Saat Saath, Musings & Amusings Options

[swarapriya]

(Dharmendra) Sholay (1975)

This movie became a phenomenon through out India as it went on to establish a record after record at the box office. It ran successfully for over five years. It grossed an astounding figure of nearly 800 crores of Rupees. It celebrated the golden jubilee in over 60 theatres. It ran over 25 weeks in more than 100 theatres. BBC declared it as the “Film of the Millennium”. Even though “Sholay” snubbed originally by the influential Filmfare magazine, it gave recently the award for it as the Best Film in 50 Years.

The movie was based on a simple idea. It was a story of revenge molded after several successful westerns. Yet it is surprising why this movie became such an unprecedented rage among filmgoers. The biggest answer lies in the character Gabbar Singh as played by the great Amjad Khan. This person was molded after a real life dacoit of the same name. Khan Saab (son of the great actor, Jayant) debuted as a child artiste in Raj Kapoor’s “Ab Dilli Door Nahin” in 1957. His first adult role as an actor was in “Hindustan ki Kasam” released in 1973. But “Sholay” was the movie that brought him instant fame and recognition. A villain in an Indian film never looked meaner and his deeds scarier than Khan’s were from this movie. He gave an unforgettable performance that would be envious of any veteran actor. Simplay put, his performance was phenomenal. Apparently he prepared for the role by reading Taroon Bhaduri’s book “Abhishapth Chambal” which chronicled the doings of dacoits of Chambal valley. Taroonji was the father of Jaya Bhaduri, who also starred in this film. Interestingly Khan Saab was not the original choice of the producers. They wanted Danny Denzongpa for the role. But Danny was away in Afghanistan shooting for Feroz Khan’s “Dharmatma (1975)” and was not immediately available.

I think the song “Mehbooba O Mehbooba” by RD was another chief contributor to the success this movie enjoyed. RD did such a splendid job with his vocals and the music he composed for the film fuses Indian sounds with elements of Afro-Cuban, Arabic, and Latin reflecting his musical genius. Especially the background score where Gabbar Singh is located in a desolate rocky terrain gives such an eerie feeling.

Both the romantic pairs got hitched while preparations to make this movie were going on. Few months before the movie was to be launched, Jaya and Amitabh were married. Soon after that Jaya got pregnant delaying the shooting of the movie. Also, besides being already married and with children, garam Dharam was after Hema’s affections. Originally Dharam wanted to play the role of Thakur (eventually played by Sanjeev Kumar). He was informed that then Sanjeev will get the role of Veeru. When he learned that Veeru will get the girl in the movie, as Sanjeev proposed to Hema only a few months back, Dharam changed his mind quickly and took Veeru’s role. Dharam used to bribe the light boys while shooting so that he can have several retakes with Hema. Incidentally, Hema does not appear with Sanjeev in any scenes in the movie. This was done at her request because she did not want to be near him.

Shatrughan Sinha was considered for the role of Jai, but Dharmendra persuaded the director to have Amitabh play the role. Amitabh also went to the director to convince him that he would be the right choice to play Jai.

The movie was shot near Bangalore. The rocky terrain, called Ramanagaram, where the movie was shot is now a tourist attraction. Parts of Ramanagaram were renamed as “Sippy Nagar”. The village that was built for the movie was left intact by the producers.

“Sholay” was the first Hindi movie to be shot in stereophonic sound. It was also presented in the 70mm widescreen format. The song “Chaand Sa Koi” is not in the movie. After the song was recorded, director Ramesh Sippy decided to not include it in the movie. So the song was never picturized. Anand Bakshi Saab, the lyricist, was one of the co-singers of the song.

I am uploading songs from this film in back-to-back two posts. The first post contains all the songs from the film. The second post contains several extended version songs and some specials.

Here is a description of the songs in the first post and the songs themselves …

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Sholay (1975)"...

I am uploading in this post few extended versions of the songs and a couple of specials. The details are supplied in the table below.

Here are these songs...

[swarapriya]

(Jeetendra) Ek Hi Bhool (1981)

Here are the songs from this album...

[pawan1234]

(Jeetendra) Ek Hi Bhool (1981)

Here are the songs from this album...

great share nice release

[swarapriya]

(Jeetendra) Ek Hi Bhool (1981)

Here are the songs from this album...

great share nice release

Thank you Pawanji. Cheers. -S

[swarapriya]

(Sunil) Hai Meri Jaan (1991)

I am uploading songs from this album in two back-to-back posts. Here is the first post...

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Hai Meri Jaan (1991)"...

Here are the rest of the songs from this album...

[kishor]

Concluding Songs from "Sholay (1975)"...

I am uploading in this post few extended versions of the songs and a couple of specials. The details are supplied in the table below.

Here are these songs...

Swarapriya,

I once heard in an interview of Jalal Agha(In doordarshan) that he has originally recorded the Mehbooba Mehbooba song and somehow it was later at the instance of producer it was replaced with RDs Vocals....


Cheers..

Kishor

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Sholay (1975)"...

I am uploading in this post few extended versions of the songs and a couple of specials. The details are supplied in the table below.

Here are these songs...

Swarapriya,

I once heard in an interview of Jalal Agha(In doordarshan) that he has originally recorded the Mehbooba Mehbooba song and somehow it was later at the instance of producer it was replaced with RDs Vocals....


Cheers..

Kishor

I haven't heard from you in a long time Kishor. Good to see you back. And, thanks for the info...

Cheers,
S

[swarapriya]

(Amitabh) Paan Khaye Saiyan Hamaar (1984) - A Bhojpuri Film

Rekha and Amitabh made guest appearances in this Bhojpuri film. It has great music by maestro Naushad Saab with several beautiful songs. Here they are...

[swarapriya]

(Dharmendra) Teri Meri Ik Jindri (1975) - A Punjabi Film

Songs from this album were recently uploaded in this thread and are available starting at the following location...

https://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?show...617&st=1054

[swarapriya]

(Jeetendra) Jyoti (1981)

Songs from this film were recently uploaded in the "Muse & Music" thread and are available starting at the following location...

https://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?show...140&st=2206

[swarapriya]

(Sunil) Kurbaan (1991)

Here are the songs from this film from an original soundtrack album in two back-to-back posts...

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Kurbaan (1991)"...

Here are the rest of the songs from this fine album...

[swarapriya]

(Amitabh) Sharaabi (1984)

Prakash Mehra who made Amitabh a star with his 1973 film “Zanjeer” directed this film. Starting with “Zanjeer”, Amitabh starred in seven of Mehra’s movies. Starting with “Zanjeer” six in a row of these films were huge hits. His last one with Mehra was “Jaadugar” made in 1989 that flopped. Between “Zanjeer” and “Jaadugar” Amitabh starred in “Hera Pheri (1976)”, “Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (1978)”, “Laawaris (1981)”, “Namak Halaal (1982)”, and “Sharaabi”. After “Jaadugar” flopped, Amitabh and Mehra didn’t work together again in any of the films. Mehra also couldn’t come up with another hit after “Sharaabi”.

“Sharaabi” was based on Liza Minnelli and Dudley Moore starrer “Arthur”. The 1981 Hollywood flick was a huge hit and won Oscar for late Sir John Gielgud a Best Supporting Actor Award. In Hindi, his role was reprised by the great veteran actor Om Prakash.

Amitabh gave a winning and powerful performance in the movie. However he did not win any award for his portrayal of the title role as a drunkard. Here are a couple of instances why this performance shouldn’t have been overlooked. The first one has to with the climax scene. Prakash Mehra was so overwhelmed with Amitabh’s performance during the shooting of this scene where the character played by Om Prakash dies that he decided to forego dubbing of the scene altogether. Here is another example. In the “Naulakha” song sequence Amitabh got so engrossed in the character where he was shown hitting ghunghroos on his left hand to the dance that he started bleeding and has to be restrained.

One of the main reasons why the movie became so popular is because of its beautiful music. Bappi Lahiri was on the top of his game here. Every song in the film is an utter delight and became a huge hit. Lahiri won the Filmfare Award as the Music Director for the film. Also, that melancholic song superbly rendered by Kishoreda, “Manzilein”, won for him the Award as the Best Male Playback Singer from Filmfare.

I am uploading songs from an original soundtrack album in two back-to-back posts. Here are the songs in the first post…