated about not getting the right shot that he fired the gun. I heard a ‘whooosh’ sound as the bullet went past my ear while I was standing on the hill.”

Amitabh Bachchan

7. Sholay was originally supposed to have a different and more violent ending where Gabbar would be killed by Thakur but the censor board objected to that. If Gabbar was killed, the film would receive an A certification. Sippy agreed to change the film’s ending because he didn’t want to delay the film’s release.

8. It’s common knowledge that Sholay used to be a four-line idea before it became the film it is today. But did you know that the tanki scene where an inebriated Veeru climbs up a water tank wasn’t written despite being discussed. Javed Akhtar actually ended up writing the scene on his way to the Bangalore airport.

9. Ramesh Sippy had a clear vision for Sholay and he stayed committed to it till the very end. He once cancelled a day of shooting because two junior artistes that he wanted in the scene didn’t turn up. Asrani had the character of the jailer perfected down to the T but two of the artistes playing the policemen behind him didn’t show up.  

10. Speaking of Sippy’s vision, he refused to compromise on the final product for any reason which is one of the reasons why Sholay went beyond its initial six-month schedule. They even stopped shooting for months in May 1974 right after Jaya Bachchan and Amitabh Bachchan had welcomed their first child. Sippy cancelled the schedule and they only reconvened in September that year.