Sholay

Sholay (1975)

Runtime: 204 minutes; no kidding.

Directed by: Ramesh Sippy

Starring: Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjeev Kumar, Hema Malini, Jaya Bhaduri, Amjad Khan

From: United Producers

This is a classic movie from India that I finally was able to track down and see last night. Thankfully, it was worth the big hype I had heard about it the past several years. A nice way to end 2016, as I don't plan on watching anything tonight. 2016 was not a great year (which is an opinion all of us can agree with) but at least I saw some quality films and hopefully 2017 will be better all around. Why this movie deserves its reputation is explained below: 

In the past I have remarked how the country of India has made an incredible number of movies throughout the decades and yet to the Western world, they typically look at the country's output as being wacky Bollywood musical numbers and/or insane over the top action beats. A prolific film scene with films in several different languages shouldn't be judged like that, so more often I should check out what the country has to offer, as I unfortunately have only seen a small handful of films in my life.

For awhile now I've known of Sholay and it was just recently that I tracked it down so throughout last night I saw all 204 minutes of the Director's Cut. I know that this is not only one of the highest rated movies ever to come out of India (topping various polls throughout the years) but it's beloved to the point that it is part of Indian culture, various characters, phrases and scenes becoming a part of daily life. Something which has such a monumental impact sounds like a piece of work that I should check out. Well, while the reviews of some added important context to how certain moments and motifs relate to Indians, on its own the film is pretty great.

The tale sounds simple on paper: two anti-hero criminals (Veeru and Jai) are hired by ex-policeman Thakur to not only protect the small rural village he lives in, but capture the loathsome bandit known as Gabbar Singh as means of revenge for a past deed. Yep, Seven Samurai was a definite inspiration, along with The Magnificent Seven, various Spaghetti Westerns and Peckinpah films like The Wild Bunch. The setting will remind you of a Western (it's set in modern times, yet you rarely see modern trappings, so it might as well be set decades earlier), and from that aspect alone I was digging this. Veeru and Jai of course find love interests and the expected happens there, although those female characters-Basanti and Radha-are pretty cool in their own right.

Our heroes aren't always honorable people but several events cause them to do the right thing and help out those who need assistance the most. Lord knows that Gabbar Singh is a horrible human being who either orders some awful acts to be done or he does the terrible deeds himself. It's a compelling story with very exciting/thrilling action scenes so those that dig Seven Samurai/Magnificent Seven for its action beats should enjoy this for the same reason. There are some “only in India” moments, such as a few things being rather over the top, some rather dramatic acting, the romantic angle including some rather odd comedy, and yes, there are a few musical numbers. I have no idea what the songs are about but at least they were catchy. The most memorable dance number showed that among the main languages you get in Indian film (Tamil, Hindi, Bengali and Telugu) this is Hindi... the dance number in question takes place during the Hindu festival known as Holi. Some may have seen it before and not known it's name... it's where colored powder or colored water is thrown all around.

This movie has universal themes which translate to every language but has unique things which make it a product from India. Certainly, the moment where on a motorcycle w/ sidecar one of the heroes sits on the shoulders of the other while playing the harmonica is not the sort of thing you see often. The few minutes spent with a prison ward who was basically Adenoid Hynkel from The Great Dictator... sure, why not? It seems odd with the rest of the movie but that is what makes Bollywood, Bollywood. It is nicely directed by Ramesh Sippy and has a distinctive score from Rahul Dev Burman. I say this should be watched and enjoyed by film fans all across the world.