Big B and Dharmendra in a still from Sholay
Iconic
Sholay character Jai, played by Amitabh Bachchan, almost had a happy ending with plans made to reshoot the climax scene of the legendary film which saw his tragic end. The revelation was made by none other than Mr Bachchan himself while interacting with the press at an event on August 14.
Big B said the makers of
Sholay were finalising plans to improve the box office prospects of the film, which celebrates its 40th anniversary tomorrow, so that the fans were not robbed of a happy ending when Mr Bachchan's Jai had a dramatic end in the climax scene.
Despite a stellar star cast, huge production, world class action sequences and a script by Bollywood's most saleable writers, Sholay intitially faltered at the box office upon its release on August 15, 1975, prompting the film makers to think of altering the tragic ending.
"We discussed what could be done with the film so that it does better. Many people felt that audience was unhappy with my death in the film. There were many sequences in
Sholay which were attractive. One was widow remarriage. They felt just when the woman was getting a better life, we removed that with my death," Mr Bachchan said.
The actor, who had asked his co-star Dharmendra to put in a good word for him with Ramesh Sippy to get Jai's role, said they were all set to reshoot the climax but it was the director, who still wanted to wait despite the movie's initial disaster and as they say, rest is history. Dharmendra played the character of Veeru in the film and the Jai-Veeru jodi remains a hit in Bollywood even today.
Walking down the memory lane, Mr Bachchan said they initially thought that the audience were not happy with his onscreen death in Deewar, also scripted by Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar.
"Also, in January, same year 'Deewar' where my character had died. There was discussion that I shouldn't have been killed again. So, it was decided that I will be shown alive.
It was Saturday. We decided we would go to Ramnagar and reshoot it on Sunday and release the new print on Monday. "Equipments for shooting were also ordered but while we were going back after discussion Ramesh Sippy said, 'Let's wait till Monday. Let's see what happens. If it does not workout even then, then it is destiny'. What happened on Monday was extraordinary," Big B.
When asked about the secret behind Sholay's longstanding success, Mr Bachchan said he still had to find the perfect answer.
The actor said the movie provided 'poetic justice', had a grand theme, great dialogues and great actors.
"Two friends coming together, their friendship, how they discuss their love life and adventure and then being employed by Thakur (Sanjeev Kumar), which was inspired by 'Seven Samurai' and its Hollywood remake 'Magnificent Seven'. Both were successful. The idea of two people employed by Thakur to protect something went really well with the audience," he said.
Besides Big B and Dharmendra, Sholay also co-starred Sanjeev Kumar, Amjad Khan, Hema Malini and Jaya Bachchan among others.
Such was the popularity of its dialogues, that even those mouthed by its character artistes, are etched in audience's memory even today.