Sholay
An iconic movie of the Hindi cinema and if you want to be a well versed in Indian movie watcher, this is a must see movie. Supposedly inspired by the John Wayne, Clint Eastwood style American Westerns, the movie is based in the beautiful, stark dry and harsh ravines of Chambal, a real life hot bed for dacoits. However, the movie was actually shot in a village called Ramanagar, Karnataka. The story is a revenge drama of Thakur Baldev Singh played by Sanjeev Kumar and Dacoit Gabbar Singh played by debutant Amjad Khan. Veeru and Jai are two thieves who aid the Thakur. Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra play Jai and Veeru while Hema Malini plays Basanti; Veeru’s love interest. Jaya Bhaduri plays the widowed daughter in law of Thakur and is Jai’s silent love interest. Incidentally, both the leading pairs ended up as real life couples too. The cinematography is amazing. Music by R. D. Burman is one of his best and the item number “Mehbooba” sung by RD himself and danced superbly by Helen is as iconic as the movie itself. Here’s a link to Kronos quartet performing Mehbooba The dialogs of the movie are still fodder to a lot of creative ads and messaging. The poster for Sholay shown here used to be huge bill boards painted by actual painters on canvas. India's renowned artist M. F. Husain used to paint such movie posters early in his career. Sholay is not just a movie; it has influenced more than one generation and defined Bollywood.
You can watch Sholay on Netflix
Or, buy a copy for your collection.
