Starring Amitabh Bachchan as Jai and Dharmendra as Veeru, Sholay completed 48 years of its release earlier this week. The film was released in the theatres on August 15, 1975, coinciding with India's 29th Independence Day. The Ramesh Sippy directorial opened to mixed reviews and low audiences in its first two weeks, but soon picked up due to positive word-of-mouth and emerged as one of the biggest blockbusters in the history of Indian cinema.
Apart from giving us the most rock-solid friendship duo of Jai and Veeru, Sholay also gave Hindi cinema one of its most iconic villains - Gabbar Singh, essayed by Amjad Khan in just his second film after appearing in a few minor roles as a child artiste with his father Jayant. However, do you know that Amjad Khan was not the first choice of Sippys to play Gabbar Singh.
The filmmaker Ramesh Sippy and his father GP Sippy, who also produced the film, wanted Danny Dengonzpa to play Gabbar. However, Danny refused the role as he had already given his dates to Feroz Khan for Dharmatma, which was the first Hindi movie to be shot in Afghanistan. The film released a few days before Sholay on July 25 and did decent business at the box office.
In an interview with Spotboye in 2021, Danny explained his decision to let go of Sholay as he said, "It was because of a prior commitment and my word of honour that I had to let go of Sholay. I had signed Feroz Khan’s Dharmatma before Sholay and the dates were given to Feroz Bhai. I knew the Gabbar character was fabulous but my conscience guided me to take the right decision. I have no regrets at all. If I had done Sholay, we would have missed seeing the wonderful performance of a wonderful actor called Amjad Khan."
Written by the iconic screenwriting duo of Salim-Javed, Sholay has achieved the status of cult classic over the years and is still considered among the greatest films ever made in the history of Indian cinema. The film has evolved into a pop-cultue phenomenon, mainly due to its unforgettable dialogues and a perfect screenplay.
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