'People Watching It In Theatres Were Stunned'

Ramesh Sippy, director of Sholay, on the film turning 50, how it changed the grammar of filmmaking, the business of re-released movies and the debate over changing movie endings

- By KUNAL PURANDARE

Filmmaker Ramesh Sippy's father, producer GP Sippy, gave him a budget of ₹1 crore to make Sholay.

He overshot it by three times to ensure that this third directorial venture had the grandeur and scale of the Hollywood films that he enjoyed watching on the big screen. For nearly two decades since its release in 1975, it remained the highest-grossing Indian film, with collections exceeding ₹35 crore worldwide. Sholay, a landmark film in the history of Indian cinema, completes 50 years this year. The movie, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Amjad Khan, Hema Malini and Jaya Bachchan, was initially written off by the trade industry. Sippy asserts they were not able to read the audience's reaction. “People who went to the theatres to watch Sholay were stunned by what they saw on the screen,” he says. In an interview with Forbes India, Sippy talks about the art and craft of filmmaking, why no Indian director has been able to match up to what Sholay did, the use of technology, reviving the art of storytelling, and more. Edited excerpts:

When you made Sholay, did you anticipate that it would turn out to be a cult film and people will talk about it 50 years later?

Absolutely not. When we watched the completed film, I definitely felt that we have managed to make a good film and it should reach out to a huge audience. But certainly not what it became. First, the trade did not agree upon its success at all. As a matter of fact, they doubted it... I think for reasons that it cost too much and would not be able to recover that money. Of course, it defied all the rules and broke all records. That’s why we're talking about it 50 years later. Nobody can plan or predict the fate of a film. But yes, we had the confidence that it would do well.