According to Farhan Akhtar, Salim-Javed was forced to alter Sholay’s climax due to the emergency: “It didn’t make sense but they had no choice.”

On August 15, the Bollywood blockbuster Sholay will celebrate its 50th anniversary. The film, which was directed by Ramesh Sippy, transformed the careers of all those who worked on it, including the writers Salim-Javed (Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar). The cast of the film was nothing short of an all-star team, with names like Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Sanjeev Kumar, Amjad Khan, and Jaya Bachchan leading the charge. Remembering the impact of the film, actor Farhan Akhtar shared some anecdotes about the making of the film and how Sholay’s climax was completely different from what was eventually kept in the film.

Farhan discussed the reasons behind the success of his upcoming movie, 120 Bahadur, on Prakhar Gupta’s podcast, saying, “The film just leaves a huge impact on you.” All of the characters and the manner it was mounted were entertaining. It wasn’t as though Veeru and Jai were the only ones with excitement. Basanti, Gabbar, Surma Bhopali, and the jailer were all outstanding individuals. It was a huge success. He went on to say that the movie was visually superior to the others and that the experience it produced in theaters was one that would never be forgotten.

It was, in my opinion, a very powerfully emotional film that was also extremely entertaining. With the possible exception of Mughal-E-Azam, the film’s directing and production were exceptional from the start. You ask yourself, “How did they shoot this?” after viewing the images. The technical skill was simply so much better than anything else being done at the time, and the experience it produced in the theaters was incredible. It still stands the test of time, and people still don’t make films like that. Everyone is so dependent on VFX, and that will never look as good as Sholay,” said Farhan.

Speaking about the climax, Farhan disclosed that Salim Khan, his father, and Javed Akhtar were unhappy with the suggested alterations to the script, but they were unable to stop it. The entire story of Thakur planning his retaliation after his hands were cut, he revealed, “had a very strong emotional core.” The film’s core was the honest policeman who pursues a criminal after he murders his family, but we are sucked into the Jai Veeru dialogue. In the original ending, he murders Gabbar after hiring these two worthless individuals. They had to change it due to the Emergency, and the original ending is now available. That is actually when he cries, after crushing The entire story of Thakur planning his retaliation after his hands were cut, he revealed, “had a very strong emotional core.” The film’s core was the honest policeman who pursues a criminal after he murders his family, but we are sucked into the Jai Veeru dialogue.

During the climax, Farhan disclosed that Salim Khan, his father, and Javed Akhtar were not pleased with the suggested changes to the script, but they were forced to do them.

At the 2018 Pune International Film Festival, director Sippy also discussed the movie and its altered climax. He claimed that he had to alter the conclusion due to the Censor Board. “I had shot a different ending for Sholay, where Thakur kills Gabbar,” he said to the audience. However, such was not permitted by the Censor Board. The fact that Thakur killed Gabbar with his feet infuriated them. I was also caught in a sticky situation… how else would Thakur kill him? He couldn’t have used a gun since he had no arms. They were also unhappy about too much violence… they said ‘you have to change the end’. I wasn’t happy, but I did that.”