Sholay (1975)

So much average

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Obviously this film has a huge following and is one of the most successful Indian movies ever. So you'll have to excuse this viewer for not quite getting what the fuss is all about. The principal characters here reminded me of those Seventies TV undercover cops, Starsky and Hutch. That would be Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul, as if they were plopped down right in the middle of an earlier decade's spaghetti Western flick. It's got all the ingredients - an intimidating villain on the order of Claude Akins (I would have said Lee Van Cleef, but Gabbar Singh wasn't tall and lanky), a Eurowest score in parts, and desert cactus as part of the landscape. It's got singing cowboys too, but that's a throwback to the Roy Rogers and Gene Autry movies of the Forties and Fifties.On top of that, the picture drones on for over three hours, with not much going on that couldn't have been reduced to a more comfortable two hour or so run time. And right in the middle of it, there's a scene in which a Hitler knock-off appears for an altogether embarrassing sequence of near pratfalls that's just stupid, to put it as mildly as I can. Seriously, I don't understand what qualifies this as one of the best ever, I had all I could do to keep my trigger finger off the fast forward button as I tried to let this sink in.For some balance perhaps, I will say that I liked the Festival of Colors celebration and dance. I don't know whether that was an actual event that occurs in India or if it was made up for the movie, but that held out some promise as an innovative touch. If you're on the fence for watching the movie after reading this review, I suggest flipping a coin. Heads you watch it, or heads you watch it. You'll get what I mean by the end of the picture.

On a personal vendetta, retired policeman Thakur Baldev Singh recruits lifelong thieves Veeru and Jai to capture bandit leader Gabbar Singh. Two years earlier, Thakur had captured the two thieves. While transporting them on a train, they are attacked by bandits. Thakur releases them to help fight off the bandits. He becomes severely wounded in the fight but the guys risk imprisonment to save his life after flipping a coin for the decision. Along the way, the boys befriend talkative village girl Basanti.This is a blending of Bollywood and a spaghetti western. It definitely has elements of both and is able mix them well. There are lots of action although sometimes they fall short in terms of staging. There is also the song and dance element. There is broad comedy. I like Basanti but I'm less taken with the Hitler-stached jailer. He is way too broad. The main leads are charismatic and compelling. Overall, there is a solid Magnificent Seven feel and this is only a small step beneath that level of cinema.

In spite of initial negative reviews, Sholay became, thanks to word of mouth, a huge hit and an acknowledged classic. It is also, by Western standards, a bit of a mess, and something that would be a better movie with an hour chopped out.The movie is shot like a western (although in spite of initial impressions it's not a period piece) and is gorgeously scenic. The opening train action sequence is good, though not great, and it illustrates an issue seen throughout the movie: it's clear no fist ever comes close to a face and the fighting has an over-choreographed look that makes it unconvincing.This is followed by the film's nadir, a painfully unfunny "comic" sequence about a prison martinet with a Hitler mustache. Not only is it the worst part of the movie, but it's also completely unnecessary; it adds nothing to the movie. Then there's a musical number. This seems odd, but it turns out Sholay is a western-musical-action picture. Go figure.If you can make it that far (about 45 minutes in) then things pick up with a talkative horse-cart driver whose amusing, narcissistic chattering proves that the movie can be funny if it tries. Sholay has the look of a 50s-era western, but it also has the darkness that moved into cinema in the 60s and 70s. The most effective movies are its darkest, and once the film shows that side (towards the middle), the action, broad comedy, suspense, romance, drama, and even dancing, work pretty well. Like the Seven Samurai, Sholay is about heroes protecting a village from bandits, but unlike the Kurosawa film, these heroes have no sense of strategy. It is amazing how it never occurs to anyone in the film to take any precautions or even consider for a moment that being surrounded by bandits probably makes a lot of things dangerous. In spite of a few grim moments, overall Sholay is your basic popcorn flick, and something I probably would have enjoyed more when I was 14 watching a Saturday afternoon movie marathon. 3 1/2 hours long and crossing genres willy-nilly, Sholay really *is* a movie marathon. Cut a few scenes out and trim pretty much everything that's left and Sholay would be a much better movie. As it is, it's a bit of a curio that I can't quite recommend.

Yeah Sholay or amber draws its cinematography from western spaghetti movie genre but this movie is a epic in its own respect. Amazingly multi layered, multi styled, multi varied yet singly packed this film is one blasting bomb of cinema.If you loved Once upon a time in west, the good the bad and the ugly then this movie is a step cohesive with them in a whole different style and still packed with much more enriching entertainment and music that can't be forgotten in many centuries. Number of attempts have been made to make a successful western styled movie where movies like unforgiven failed (though they win Oscar when they don't have much competition that year and were made in the USA) but nothing and never will any movie be made that can invoke this style and make a huge lot of progress in its shot.'Masala film' is the nick name given to its effect because this movie provides you with one of the best tonic of involvement and entertainment. Extremely well-made, beautifully edited, amazingly written, melodiously sung, damningly acted and truly evolved , Sholay is a movie for human beings.