Sholay: 35 superhit years

This 15 th August it will be 35 years since "Sholay" was released - three decades and more of Gabbar, Jai, Veeru and Basanti still striking a chord.

Sholay was about the undying friendship between Jai and Veeru, the unspoken love of a young widow, the exuberant romance between a garrulous tangey waali and a flamboyant thief, the immensely tragic life of an idealistic police officer and, of course, Gabbar Singh, the dacoit who struck terror.

We take a walk down memory lane.

The movie begins with a train arriving at a station and a police officer gets out of it. He is received by a villager who takes him to Ramgarh. The police officer meets Thakur (Sanjeev Kumar), who asks him if he can bring him two criminals – Veeru (Dharmendra) and Jai (Amitbh Bachchan).

Thakur saab recollects an incident and narrates the police officer how Jai and Veeru fought with dacoits at one point of time.

While the encounter was still on, Thakur got a bullet injury but instead of fleeing from the scene, they tossed a coin to decide the next course of action, and took him to hospital for treatment. The police officer leaves the scene saying he will try to bring them back.

What follows next is the friendship song Ye Dosti featuring Jai and Veeru.

Jai and Veeru approach a timber merchant Soorma Bhopali (played by legendary Jagdeep) and request him to get them arrested and take Rs 2000 of reward from. And once they are released, divide the money and pay them back Rs 1000.

The next scene shows Jai and Veeru in prison. A Hitler-look-a-like Jailer (Asrani) introduces himself to the prisons whose dialogue Hum Angrezo ke Zamane ke Jailor hain is a rage even today.

Both Jai and Verru out smart him and come out of prison.

But once they come to collect money from Soorma Bhopali, they are caught and put behind bars again. Thakur meets them and makes an offer. He says if they catch the notorious criminal Gabbar Singh, he will pay them Rs 10,000 plus they will also get Rs 50,000 police reward and gives them Rs 5000 in advance.

Once they reach the village, they come across a tongawali Basanti (Hema Malini) who is a complete chatterbox. She takes them to Thakur's residence. Thakur puts them to test and make them fight with some people. He tells them he just wanted to see if they were as tough as they used to be two years ago.

The romance blossoms as Jai shows his soft corner for Radha, Thakur's widowed daughter-in-law and Veeru falls for Basanti.

One day Gabbar sends his three men to the village for collections of grains from villagers forcibly. Jai and Veeru fight with them and make them leave the village barehanded.

On their return Gabbar gets furious with them. His famous dialogue Kitne Adami The and Tera Kya Hoga Kalia get as popular as the movie itself.

Gabbar shoots them and asks his men on which date the festival Holi falls, hinting at his plans to take revenge.

The village gets set to celebrate Holi and Veeru has good fun with Basanti. As the song comes to an end Gabbar strikes back.

He attacks the village. Jai, Veeru fight with them bravely but they run out of guns and bullets.

Veeru finds a gun lying where Thakur is standing but Thakur doesn't help Veeru. Gabbar's men capture both Jai and Veeru but Jai throws gulal in Gabbar's eyes and escapes. They give Gabbar's men a tough fight. Gabbar and his men run away in a bid to save their lives.

Jai and Veeru go straight to Thakur and show their inability to continue the fight for him as he is unable to help him with a gun.

Thakur recollects an incident and tell them how he had captured Gabbar once but he flees from the prison and eliminates his whole family. Not just that he even amputated his both arms.

Jai and Veeru return Thakur's money and plegde that they will catch Gabbar alive for him.

Thakur comes to know that Gabbar has stayed in a near-by village to buy arms. He sends Jai and Veeru to catch him. They cause a lot of damage to Gabbar but somehow he manages to escape. Wihle fighting with decoits, Jai gets a bullet injury.

Meanwhile Veeru tries his level best to woo Basanti. Here comes the song Koi Haseena Jab Ruth Jati Hai….

The fun contineus as Veeru expresses his wish to marry Basanti. He sends Jai to meet Basanti's aunt (Mausi) and get her conset for their marriage. When Mausi refuses, Jai climbs atop a water tank and threatens to commit suicide. After a lot of persuation Mausi agrees for thier marriage.

The next scene brings back the thrill as in retaliation Gabbar murders the son of Imam Saab, when he is on his way to the city for job. Jai and Veeru also take revenge and kill Gabbar's four men.

Meanwhile Jai's soft corner for Thakur's daughter-in-law comes to the fore. Ramlal, Thakur's servant tells Jai how bubbly she used to be at one point of time but today she is almost lifeless.

Gabbar ‘s men kidnapp Basanti, and when Veeru goes to resceu her, he is also captured.

Gabbar ties Veeru's both hands and orders Basanti to dance. He warns Basanti that Veeru is alive as long as she dances. Here comes the famour song Jab Tak Hai Jaan, Jaane Jahaan… Main Naachungi…

Jai comes to rescue Veeru and Basanti. He frees them and they all run away from there. Gabbar's men followed them.

While fighting with Gabbar's men Jai gets injured. He insists Veeru to go back to the village with Basanti and bring guns and cartridges to continue their fight. Veeru insists that he will not leave Jai alone. Jai tosses the coin to decide who should leave for village.

Veeru leaves for village with Basanti and Jai continues to fight. He fights bravely and kills all the dacoits but he gets severely injured.

When Veeru comes, he finds Jai lying in the pool of blood. He breathed his last in Veeru's arms. In a fit of rage, Veeru sets out to take revenge from Gabbar for his friends' brutal murder.

He kills all the Gabbar's men and captures him. But Thakur appears on the scene and tells Veeru to hand over Gabbar alive to him. This is what his friend Jai had promised before his death. Veeru lets Gabbar free and leaves from there.

The fight between Thakur and Gabbar continues. Here comes another famous dialogue from Gabbar, “Tu Kya Mujhse Ladega Thakur, Tere To Haath Kaat Kar Phek Chuka Hoon Main.” Thakur replies, “Saanp Ko Haath Se Nahi, Pairon Se Kutchla Jaata Hai Gabbar.”