Sholay, Chris Norrod

Chris Norrod

Sholay Film Review

3/7/10

Sholay (Ramesh Sippy) on its most basic level appears to be a standard Western of the American cinema.  It tells the tale of two men that have only each other, set against the isolation of arid, desolate location.  That is until they stumble across a town in distress, and there they find that they had always retained nobility buried inside their cynicism, and become martyrs.  For all the similarities it may possess, there is of course something uniquely Indian about the tale.  All that Sholay shares with the American Western is a central plot, while the character development, themes, and symbolism remain purely Indian.

Veeru (Dharmenda) and Jai (Amitahb Bachchan) are two petty criminals that have been wandering through the dusty Ramanagara of south east India.  They have recently been arrested by a police officer and are being transported to a jail.  The train soon comes under attack by bandits, and here, Jai and Veeru first show that they are truly noble individuals.  The officer is wounded, and rather than flee, they allows themselves to be arrested so the officer could be helped to a hospital.  Though they appear to leave this up to chance by flipping a coin to decide, it is later revealed that Jai had been in control of this “fate” all along.  Veeru and Jai then establish their relationship in the following song sequence.  They roam up a rural road embracing and professing their friendship to each other while riding a motorcycle.  After a comic segment in which Jai and Veeru are arrested and re-arrested, our heroes are then contacted by Thakur, their arresting officer and the man they had saved.  He wants to contract them as bounty hunters; he wants them to bring back a bandit leader that has been terrorizing Thakur’s home village. 

It is strange that it is Veeru and Jai that would be selected for such a mission, and not rather the state.  This could be an element of the period in Indian history.  This movie was released six weeks after Indian Prime Minister Indhira Gandhi had declared the Indian Emergency.  This was period where the Indian state could not control its violence, and it is a band of dacoits that are the antagonist force in Sholay.  The presence of the state throughout the film is small.  It is rather up to the people themselves to find justice and safety.  Jai and Veeru may represent the everyman of the period, whose security is no longer assured and must fend for himself.

 Jai and Veeru accept, and become increasingly involved with the town.  Veeru find love in a talkative cart driver named Basanti, and Raj develops an attraction to the widowed Radha.  Because she is widowed, it is unlucky that the relationship will develop, foreshadowing strife for either Jai or Radha (or both).  Because of Basanti’s talkative and forgetful character, and because Radha is a widow, the women in this film are secondary characters.  The film instead focuses on the male relationship between Veeru and Jai, and their friendship takes precedence over their love interests.  Basanti only serves as motive to drive the Veeru into action against the villains, and from there the male relationship is further developed.

 Sholay also has the “supervillain”, a character that has yet to have made an appearance in Indian cinema.  In our previous films, the villain was always motivated by power or wealth, but Gabbar (Amjad Khan) is truly sadistic.  His motive for raiding the village may have some basis in requisition of provisions, but his actions towards his own men indicate a kind of sadism that has been largely absent from previous villains.