Sholay became a legend, and by far the most successful film of its time, which ran for five consecutive years in a theatre in Bombay. Often described as India's best known "curry" western, Sholay was 'patterned' on American spaghetti westerns but the addition of romance, comedy, and songs gave it the ambiance that one expects of a Hindi film. Ironically the film opened to a lukewarm response and distributors asked the director to trim the film because of its length but soon the word of mouth spread and the rest as the cliché goes is history.

Sholay had all the elements of a Western - rugged countryside (the film was shot in the rocky landscape of Ramnagaram a small village about 30 miles from Bangalore), bandits on horseback, fierce gun fights etc. But unlike the Hollywood westerns which had moral issues as their core, Sholay like Sergei Leonne's 'Spaghetti Westerns' was strewn with corpses and brutality. In fact Sholay took film violence to new heights. A key factor in this was the villain, the cold-blooded killer, Gabbar Singh. Unlike earlier villains who were content to bring about a misunderstanding between the lovers' families, Gabbar seems to pursue evil as an end in itself. Played by newcomer Amjad Khan, Gabbar Singh was by far the most popular character of the film with his dialogues remembered till today! In fact along with the music cassettes and records of the film, cassettes and records of the film's dialogues too were released and were extremely popular. Sholay was merchandised on water bottles, belts, jackets etc.

In a brilliantly executed sequence, Gabbar in his hideout taunts three of his men on a failed mission. In a form of Russian Roulette, he randomly removes three of the six bullets from his gun and holds the barrel of the gun to a man's temple and fires. When the gun doesn't go off he exclaims almost in child-like glee 'Bach Gaya Sala.' (The Bastard is saved) Similarly this happens with the other two men. Laughing at his own cruel joke, his men too think they have got away with it and the other dacoits too join in. When the laughter reaches a feverish pitch, the entire ravine echoing it, he turns around and shoots them. A deathly silence follows…

The film made use of several interesting innovations. This included its spectacular cinematography, with shots panning over rocky heights and barren canyons, often under menacing clouds. This lends the movie much of its eerie tension. One of the long opening scenes, which shows a train being defended by Baldev Singh against an attack by bandits, is quite spectacular in its effects, and is reminiscent of similar scenes in westerns, most notably John Ford's Stagecoach (1939). (Though it would be fair to mention that a stunt director came down from abroad and was responsible for the amazing action scenes of the film) Sholay, likewise, plays upon themes of nature versus culture, the encroachment of nature upon culture, and the meaning of civilization in wilderness.

Though the film depicts the usual Indian themes of loyalty in friendship and love, what is notable is an almost total absence of family values. The two heroes have no visible family ties, neither has the heroine Hema Malini. One expects this of bandits, but not of those who are 'good'.

Technicaly too the film was a trailblazer. Shot in 70mm with stereophonic sound, Sholay was the ultimate big screen experience. (It was India's first film in 70 mm with stereophonic sound) Mention must be made of Dwarka Divecha's stunning camerawork and RD Burman's evocative background score, particularly the title track of the film, which help elevate the film even further.

Perhaps Sholay's phenomenal success can be attributed to perhaps the way it was able to blend the various items or 'masalas' required in a Hindi film in exactly the right doses. Practically every scene, dialogue and even a small character was a highlight. Even Dhanno, the horse of the tangewali, Hema Malini is remembered till today! Every small character be it the Jailor (Asrani), Mausi (Leela Mishra) or Sambha (Mac Mohan) - they are etched in viewer's minds.

Great as the ensemble cast is, each of them, the life of the film is undoubtedly Amjad Khan creating perhaps the greatest villain in the history of Indian cinema and that too in just his first major film role. Initially the role was offered to Danny but he was caught up with Feroz Khan' s Dharmatma (1975). Today the film is absolutely unthinkable without Amjad Khan. But there is a flip side to this as well. Though he ahd a fairly successful career till his untimely death, he never could reach the heights of Sholay, which proves that such roles and films come just once in a lifetime.

Naturally Sholay set several trends in its aftermath. Spates of Multi-starrers and Films with male bonding amongst heroes followed. The theme of Sholay was much imitated but none could match up to Sholay. Which goes on to prove that Sholay was one of a kind. In fact, films will come and films will go but Sholay goes on forever...