Sholay
1975 Indian Hindi-language action-adventure film directed by Ramesh Sippy
Sholay (Hindustani: [ˈɕoːleː] , transl. 'Embers') is a 1975 Indian Hindi-language action-adventure film directed by Ramesh Sippy, produced by his father G. P. Sippy, and written by Salim–Javed. The film follows two criminals, Veeru (Dharmendra) and Jai (Amitabh Bachchan), who are hired by a retired police officer (Sanjeev Kumar) to capture the ruthless bandit Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan). Hema Malini and Jaya Bhaduri also star as Veeru and Jai's love interests, Basanti and Radha, respectively. The soundtrack was composed by R. D. Burman.
Filming took place in the rocky terrain of Ramanagara, in the southern state of Karnataka, over two and a half years, beginning in October 1973. After the Central Board of Film Certification mandated the removal of several violent scenes, Sholay was released theatrically as a 198-minute long film. The first version of the director's cut (running at 204 minutes) became available on home media in 1990. In 2025, the fully restored Director's Cut was released worldwide as Sholay: The Final Cut. Sholay is a Dacoit Western (sometimes called a "Curry Western"), combining the conventions of Indian dacoit films with those of Spaghetti Westerns along with elements of Samurai cinema.
Sholay was theatrically released on 15 August 1975.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Sholay” as 1975 Indian Hindi-language action-adventure film directed by Ramesh Sippy. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as 1975 Indian Hindi-language action-adventure film directed by Ramesh Sippy. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q949228. VIAF identifies the subject as 177488344. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1975, 1973, 1990 and 2025.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sholay” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.