Sholay-Movie Review *** 11/10/2010
Posted by Films to consider in Comedy, Indian language film, Movies, Musical, Thriller.trackback
Sholay (Indian) 1975
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A classic Indian film, directed by Ramesh Sippy.
Starring Sanjeev Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, and Amjad Khan.
What starts out seeming to be a lighthearted movie with two fun-loving bad guys, complete with Bollywood style singing and dancing, soon develops into a thrilling story about good versus bad versus incredibly evil.
Jai (Bachchan) and Veeru (Dharmendra) are two thugs who pride themselves on their marksmanship. They are hired by Thakur Baldev Singh (Kumar) to avenge the horrible deeds done to himself and his family by Gabbar Singh (Khan), sadistic leader of a cadre of nasty bandits. The odds of survival in the fight scenes that ensue are unbelievable, but are somehow made believable enough. There are a lot of bad guys, and a lot of bad guys die.
In the midst of the revenge plot, many other subplots take place, including happy love scenes and comical scenes highlighting one or another of the characters.
I loved this movie and can well understand why it is considered a classic. My only complaint is that there are no subtitles for the lyrics; the musical numbers are obviously carrying the plot forward.
204 min. Rated PG. Much violence.
If you haven’t seen it yet, I’d recommend Lagaan, another great Bollywood film.
Thanks, I’ll put it on my list!