At the center of the G.P. and Ramesh Sippy production is a gritty story of revenge, as the former policeman Thakur Baldev Singh seeks out two thieves he once arrested, Veeru and Jaidev. A dacoit or bandit named Gabbar Singh left the Thakur maimed and slaughtered most of his family, and an earlier encounter with Veeru and Jaidev makes him believe they are noble and brave enough to hunt down Singh. The pair infiltrate a village where Singh collects tribute and begin their showdown with him, falling in love with two village women in the process. The honor and bravery that the Thakur counted on will help them but will also be severely tested in their battle with Singh and his band.
Of course, being a Bollywood movie, Sholay shows song and dance numbers in the midst of the story and substantial portions of its more than three hours are taken up with some buddy comedy between the happy-go-lucky Veeru and the cynical Jaidev. One of the best of those are the scenes where they match wits with a witless bumbling jailer who seems not to recognize that his ranting style, lank black hair and tiny mustache inspire more ridicule than menace. The hymn to friendship "Yeh Dosti" that Veeru and Jaidev sing while riding a motorcycle was a #9 hit on Indian radio in 1976, and other songs from the movie charted even higher.
Sholay mixes these lighter scenes with the kind of stylized Western-movie imagery often found in the "spaghetti Westerns" of the 1960s. Subsequent movies that did the same drew the name "curry Western" in recognition of the homage, and the mixture of different genres first popularized by the Sippys became known as a "Masala film." It limped along in its initial two weeks of release before positive word of mouth began drawing larger and larger crowds starting in week three, and it ran for five years at the Mumbai Minerva Cinema, a record that would stand for 20 years. It took a while for critical acclaim to develop as well, as one of the first reviewers punned on its title and called it a "dead ember." The first Indian movie to use stereophonic sound and the first to be shown in 70 mm widescreen (even though it was actually shot with 35 mm cameras and blown up for presentation), Sholay represented a major leap forward for Bollywood production values.
All of the leads are effective -- Sanjeev Kumar as the haunted Thakur Singh, Dharmendra as the unserious Veeru, Bollywood box office titan Amitabh Bachchan as the hardened Jaidev and Amjad Khan as the villainous, sadistic Gabbar Singh (the latter becoming so well-known in the role that he was used in commericals to sell biscuits -- as the hated villain!). The DVD I rented doesn't subtitle the songs, which is a big weakness, but Sholay is entertainment through and through. A 2004 digital re-release packed movie houses across India, and a 3-D version is scheduled to be shown later this year.
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