What do you say about a film that's almost a religion for Hindi film buffs? It's been revered. It's been worshipped. It's been iconised. It's been celebrated. It's been lampooned. It's been copied. It's been remade.
Some personalities, especially when played with such hard-hitting tenacity, never die in public memory. And that's what makes Jai (Amitabh Bachchan), Veeru (Dharmendra), Thakur (Sanjeev Kumar), Gabbar (Amjad Khan), Basanti (Hema Malini), Sambha (Mac Mohan), Kaalia (Dev Khote), Mausi (Leela Mishra), Soorma Bhopali (Jagdeep), Jailor (Asrani), Radha (Jaye Bachchan) or Dhanno, to name a few, an immortal lot.
To think this 70mm of high-voltage drama in blazing stereophonic sound, boasting of Salim-Javed's 10 on 10 script, Dwarka Divecha's breathtaking camera work and R D Burman's spunky soundtrack/background score, didn't exactly start off like a history-in-the-making.
God bless its re-release that let this glorious marriage of Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai to Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time In The West get its due.
A text-book example of what true inspiration is all about; director Ramesh Sippy's stupendous classic just gets better and better with every viewing of its most eventful and quotable three plus hours.
Also Read: Why Sholay is a cult classic
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