FOLLOW-UP TO REVIEW 237: SHOLAY (3D) - NEW POSTERS

Release date:	January 3, 2014
Director:	Ramesh Sippy
Cast: Language:	Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Jaya Bhaduri, Sanjeev Kumar, Amjad Khan, A.K. Hangal, Satyen Kappu, Viju Khote, Sachin, Asrani, Jagdeep, Mac Mohan, Iftekhar, Leela Mishra, Keshto Mukherjee, Helen, Jalal Agha Hindi

On the re-release of  director Ramesh Sippy's Sholay in 3D, the film’s producers have brought out a series of new posters paying tribute to this classic and its third dimension. I’m uploading all of them here, because I think you will enjoy them. Have a nice day J

This poster is an ode to what is arguably the most iconic song on friendship in the history of Hindi cinema. Music director R.D. Burman's Yeh dosti hum nahin thodenge in Sholay featured Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra playing the rascal-ish bosom pals Jai and Veeru. Every aspect of this number is etched in the memory of film buffs of the time, from the motorbike to the side-car that is not visible in this picture, the harmonica and Jai-Veeru's incredible chemistry. Some analysts and academics see homo-erotic undertones in their relationship, but that's another story. 

Hema Malini's incredible beauty and comic timing made the taangewaali Basanti one of her most significant roles and performances. In 1975 when Sholay was released, Hema was already a massive star. A large contributor to that stardom was her team-up with Ramesh Sippy in two of his earlier films, his debut Andaz (in which she played a young widow) and Seeta aur Geeta in which she had a double role. Incidentally, Hema was the object of romantic interest of two of her leading male co-stars in Sholay: Dharmendra and Sanjeev Kumar. She married Dharmendra a few years after this film was released.

Danny Denzongpa was initially approached to play the role of the dacoit Gabbar Singh, but couldn't sign up because he was committed to another project. It was an interesting twist of fate. Amitabh Bachchan too has gone on  the record to say that he was interested in the part of Gabbar more than Jai. Ultimately, Amjad Khan went on to make Gabbar one of the most talked-about villains ever in Hindi filmdom, but in later years he was to complain that the role unfortunately overshadowed everything else he did thereafter.

"Yeh haath mujhe de de Thakur," said by Gabbar Singh to veteran Sanjeev Kumar's Thakur  Baldev Singh, remains one of the most quoted lines from Sholay. It was Thakur's desire for revenge against Gabbar that is at the centre of the action in Sholay. 

In a virtual non-speaking role, Jaya Bhaduri as the widowed Radha showed us that great actors will make their mark irrespective of the number of dialogues or screen minutes given to them.

Dharmendra's Veeru was the comic foil to Amitabh Bachchan's more silent Jai in the film. Times have changed, as have fortunes, but when Sholay was being made, Dharmendra was one of the industry's top heroes while Bachchan was just a rising star. This is why Bachchan got only fourth billing in the film's credits, behind Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar and Hema Malini, followed in fifth and sixth position by Jaya Bhaduri and Amjad Khan.

Jai is unarguably one of Amitabh Bachchan's most impactful roles. In fact, Sholay is widely considered the film that catapulted him from the star he became with the 1973 release of Zanjeer to superstardom. As it happens, 1975 is a landmark year in his illustrious career. It was in this year that Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Chupke Chupke and Mili, and Yash Chopra's Deewaar were released, in addition to Sholay, giving Indian audiences a display of AB's amazing versatility, from his comic timing in Chupke Chupke to the ability to play the gentle romantic hero in Mili, the brooding and lovable bad guy in Sholay and the avatar that has come to define him, the Angry Young Man of Deewaar. 

Posters courtesy: Everymedia PR