Sholay (1975)

There's a moment somewhere in the back half of Sholay where I stopped laughing and started feeling things. Genuinely didn't see it coming. And that, I think, is the magic trick this film pulls off so brilliantly that you almost don't notice it happening.

I watched this with my best mate and his parents, which was exactly the right way to see it. His parents brought the enthusiasm and the context, we brought the bewilderment. Because let me be straight with you: the opening stretch of Sholay had me and my mate absolutely creasing. Rolling on the floor, tears streaming, the whole lot. It is gloriously, unapologetically daft in a way I was not remotely prepared for. Coming at it as a westerner with only a handful of Bollywood films under my belt, the tonal whiplash is something else. Broad comedy, wild physical gags, characters behaving in ways that seem to belong to an entirely different register to everything else on screen. It's chaotic and strange and I genuinely wasn't sure what I'd got myself into.

And then, slowly and without you quite realising it, the film earns something. The friendship at the centre of it, the bond between the two leads, stops being comic window dressing and becomes the whole point. By the time you reach the final act of this very, very long film, it's landed somewhere genuinely moving. The relationship between the two men carries real weight, and the film has done the work to get you there even if the early going felt like it was taking the mickey.

The coin gag is the perfect example of how Sholay operates. It's funny and clever and immediately iconic, and apparently it's been borrowed, referenced and replicated so many times since that there's an entire lineage that traces back to this one scene. Seeing the original in context is one of those pleasures that reminds you why classics become classics.

I'm not going to pretend I'm any kind of authority on Indian cinema. I'm not. My experience is limited, and I'm aware that limits my perspective. But of the Bollywood films I've actually sat down and watched, this stands head and shoulders above the rest. It has an ambition and a warmth and a structural confidence that makes it feel enormous even by the standards of the films I love from anywhere. I felt similarly swept away by RRR, which has that same quality of going completely over the top and then somehow, against all odds, making you care deeply. Sholay does it better, I think, or at least differently, because it has more time and it uses that time.

The length is the one thing I'll flag. This is not a film you put on if you've got somewhere to be. It is a commitment. But it earns every minute in the end, which is more than most films half its runtime manage. There's a generosity to it, a willingness to let scenes breathe and relationships develop, that feels almost old fashioned in the best possible way.

What stays with me most is that feeling of the film shifting under your feet. You think you're watching one kind of thing and then you realise it's been building towards something else entirely. The comedy doesn't disappear, it just gets absorbed into something richer. Brotherhood, loyalty, grief. Heavy stuff, carried lightly for most of the runtime and then placed squarely on your chest when the film decides it's time.

Four and a half stars. Don't let the runtime put you off, and don't let the opening goofiness fool you into underestimating it. Stick with it. It knows exactly what it's doing.

Rating: ★★★★½  | Year: 1975  | Watched: 2025-04-13

View on Letterboxd →

Where to watch

Watch in the UK
Stream: ITVX Premium
Rent: Apple TV Store · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Apple TV Store · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi

Watch in the US
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon US

Affiliate disclosure: Movies With Macca may earn a small commission on purchases or subscriptions started via these links. It costs you nothing extra.

Related on Movies With Macca

More from India: A Throw of Dice (1929) · Need for Speed (2014) · RRR (2022) · The Padma Boatman (1993)
More from the 1970s: Fantastic Planet (1973) · Here and Elsewhere (1976) · Italianamerican (1974) · Punishment Park (1971)
More action: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · The General (1926) · Hand of Death (1976) · Daredevil (2003)