Gabbar Singh! Need I say more?. Review on Sholay

I saw this film in a movie house in Russia the very first time in 1992. It was dubbed in Russian except for the songs. While I am certainly not an expert in Hindi as of yet, I feel the next time I saw the film(in 1995 as a college student)it had English subtitles with the original voice tracks being used. It definitely made a difference! You can make out the influxes of the voices. The villan suddenly becomes more sinister, the girl becomes more annoying with her incessant talking, and the heros(especially Amitabh)seem more sexy. I just love how deep Amitabh's voice is! The comedic sequences such as those with Bhopoli and the prison warden seem much more hilarious with the original actor's voices.

The Cast: Thakur, the main character, is played by Sanjeev Kumar. He is superb as the former police officer who wants revenge on the evil Gabbar Singh, who is played by Amjad Khan. Thakur hires out two petty career criminals named Jai(Amitabh) and Veeru(Dharmendra)who demonstrated great courage to him just a few years earlier. Hema Malini plays Basanti, the irritating talker who is the lover interest for Veeru. Superb acting by all.

The Plot: What can I say? The first time I saw this film, I wanted to immediately see it again. I know I am a girl, but I like the films which are more complex in the story. This film was fantastic. My dad is a fan of Western films that are more gritty than the John Wayne films of the 1940s. He made a good choice taking us kids to see this movie. It was more gritty. It reminded me of Once Upon a Time in the West with the truly evil villan who spares neither man, woman, or child. However, I think Gabbar Singh is worse than Sergio Leone.

The plot was amazing and well structured. The director cleverly would show the gritty, horrific scenes of Gabbar Singh's treachery. Then he would show a comedic scene, or a song and dance sequence, or even part of the love story to kind of break up the tragedy. My dad was glued to his seat! So was I! I was horrified at how evil Gabbar was, but at the same time, I could not stop watching. The plot is simple, yet complex. It is about revenge and the loss of loved ones. It is also about trust. The camera work was clean and the different shots only added to the action. The train sequence in the beginning let the audience know this was not your ordinary Bollywood musical/love story. Of course, there is a love story, but I really liked how Basanti was tough and could handle herself. The ending was equally horrifying, because not everyone lived happily ever after. The only thing that I thought was kind of funny in the end, even though it was meant as the dramatic climax, was Gabbar getting kicked. I would love to discuss that further, but I would hate to give away the ending.

The Conclusion: This film is worth seeing for anyone who loves a film which contains everything, and who loves to be shocked. I have seen this film four times now, and there are still pieces I did not notice that I see each time. Go see the film, rent it on DVD, whatever. This is worth seeing at least once, if not more than that. I can honestly say this is one of the best films ever made by any country. Prepare to see a villan you love to hate!