Vengeance Shall Be Mine! - My Thoughts on Sholay (1975)

Have you ever seen embers of coal smoldering in the dark? The glow of the embers is so bright that it can effortlessly be observed even in the darkest of the nights. If the very sight of that smoldering coal is enough to shake one out of his reverie, what then if one would be foolish enough to try and pick up those pieces. The burns inflicted by those red-hot embers would be enough to last a lifetime and even beyond that. Now imagine if someone would be unlucky enough to have to live his life, lying down on those embers – even figuratively that life would be worse than hell.

Now, let's go a little further..... And imagine yourself in the shoes of one who has lost his all to the maverick machinations of a psychopath and has still not received justice or retribution for all that he has suffered. Imagine a man handicapped by his most hated adversary trying to perform normal mundane chores and the steely rage that engulfs him every time he faces those tasks. Imagine a man forced to face everyday the silent prying eyes of someone he failed to protect from the strike of a hated adversary and imagine his plight if that misfortune was brought on by his own actions, however just, however correct? Imagine what this man must go through if the law stood a mute witness to his pain and frustration, when the law itself was responsible for the magnitude of the retribution? Heaven forbid, the recipient of such a cold anger for within such a man burns the embers of revenge and he is transformed into a living volcano, smoldering with nothing but revenge on his mind. The personification of Revenge, the personfication of blind fury, the personification of all that's vile and beastly - the personification of the fires of rage itself!

Sholay is all that and still more - it's the personification of the cold hatred the protagonist, Thakur Baldev Singh (Sanjeev Kumar) bears for his adversary Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan), it's a moving display of how the cold exterior of burnt coal can hide within itself the inferno of revenge, hatred and anger....the entire film is a visual treat of the smoldering enmity between these two lead characters. Although the director takes pains to create parallel tracks, centering on love, friendship and duty, the film largely wins appreciation for it’s single-track obsession with the battle between Thakur and Gabbar and such is the intensity of their hatred and animosity, that the screen sizzles in resonance of the feeling till it reaches a crescendo from where nothing but only Death or Vengeance is possible!

Sanjeev Kumar as Thakur Baldev Singh churns out a performance that adds to the burgeoning list of an already chequered list of super performances. As the protagonist of this smoldering movie, the actor ensures that the role is akin to that of a live volcano; one that has a lot of magna but has not erupted in the recent past. If ever one has to see quiet fury, one has to observe Sanjeev and that’s it. In his own inimitable style, Sanjeev is the personification of a man rolling on red-hot coal. Look at those eyes, they burn with an intensity unequalled or unrivalled, forget surpassed by any other in the industry.

Time and again, I have been told and have also appreciated the angry young man for his performances but if truth be told and truth should always be told, if any other symbolises anger to such an extent that he be considered as the personification of anger, then it has to be Sanjeev Kumar's brilliant portrayal of Thakur Baldev Singh. Never was an inferno so well portrayed, never was anger so deeply engraved... So soft are the words, the menacing the meanings as if life itself is nothing but a quest for revenge.....

Amitabh Bachchan as Jai, the silent mercenary hired by Thakur is exceptional. In a performance, wherein he communicates via silence, Amitabh comes out trumps. You can feel his intensity, admire his maturity and fear his silence but when he decides to let his hair down, he appears to be completely at ease in the comic sequences as well. His romance is also in sync with his character – mature yet playful, deep yet restrained. Watch him in the scene wherein he interacts with Jaya on his deathbed – a mindblowing performance – the regret of one whose love died unrequited, unsaid and unacknowledged captured on celluloid for all connoisseurs of acting – a scene I can never forget and which remains firmly ensconced on my consciousness.
It's really a point that makes me think hard - would Indian Cinema have benefited more if Amitabh would have not let himself become just the Angry Young Man and gone beyond it? Whenever Amitabh decided to act, beyond his persona, the results were always magical. Be it Jai from Sholay or be it the madcap, shy professor from Chupke Chupke!

Dharmendra as his mercenary partner Veeru – the happy-go-lucky chap is the perfect counterfoil to the intense persona of Jai. In a role that required both for portrayal of machismo as well as to maintain, an endearing childlike quality to the role, Dharmendra excels beyond expectations. His flirting with Basanti is enough to bring down the roofs, as is his camaraderie with Jai a sign of maturity in an otherwise child-man. Also, see his blind fury after Jai has been gunned down by Gabbar and his henchmen – a mindblowing account of a river that has overflown its boundaries. A performance that should rank among his best and one that is a showcase of an actor, one who was never recognized as one.

Hema Malini as the chatterbox, Basanti is absolutely brilliant. In a role that exudes a lot of confidence and spontaneity and is like a relief from the heavy-duty action all around it, the softer emotions of love and social interactions are more of her preserve and domain and she has done a great job of it. Her expressions in her dance on mirror shards are one of the best expressions on helplessness ever and she shines effortlessly in the comic scenes – especially the introduction scene which is still considered my many to be one of the best introductions ever. The only sore point that can be mentioned and that needs to be mentioned though is her dialogue delivery - Hema could never rid herself from the South Indian delivery tinge and for the most stringent of the critics that may be an issue.

On the other hand, Jaya Bhaduri as the unfortunate widow daughter-in-law of the Thakur gives one of her best performances ever. This was a role that was both a reason of fury for one volcano (Sanjeev) and the oasis of hopes for another (Amitabh) but in itself was nothing but a desert left barren by a sudden gust of a mad hurricane (Amjad). A Very difficult role, not easy to perform nor easy to emote but Jaya proved her acting skills in a role that was less incidental to the movie but more fundamental to the plot. An excellent rendition nonetheless –just watch her light the lamps in the night, signifying the emerging of a dream in a barren sleep and then in the climax, watch her closing the window which was the only source of her erstwhile dream. Society is just too rigid to allow a woman a space of her own - could this have been more better symbolized than this awesome scene?

A K Hangal as the blind Imam of the village is exceptional in the two-bit role inscribed to him. His anguish in the scene where his son, (ably performed by the great but underrated Sachin) has been gunned down by the dacoits is brilliant. Asrani as the jailer is still remembered whereas Jagdeep mad a career for himself playing Surma Bhopali time and again and to his credit, this is one of the few comic roles from this movie in the history of Hindi Cinema that has stood the test of time, the other being the role of the Jailer performed by Asrani. Among the others Satyen Kappu, Mac Mohan, Viju Khote and Leela Mishra impress with heir cameo performances. Even Helen and Jalal Agha who come in for a song are still remembered for that song........

But the man, who makes the movie a classic, is the man who portrays Gabbar Singh – Amjad Khan. This movie was one of his earliest performances and to say the least, it’s mind-blowing. It’s indeed surprising to note that nobody believed in his talents, not least the director and the script-writers but today his performance is considered one of the biggest successes in Hindi cinema and till date, Gabbar Singh is a name to reckon with in villainy. As a psychopath, feared and terrorized by all on the screen and in the theatre, Amjad Khan was exceptional. The greatness of the act lies in the fact that he conveys the singular emotion of terrorism with a flick of an eye. Cinegoers are still terrorized in the scene when on receiving information about young Sachin he menacingly looks at an ant crawling on his arms – you can feel the storm gathering and start fearing the inevitable... Surprisingly, that is the most violent scene in the movie...... and still the violence only betters up with every scene...... Can you believe this?

Direction by Ramesh Sippy is brilliant. In each and every scene, Ramesh marks his indelible stamp. The train chase sequence, the fight on the bridge, the climax sequence all of them not only bind but also blend with the movie and are brilliantly executed. On the lighter side, the comic scenes, especially Dharmendra on the water tank and Amitabh carrying Veeru’s proposal to Leela Mishra are brilliantly canned. On the emotional front, the romance track between Dharmendra – Hema is as frivolous as frivolity can be and at the same time the romance between Amitabh and Jaya is as mature as maturity can be.

The director has single-handedly made so many important careers with one single film that many of the actors are still known by their roles in the movie - even bit actors like Mac Mohan (Sambha), Viju Khote (Kaalia), Keshto Mukherjee (Nai), and Leela Mishra (Mausi) have been known by these names throughout their career although their roles were hardly the most important ones in this movie...... Rarely does a movie impact the national consciousness of a people as vividly and as fully as Sholay did and for this reason itself, it will always be among the top movies made in this industry for ever and ever and ever........

Salim-Javed come up trumps with yet another brilliant and taut script. Undoubtedly this is one of their best ones and it’s sad that such a brilliant team broke up, so early in their career.

However, R D Burman comes up with a not so impressive musical score; he still manages to salvage his reputation with one of the best imaginative background scores in the movie but a lot remains to be said of someone who was genius reincarnated when you pay attention to the songs themselves. Among the songs, “Yeh Dosti” by Manna De and Kishore Kumar and “Mehbooba ‘0’ Mehbooba” by the maestro himself are good but.... Still, the heart longs for more.

Sholay will always burn high in the imagination of the film industry ...... Grab it for they don't make them like this any more..........