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at 11:08:59 pm on October 1, 2006
Sholay was India’s first 70mm widescreen film and also boasted stereophonic sound. However, since actual 70mm cameras were deemed too expensive to be used to shoot the epic actioner, the movie instead was shot on traditional 35mm film and the 4:3 picture was subsequently blown up, cropped and matted to a 2.20:1 frame. This also proved cost-effective in that separate 35mm prints would be needed anyway since few theatres in India were equipped to show widescreen films. Now, here’s where the complications set in. In the weeks leading up to Sholay’s premiere, India’s censor board revealed that they were refusing to clear the film for release as they objected to its violent final scene and ordered director Ramesh Sippy to shoot a more ’sanitised’ climax if he wanted his hard work to make it to the cinema halls. Left with no choice but to comply, Sippy scrambled to re-shoot Sholay’s finale. Revealing the details of the changes made will significantly spoil the ending for newcomers to the movie, so if you’d like to remain unaware, steer clear of the spoilers in the box below…
In the original, full-length director’s cut, Sholay’s closing minutes see a dramatic showdown between a groggy Gabbar Singh and a vengeful Thakur Baldev Singh. Managing to overcome his handicap, the Takhur lays out Gabbar with a vicious assault before killing him in cold blood. Satisfied with his long-overdue revenge, but also disturbed at the hollowness of his victory, Baldev slumps into the arms of Veeru and weeps. It was a powerful conclusion, but the censors weren’t impressed. They believed the portrayal of a police officer (albeit a retired one) taking the law into his own hands and committing murder would be setting a poor example to India’s citizens and so instead the version of Sholay that made it to the theatres saw the police arrive just as the battle is about to finish and convince the Takhur to let Gabbar go. No comeuppance for Gabbar, no touching moment between Veeru and Baldev.
