To Sholay with Love (Originally published in March 2014)

Best Indian Movie ever...This is Sholay and any of your arguments are Invalid ab initio

If Sholay had boobs, I would probably marry it...that is how much I love this movie. I mean even after the customary national anthem was played...what really got my heart beating and made me feel  proud to be an Indian was when the Sholay theme started playing ( yes I almost had tears in my eyes, coz it was such an overwhelming moment for me) . Damn, I had been waiting sooooo freaking long to watch this in a theatre and finally got a chance to do so. Sholay is the very definition of iconic, classic and any other adjective you can think of. India got its independence on 15^th August 1947 and on the same day in 1975 we became enslaved again to entertainment and awesomeness. Movies would never be the same again. Even though it initially did not receive much acclaim but slowly it every woke up to it..and it became a blockbuster...India’s first blockbuster...and shut up about Mughal-e-Azaam being the first ....It was a superhit....but not a blockbuster.

And as for those who  are even thinking of comparing Sholay’s Ultimate blockbuster status to DDLJ...please stop...as Loki says in The Avengers- “The ant has no quarrel with the boot”..and Sholay steps over each and every Indian movie ever made...shit even Surma Bhopali...forget about that, even Dhanno the mare, is a more famous and well developed character than any other in DDLJ. A little challenge if you can remember 5 characters from DDLJ in under 20 seconds...ok how about 5 dialogues?...still no?..good..hope that settles the debate forever. Anyways, I consider myself lucky to have been born in a family which worships movies in general...and of course Sholay is the One True God of the pantheon...I mean people in my family could tell you what was Gabbar’s father’s name (it’s Hari Singh by the way) or what Ahmed’s (character played by Sachin) mamu (barely mentioned in a letter) does for a living (his name is Muaqat ali and woh Jabalpur mein beedi ke kharkhane mein mulazim hai). But even though not to such fanatical extents, but we all love Sholay...it’s parodied in movies and ads...it’s dialogues and references used in day-to-day life...much like our epics, this epic has become an essential part of our culture. If India had to have a national movie, there would only be one choice. Hence, this is not so much a review as much as it is a love letter.

But apart from all the love,  for those of you who are still sceptical and/or unlucky enough to have been born in an era where the movie is only unquestionably worshipped...you might not understand the reason for all the hype. Well, there is one thing you should know about classics...especially true classics like Sholay...unlike the Blockbusters of today (Dhoom 3..gimme a freaking break) they don’t need hype to be a hit...they are loved because well...they are just that good. See, I have always said that a good movie is a good movie regardless of anybody’s opinion...if it effectively manages to tell a story...it’s a good movie regardless of whether I like it or  not...and even for the fact that I love Sholay..it still is a good movie. And this is why-

5. Technical Brilliance

 You could literally take notes on how well the story is told on screen.  The scenes are well paced and the flow is seldom interrupted. Not only that, but it is also well shot.  Any modern day techniques that you can name jump-cuts, slow motion, shaky cams, screen-freeze etc (particularly the Thakur family massacre) are all thereIf am not wrong the Train sequence has almost 8-10 cameras. Many bollywood action movies even today (go to hell Race 2) can’t manage to shoot action sequences as well as Sholay did 39 years ago. . The movie continuously engages you visually, even if nothing particularly exciting is happening on screen.   Even the sound effects right from the horse hooves, to the sound of ominous winds to the clink of the coin are all amazing. Seldom had attention been paid to sound effects before.   Ramesh Sippy is a brilliant technician and hence a good storyteller. Also, one of only two awards Sholay won at Filmfare (if you are outraged and surprised, even I still am. But don’t worry, coz Deewar got most other awards) was to M S Shinde for Editing. Even though the movie borrows its tone and style of Spaghetti western movies (For a Few dollars more etc etc) it still remains a landmark for Indian movies in technical brilliance

4. The Music

R D Burman is the best Indian music director ever. And please take note I said best music director. Every one before him (including his dad) were music composers. They made good melodious songs but that was that. RD not only brought many many many many many (and many more many’s) new styles and genres to film music but also for the first time we had a director who put effort into the background music. Although, this might have been because he got to work with good directors like Vijay Anand, Nasir Hussain, Ramesh Sippy etc. Still he gave thought as to how music could be used to accentuate the story and not as filler between two songs. Remember the famous weird ominous sound when Gabbar is around...or a single tabla is used when Basanti is being chased to create tension...and of course the soulfully brilliant mouth organ tune that Amitabh plays. Plus, Movies seldom had title instrumental themes (at least not memorable ones) before RD came onto the scene.

3. The Cast

Sholay has some of the most iconic..ok sorry...the most iconic characters ever...big or small...they were all portrayed by highly skilled yet popular actors. They share amazing chemistry on screen. For example, Jaya and Amitabh’s love story has got to be the most subtle love story ever portrayed in bollywood, they hardly speak more than 10 lines...but you can sense the tension, the silent love smouldering between them. All major characters are just so well portrayed but even minor ones like Mausiji or Kaalia or Imam Chacha are so well developed and well written that they stay in your mind even after the movie is done. Even the cameos make an impact. Helen was probably 36-37 years old, but she does a belly dance way more graceful and sexier than any 20-somethings even these days.

2. Gabbar Singh

Well if you are not watching this movie for Gabbar Singh then you are watching the wrong movie. Keep in mind; this was Amjad Khan’s debut performance. I mean his delivery, his stance, his maniacal laugh...fucking amazing! Psychotic killers who torture and kill people are common in movies these days, but it was Gabbar Singh who changed the rules of the game. Until then villains were a character for the hero to beat down. Here was a villain around whom the events actually happen. He killed and tortured without mercy...women, children...it didn’t matter to him...and he actually enjoyed the process. Kinda like the Joker, he simply likes to watch the world burn (yes!!! TDK reference in a Sholay article! Double whammy!!!)   Amjad Khan was menace personified in this role and actually has the most interesting dialogues in the movie. He brings about tonnes of badassery to the movie.

1.       The Heroes

No am not talking about Jay and Veeru..yes yes their bromance is the benchmark for all others in bollywood, but am talking about the real heroes. As much as credit goes to Ramesh Sippy for the movie, the real heroes are of course Salim-Javed. Hats, pants, dupattas anything off to those two for writing such a watertight brilliant script....and of course the dialogue. Even when the action on screen slows down, its the iconic dialogue that keeps it interesting. There is never a dull moment. It’s tragic when it needs to be, comic when it needs to be and badass when it needs to be. I remember seeing old cassettes of Sholay’s dialogues at my mama’s place. I was told that these cassettes sold huge back then..of course it makes sense as to why they did. And seriously if I need to tell you how awesome Sholay’s dialogue is...then stop reading this right now.

Everybody has their favourite Sholay dialogue but my eternal favourite is – Gabbar ke taap se tumhe ek hi aadmi bacha sakta hai....khud Gabbar!. (soo fucking badass!) Seriously, if it hadn’t been for Salim Javed (Sholay, Shaan, Deewar, Don,Zanjeer...and many more) bollywood would not have been what it is today. They knew how to strike a good balance between classes and masses...of telling a story entertainingly yet intelligently well.  I was so happy that when I was watching the movie in Mumbai (well, I said in Mumbai bcoz ofcourse am gonna watch it 5-6 times more in Pune and Aurangabad) there was actually clapping and hooting when Salim Javed’s name came on screen.

So there you have it...Oh I forgot about the 3D part you said...well I ll say the same thing to this as I said in my review of Jurassic Park, they could have put this movie in 35 mm black and white and silent and I would still watch it. But having said that, even though the 3D adds a lot to the action scenes its of course not gonna be as good as Avatar or Gravity. But the only slight problem I have with this version is that although the re-mastered soundtrack does wonders for the background music and effects..but it sorta drowns down the vocals during songs so it sounds a bit weird. That’s the only thing I wish they would fix with the 3D version. As for the movie in itself, all I can say is if movies themselves had lifetime awards...Sholay would be the only one to get it. Don’t miss it at any cost.

PS- Sherlock season 3 finally here!!!!!