Little Known Facts About Sholay

Directed by Ramesh Sippy and released on August 15, 1975, Sholay is undeniably one of the best known Bollywood movies of all time. Here are some little known but interesting facts about Bollywood movie Sholay starring Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Hema Malini, Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bhaduri & Amjad Khan.

1. The town called Ramanagara, about 50 kms from Bangalore is still referred to as Ramgarh because Sholay was shot there.
    
2. Danny Denzongpa was considered for the role of Gabbar first, but he could not accept Sholay it as he had given his dates to Feroz Khan for Dharmatma (1975), which was to be shot in Afghanistan at the same time.
    
3. Shatrughan Sinha was initially considered for the role of Jai.
    
4. It took 40 retakes before the scene featuring the line “kitne aadmi they” was finalised.
    
5. Dharmendra who was madly in love with Hema Malini reportedly paid light boys to cause disruptions during the shooting of romantic scenes in Sholay resulting in several retakes.
    
6. Dharmendra and Hema Malini got married 5 years after the release of the film.
    
7. Amitabh Bachchan married Jaya Bhaduri 4 months before shooting for Sholay commenced.
    
8. In Minerva theater of Mumbai, Sholay ran for over 5 years uninterrupted.
    
9. Sholay was nominated for nine Filmfare Awards, but the only winner was M. S. Shinde, who won the award for Best Editing. It lost to Deewar that was released in the same year.
    
10. In 2005, the 50th Annual Filmfare Awards honored Sholay as the Best Film of 50 Years.
     
11. Before the shoot of the film Sholay, Sanjeev Kumar had proposed marriage to Hema Malini.
     
12. The original ending of Sholay showed Gabbar being killed by Thakur. The Censor Board required the ending of Sholay to be re-shot and several scenes to be redone because they were thought to be extremely violent.
     
13. The famous song 'Yeh Dosti Hum Nahi Todenge' starring Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra took 21 days to shoot.