The restored version of Sholay, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra, will be screened at The Indian Film Festival of Sydney (IFFS) this October.
Running from 9 to 11 October, the festival will showcase Indian cinema across three dynamic days. The 4K restoration of Sholay premiered earlier this month at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and will now be presented in Sydney.
The film has been carefully restored by the Film Heritage Foundation in collaboration with Sippy Films. The extensive process involved sourcing a rare colour reversal print in London and recovering original camera negatives and long-lost deleted scenes from a Mumbai warehouse.
Most notably, this restored version features the director Ramesh Sippy’s original ending, in which Thakur avenges his family by killing Gabbar Singh.
Image: IMDb
Festival Director Mitu Bhowmick Lange said: “Presenting the restored Sholay in Sydney is a moment of immense pride for us. This isn’t just the revival of a classic, it’s the revival of a piece of our collective cultural history.
“The fact that audiences will now experience the film with the original ending makes it even more significant, as it honours Ramesh Sippy’s first vision in its entirety. To showcase this landmark restoration at IFFS, alongside stories both timeless and new, truly embodies our festival’s spirit of celebrating Indian cinema in all its dimensions.”
Directed by Ramesh Sippy, the film follows two criminals, Veeru and Jai, who are recruited by a retired police officer to capture the notorious bandit Gabbar Singh. Hema Malini and Jaya Bhaduri also feature as Basanti and Radha, the love interests of Veeru and Jai.
Filmed in the rocky landscapes of Ramanagara in Karnataka, production spanned two and a half years beginning in October 1973.
On its initial release, Sholay received poor critical reviews and a lukewarm commercial response. However, strong word-of-mouth transformed it into a major box office success. The film went on to break records for continuous screenings across India, running for over five years at Mumbai’s Minerva Theatre.
It also performed strongly overseas, particularly in the Soviet Union. At the time, Sholay became the highest-grossing Indian film ever and retained that record in India until Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! By several accounts, it remains among the most commercially successful Indian films of all time when adjusted for inflation.
Often hailed as one of the greatest and most influential works in Indian cinema, Sholay has left an enduring legacy. In January 2014, the film was re-released in 3D.