Nearly 40 years on, iconic film Sholay to release in Pakistan!

It has been almost forty years since the hallmark film released in India and astounded fimaholics and critics alike. The film centers around two petty thieves Jay and Veeru played by legendary actors in their prime, Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra. The two act as hired guns to end the run of a village tyrant who goes by the name of Gabbar Singh. Gabbar is hated by the whole village on account of his mistreatment of the poor and the destitute. No one dares to defy him as Gabbar and his gang roams about freely in the open. Thakur, a the village Ramgarh’s retired policeman who himself has a bone to pick with Gabbar, takes the initiative to hire Jay and Veeru tp end the villain’s rule for good.
There are a couple of reasons that altogether made Sholay one of the greatest films of all time mady by the Indian film industry. Jay and Veeru’s accurate portrayal of two street smart criminals with their bromance and witty jibes at each other was felicitated by the audience. Also, the character Basanti’s hyper antics (mostly talking) was also adorned by viewers who was played by legendary actress Hema Malini. Jaya Bachchan and Sanjeev Kumar’s performances as Radha and Thakur were also much appreciated.
It would be very much unfair if all the film’s credit was to be given to the actors and not the musicians. As for the title song, R.D.Burman’s composition and Anand Bakshi’s contribution by the pen altogether brought forth music that was melody to the ears. Kishore Kumar lent his soulful voice for many songs for the film, them being Ye Dosti Ham Nahin, Chand Sa Koi Chehra and Holi Ke Din (this one also featuring Lata Mangeshkar). Jab Tak Hai Jaan was very much appreciated by the audience and lauded for its picturization as well.

 

 

All in all, the Bollywood-crazy nation of Pakistan is going to welcome the news of Sholay no doubt. It was the uplifting of ban on Indian films by then President General Musharraf in 2006 which led to multiple cinema houses opening in the country as the cinema business revived.
The film is set to be released on March 20th 2014 in 2D and 3D in Pakistan according to Nadeem Mandivalla, owner of Karachi-based Mandivalla Entertainment. “Yeh mera eik shauq tha and I kep pushing for it. I’ve seen it myself 15-20 times and this is a movie that really resonated with people of my generation. When Sholay was released in 3D last year, we tried to make a deal for it but it didn’t go through,” Mandviwalla told Hindustan Times on phone.

“Now the date has been finalised and we have locked it for release on March 20.”