Bollywood's cult classic Sholay marks its 50th anniversary this year. Released on August 15, 1975, the film became a milestone in Indian cinema, with its characters remaining etched in audience memory.
Nine years ago, on the film's 40th anniversary, director Ramesh Sippy, in an exclusive conversation with NDTV, recalled how Sholay was initially considered a flop. In the first few days, ticket sales were low, but word of mouth gradually turned it into a blockbuster.
Sippy also shared an anecdote from the film's release at Mumbai's Minerva theatre. He said that when he visited the cinema one day, the screen kept going dark, with only the audio playing.
Surprisingly, the audience stayed seated and listened to the dialogues. It was later discovered that the carbon in the projector was not being replaced on time, resulting in the blackout. Sippy decided to personally visit the theatre every day to supply fresh carbon to ensure uninterrupted screenings.
The director also spoke about the film's runtime and box office journey during an appearance on the chat show The Invincibles.
Sholay was released during the Emergency, when night shows had to end by midnight, and four-show schedules required the first screening to begin at 9 a.m.
Ramesh also spoke about the film's length affecting collections and said, "We were told to chop out 20 minutes from the film, but we were perplexed as to what can be cut from the film. We did decrease the length of the film by 20 minutes as we were told to remove the comedy tracks of Asrani and Jagdeep."
With the edits, the runtime came down to 180 minutes. However, audiences were unhappy with the changes. "There were some people in the audience who had seen these tracks in earlier shows," Ramesh said. "When they discussed it with their friends, and the latter didn't see it in new shows, they started demanding those scenes," he added.
Sholay starred Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Jaya Bachchan, Sanjeev Kumar and Amjad Khan as the iconic Gabbar Singh.