Sholay, released in 1975, remains the biggest blockbuster of Bollywood, it may even be called our epic film. It starred Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Sanjeev Kumar, Jaya Bhaduri, and Amjad Khan as the timeless villain Gabbar Singh.

The story is one of a retired police officer, Thakur Baldev Singh, whose family had been massacred by the bandit chief Gabbar Singh (who was also terrorizing the small village of Ramgarh), who gets two convicts, Jaidev and Veeru, to him. Gabbar has even had Thakur’s arms cut off. Unable to take revenge himself, Thakur Baldev Singh recruits Veeru and Jaidev, both small time crooks. Both agree to capture Gabbar Singh live and hand him over to Baldev Singh. Things do not go as planned. Veeru falls for the local horse carriage driver Basanti; and Jai starts to have romantic feelings for Baldev Singh’s widowed daughter-in-law, Radha. To make matters worse, Gabbar has sworn to kill both Jai and Veeru, and holds Basanti as a hostage, to lure them to him. What follows is a series of very interesting events.

Sholay is the highest grossing film of all time in India. In 1999, BBC India declared it the Film of the Millennium. The film was a lavish production for its time. It took two and a half years to make; it went Rs. 300,000 over budget. It is probably one of the best films ever made in Hindi. The camera work is flawless and grips you, the acting is inspired. The music is memorable. It’s one of the movies you remember for life

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