New Delhi: As Sholay completes 50 years, the iconic film is set to return to theatres in a restored version that brings audiences closer to the creators’ original vision. Shehzad Sippy, producer of Sholay and nephew of filmmaker Ramesh Sippy, speaks about the painstaking restoration process, the decision to revive Salim-Javed’s original ending, and why the film continues to resonate across generations ahead of its global theatrical re-release.
It was the creators’ vision, the original ending that the writers Salim-Javed always wanted. Unfortunately, at that time, the political climate was different and the country was in a very different space. They didn’t get the chance to present their work the way they had intended. As a result, they had to reshoot the climax and cut some scenes.
For me, the biggest thing was to preserve their work for future generations and, more importantly, to protect their artistic integrity and vision. Now, 50 years later, we have come a long way. We’re just happy to have recovered whatever we could from the film and preserve it for the future, and above all, honour what my uncle and Salim-Javed had attempted to do.
Why is Sholay relevant even today?
I think Javed Akhtar said it best. There are very few films in the world—whether it’s Star Wars or The Godfather—where so many characters and dialogues are memorable. But he said that Sholay is even stronger than those films because every character is memorable throughout the movie.
Everything has to do with the hard work those people put in, the vision they had, and how they were able to bring so many incredible talents together. There was also my grandfather’s risk-taking ability—to bet on this film at that age and go nearly three times over budget. The film took three times longer than expected to complete, and there were financial and other pressures on everyone involved.
They put their heart and soul into the movie, and I’m thankful that, as a company, we were able to restore the film for future generations and honour their work during the 50th anniversary of Sholay.
About the release
It’s going to be a huge release, on the scale of Baahubali, and it will be released across the world.
We were planning to screen it at IFFI this year, but there were a few last-minute improvements that needed to be made. The film has already been shown at festival screenings, but it’s now gearing up for a commercial theatrical release. We wanted to make sure everything looks absolutely right, so we didn’t want to rush it. Since the final copy wasn’t ready and the release was very close to IFFI, we decided it made more sense to postpone.
When did you decide to restore it and begin the process?
The process began a couple of years ago, but as soon as I bought the company from the family, I knew Sholay’s 50th anniversary was approaching. My father, who passed away in 2021, had often told me that the original cut of Sholay was lying in London at Technicolor and encouraged me to track it down if possible.
After his passing, I contacted Technicolor, and they confirmed that the material had been stored there for the last 50 years.
As of now, there’s no fixed plan on which films will be restored next. However, we will certainly look at restoring Uncle Ramesh Sippy’s classics like Shaan and Seeta Aur Geeta, and consider theatrical releases for them at some point.