Two convicts and small time crooks Amitabh and Dharmendra are picked by Thakur Sanjeev Kumar, a former police officer, to seek vengeance on the dangerous bandit Gabbar Singh Amjad Khan because he killed all of Thakur's family except a daughter-in-law and maimed Thakur for life.This was a result of an earlier incident in which Thakur -- acting as a police officer -- had captured Gabbar and helped in his conviction in the court. Gabbar managed to escape and wreaked havoc in Thakur's life. Now Thakur seeks the help of these two crooks to get Gabbar. The ensuing action makes for one of the most exciting Indian movies made to date.
Thakur Baldev Singh Sanjeev Kumar seeks to avenge the cold-blooded massacre of his family at the hands of notorious bandit Gabbar Singh Amjad Khan. Since he is unable to do so on his own, he recruits Veeru Dharmendra and Jaidev Amitabh Bachchan. Both are jailbirds and have in and out of various jails. They are reportedly known to carry out any work provided the compensation is right. Both agree to capture Gabbar Singh live and hand him over to Baldev Singh. Things do not go as planned. Veeru falls for the local horse carriage driver Basanti Hema Malini; and Jai starts to have romantic feelings for Baldev Singh's widowed daughter-in-law, Radha Jaya Bhaduri. To make matters worse, Gabbar has sworn to kill both Jai and Veeru, and holds Basanti as a hostage, to lure them to him
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Though there were a number of films on dacoits and 'thakurs' earlier, Sholay was a different genre in films altogether. Its unprecedented success broke all records and in some theaters, the film ran for as long as one whole year.
Sholay was a multistarrer. Top stars like Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Sanjeev Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bhaduri dotted the film, but it was the new actor Amjad Khan who walked away with the honor of immortalizing 'Gabbar Singh' in our minds.
Sholay is the story of an uprighteous cop who arrests a dreaded dacoit and puts him in jail. Furious and mad with revenge, the dacoit escapes from prison and wipes off 'thakur's entire family. The dacoit also chops off the hands of the 'thakur'. It is now the 'thakur's turn to avenge the murder of his family and he does it from outside police system.
The 'thakur' hires two notorious criminals and trains them to confront the dacoit. The rest of the film has camaraderie of the two criminals who are also bosom buddies, their romantic flings, the face-offs with the 'thakur' and finally the war against the dreaded dacoit 'Gabbar Singh'. In the violence of killing 'Gabbar Singh', one of the friends dies.
Sholay had a string of extremely fine performances by all the actors. It is very difficult to pinpoint on any one of them, saying he or she was the best. Whether it was Amitabh or Dharmendra, Hema or Jaya in her brilliantly essayed cameo, or the towering Sanjeev Kumar as the 'thakur'. They surpassed their own credentials.
Helen's special dance number 'Mehbooba Mehbooba' is an all-time rage and is crucial in giving the cabaret dancer the epithet of Indian Cinema's Golden Girl.