Sholay The Real Story Behind Reel Story by Mr. Prashant Sawant

1. Sholay, the real story
behind the reel Sholay
www.prashantsawant.com

2. 4 line idea
 An army officer’s family is massacred
 He remembers 2 junior officers who were
court marshalled
 They were rascals but also brave
 The retired officer decides to enlist them
in the mission for revenge

3. The birth
 Baldev Pushkarna, Roop tera mastana (
Jeetu & Mumtaz ) > Manmohan Desai (
Sachaa Jhutha & Rampur ka Laxman )
refused & bought Chacha Bhatija
 Prakash Mehra, Zanjeer ON
 Sippys looking for grand script after
“Seeta aur Geeta”, where SJ had not got
credit
 Rs 1.50 L >>> Badi film development

4. Original ???
 Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai
 John Sturges , The magnificent seven
 Raj Khosla, 1971, Mera gaon mera desh,
VK as Jabbar Singh
 1974 , Khote sikkay, Firoz hires 5 crooks
to nab the decoit Janga ( Ajit )
 Bindiya aur bandook, Joginder Singh
1972. Sued Ramesh & SJ for stealing his
story.

5. Iconic villain
 Amitabh & Sanjeev wanted Gabbar’s role
 Danny was signed, dropped , Dharmatma
 Ae mere watan ke logon , a youth festival
play in Delhi , 1963 seen by Javed
 Salim knew Jayant well
 Salim bumped into Amjad at banddra
bandstane once & took him to Ramesh
immediately.
 SJ recommended Amjad but they never
worked together again
 During the making , SJ unwillingly asked
Ramesh to replace Amjad due to lots of
people’s negative opinion about Amjad’s
unconventional voice

6. More contributions of SJ
 Hema struggled with pages & pages of
dialogues she was supposed to deliver
 Javed acted it out for her
 Book on world war II & pictures of Adolf
Hitler, were shown to Asrani
 SJ had met Jagdeep during “sarhadi
Lootera”. Javed mimicked the speaking
style of Bhopali women which Jagdeep
picked up easily. Jagdeep had never gone
to Bhopal in his life.

7. Viru atop the tank
 Javed wrote it on the bonnet of the car
while going to Bombay from Banglore in
flight , while his assistant was completing
check in formalities.

8. Most well written characters
 Each character has depth & nuance
 Ramlal, Radha, Mausi, Imam sahib,
Ahmed, Kaalia, Sambha, Tahkur’s family,
Ramgarh’s residents
 Even Gulzarilal & Hari Singh are
remembered
 No other film has created such a long list
of minor characters who have lived on for
so long.

9. Marketing
 From 30th May till the release on 15th Aug,
each ( weekly ) issue of the trade
magazines had one ad dedicated to one of
the main characters, ending with the one
showcasing the entire ensemble cast.
 Its the tribute to the writers, when the
supporting cast is advertised in this way.
 Unprecedented pre release buzz.
 People were apprehensive about the
movie recovering its massive cost.

10. Release
 On Monday before the release, Screen carried a
front page report with the headline, “ Big crowds
for advance bookings of Sholay “.
 Mega start cast & SJ script were the main reason
 Big rush after “ Mughal-e-azam” which was 2
decades ago
 One week after the release, Trade guide
predicted doom.
 How can a mass entertainer have tragic ending ?
 Reshoot, keep Amitabh alive & one reel for Jaya-
Amit romance & wedding
 Sholay will do max Rs 40 L per territory
 Newspapers criticised the excessive violence
 Filmfare , Bikram Singh gave the review of 2
stars

11. Belief in the product
 Same Trade guide , SJ sponsored ( not
producers ) a full page ad on the last page
that said “ This is a prediction by Salim-
Javed.... Sholay ..... Will be the grosser of
Rs 1 cr in each major territory of India”

12. Panic
 Seeta aur Geeta : Rs 40 L
 Sholay budget : Rs 1 cr >>> Rs 3 crs
 Ramesh called for a meeting with SJ at
Amit’s residence on saturday to figure out
how to “salvage “ the film.
 Deewaar was hit by then & Amit had died
there. The suggestion was not to kill Amit
who is bigger star than anyone else now.
 SJ were against the idea as they thought the
slight ache at the end adds to the charm of
the film. But too much was at stake for the
producers.
 SJ managed to convince Ramesh to wait till
Tuesday.

13. History
 On tuesday, Ramesh , Geeta cinema ,
worli
 The sale of snacks & cold drink has come
down as people are so stunned ( with
never seen images & camera work by
Dwarka Diwecha ) that they are not
coming out & waiting for the interval to
get over asap.
 HIT all the way ...

14. Sholay
prashantsawant.com
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prashant@prashantsawant.com