“Manmohan Desai Rejected Idea Of Sholay': Ramesh Sippy On 50 Years Of Blockbuster

Ramesh Sippy, the maker of the iconic Bollywood movie Sholay, told NDTV in an exclusive conversation for the channel’s special series ‘India Through the Eyes of Its Icons’ that Manmohan Desai, widely known as the industry’s “showman,” rejected the idea of Sholay, saying, “It was not his kind of film.”

“Sholay was a two-line idea,” the noted filmmaker quipped.

“As we went along, I and Salim-Javed, we kept fixing who can play that character the best and that’s how the legendary cast of the movie was selected.”

Sholay completes 50 years of its release in August this year. The movie released in 1975 remains the most influential Bollywood movie produced till date.

Mr Sippy credited the success of the movie to attention to detail.

“Sometimes, it took 23 days to finish a single shot,” said the director of many blockbusters like Andaaj and Shaan. 

He also credited his success to luck and a very talented team. 

“I had the best writers, actors, and technicians with me.”

On sticking to the climax of the movie – in which Amitabh Bachchan dies fighting Gabbar Singh’s men – despite writer Salim-Javed’s offer to change it post an initial tepid response at the box office, Mr Sippy said he thought about it, but then decided against it.

“If that was not to be the climax scene, what could it have been? Without that scene the kind of pathos that it evoked it would not have worked,” the veteran filmmaker told NDTV.

On the all-important question of making a sequel to the iconic movie, Mr Sippy said, “At the moment, no, I don’t have any such plans.”

But he kept a window open for millions of fans by signing off on the note, “Maybe one day if I get an idea, I can see it.”