'THERE IS NO FILM LIKE SHOLAY IN THE WORLD'

SHOLAY IS A PART OF THE PSYCHE OF INDIA, SAYS JAVED AKHTAR, AND EVEN A CHARACTER WHO HAS SPOKEN THREE WORDS IN THE FILM IS REMEMBERED AFTER 50 YEARS

- ILLUSTRATION BY JIT RAY

It’s been half a century since Sholay first hit cinemas in India, and yet the sheer reverence for the film hasn’t waned in the slightest. The dialogues, the characters, the costumes — they’re etched into the psyche of generations.

In conversation with The Hollywood Reporter India, Javed Akhtar, one half of the legendary screenwriting duo Salim-Javed — Salim Khan was his writing partner on Sholay — reflects on the alternate paths the story could have taken, the stubborn choices that shaped its legacy, and his personal detachment from the past — even a past as glorified as Sholay.

WHAT IF JAI HAD LIVED, OR THAKUR HAD HIS HANDS?

If Jai (Amitabh Bachchan) had not [died] he would have married Radha (Jaya Bachchan), because Radha's father-in-law had agreed that they should get married; there was no one to stop them. Both of them were attracted to each other, they would've lived happily ever after. [While Veeru (Dharmendra) and Basanti (Hema Malini) would have lived] as happy as an average married couple would; no more, no less.

Also, if Thakur (Sanjeev Kumar) hadn't arrested them in Jamalpur and taken them on that train, he'd never have met them; he'd never have invited them. [Thakur's hands being cut off] happened — that is how the [climax was able to happen]. If this had not happened, the story would have been different; maybe better, maybe worse. But it wouldn't have been the story you've loved for 50 years.