Let me ask you a very simple question to you -Which was India’s first 70mm film? Most of you know the answer – yes, it is SHOLAY – an all time classic. A technical trailblazer was shot in 70mm with stereophonic sound. I still remember the scene where angry Veeru (Dharmendra) throws the same-sided coin and I got off my seat thinking that I dropped some change from my pocket.

That was the magic of the movie. Today, even after more than three decades, we still remember that counterfeit coin along with Surma Bhopali, Angrez ke Zamane ke Jailor, and Dhanno - the characters that would have been forgotten easily otherwise. Thanks to Ramesh Sippy, (Do you remember Ramesh Sippy’s Directorial Debut film? Guess and if you still do not get the answer, click here.) who could never recreate the magic of Sholay in his subsequent films.

The story of this film revolved around the revenge of a Thakur who recruits two crooks to even the score with an evil dacoit – Gabbar, portrayed by son of a legendary actor Jayant, Amjad Khan. The multi-star cast included Saneev Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Jaya Bhaduri, Sachin, Jagdeep, Asrani, Iftekhar and Leela Mishra.

Sholay became a legend and by far, the most successful film of its time that ran for five consecutive years in a theater in Mumbai.

Ironically, the film did not win any major filmfare award that year.  Amjad Khan had a dream debut as Gabbar in this film, and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor award.   Sanjeevkumar did win the best actor award that year – for Aandhi. Salim-Javed, did win the award for the best story as well as best dialogue – for Deewar. Do you know that the only award the film won was for best editing to M. S. Shinde? Eventually, Filmfare did recognize SHOLAY as the best film of 50 years at 50th Filmfare award ceremony.

I must mention that Ram Gopal Varma is trying to recreate Sholay. Amitabh Bachchan is likely to play Gabbar in the remake.

Films will come and films will go but G.P. Sippy’s Sholay goes on forever.

In Quiz Corner, I thought it will be most appropriate if the question is related to this film. And most of you know many facts about this film, so it was difficult for me to find a question that would be difficult to answer. Nonetheless, I have come up with the question Click here to see the question and submit your answer. Let’s see how many of you still remember the history of the movie that made a history.

For the answer to this question, wait for the next issue of this eMagazine.

For future quizzes, click on the Quiz Corner button in the emagazine just above the Events Listing on the right hand side.

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