Sholay

Thakur Baldev Singh, a retired policeman whose arms were cut off, hires two petty criminals against Gabbar Singh, the bandit terrorising his village: Jai and Veeru, just out of prison, devoted to each other and with no cause of their own. The longer they stay in the village, the less it is about money. The film is not interested in revenge. It is interested in two friends standing surety for each other: the relationship between Jai and Veeru is its real centre, and the ending shows what that costs. Gabbar became one of the most imitated villains in cinema; his lines were sold on record. The form is wide: the rocky ground of Ramanagara, a train attack, chases on horseback and a running time past three hours. The structure comes from the western, but songs, comedy and melodrama run together. Ramesh Sippy directed. Censorship changed the ending: originally Thakur killed Gabbar by kicking him onto a spike on the same posts where he had been tied. During the Emergency the censor board objected to a former policeman taking the law into his own hands and demanded a new finale. With days to release the crew returned to Bangalore to reshoot it, and Sanjeev Kumar was recalled from abroad. In the version known today the police arrive and Thakur hands Gabbar over. Dharmendra plays Veeru, Amitabh Bachchan plays Jai, Sanjeev Kumar plays Thakur and Amjad Khan plays Gabbar. Who it is for: viewers who like the classics of Indian cinema and western structure. Who it is not for: anyone who will find the length excessive. It runs past three hours and the comic passages feel long today.