Ramesh Sippy Reveals Most People Declared Sholay A ‘Flop’ For Its ‘Rs 3 Crore Budget’

The re-release of Sholay in theatres has cemented its cult classic status for a brand new season for fans. Director Ramesh Sippy recently discussed the movie’s budget and how it became a topic of conversation

during production and release. Many trade experts initially believed that the massive budget would destroy the industry and disrupt livelihoods. But what happened next eventually broke records and changed the overall scenario.

Ramesh Sippy’s movie celebrated its 50th anniversary this August. Excitingly, the makers re-released the movie with its original ending — the one where Gabbar dies. Fans can look forward to The Final Cut hitting the cinemas on December 12. Ramesh Sippy reflected on those during a podcast interview with Siddharth Kannan. “Newspapers declared Sholay a flop,” he said.

Ramesh Sippy On People’s Initial Reaction To Sholay’s Huge Budget

The Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra starrer was made on a whopping budget of Rs 3 crore, making it a huge financial risk, but eventually an all-time blockbuster. The filmmaker shared that industry trackers initially thought the makers of the 1975 action comedy would never recover their investment. Soon after the movie opened in theatres, it didn’t generate significant revenue.

“They wrote that the investment was too high, that the makers would never recover it. They even claimed that such expensive films would destroy the industry. If filmmakers continued spending like this, the industry would sink. But five weeks later, they took back their words and admitted they were wrong,” Sippy added.

He revealed, “The film’s initial budget was Rs 1 crore, but we ended up making it for Rs 3 crore. Rs 1 crore then is equal to about Rs 100 crore today.”

Ramesh Sippy Reveals People Went Crazy After Sholay’s Climax Changed

But right after the silent opening weekend, the overall scenario changed completely. Afterwards, the industry began celebrating the movie. “The industry was happy. They said, ‘Good that the big film didn’t work.’ This was the discussion among distributors, exhibitors, and producers. They thought the film would destroy them. People thought we were crazy to make something so expensive.” Sippy explained.

Ramesh Sippy mentioned that only the writers, Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan, remained confident about the film’s reception. However, due to the censor board’s interventions, Sholay faced several challenges. The 78-year-old director shared, “I had to reshoot the climax because of the censor board. They said, ‘Sanjeev Kumar is playing a police officer—how can he take someone’s life?’ According to them, he couldn’t kill Gabbar; Gabbar had to be sent to jail.”

Sholay Re-Releases With The Original Climax

“This was during the Emergency. You couldn’t argue with anyone. If the censor board ordered a change, you had no choice. I had to return to Bangalore and shoot the climax all over again,” he added.

Fifty years later, the movie now re-releases with its original ending, leaving fans as excited as ever. “In the re-release, we will show you the original ending. I felt terrible when they asked me to change it. Why should the censor tell me how to make my film?” he concluded.

The movie featured Amitabh Bachchan as Jai, Dharmendra as Veeru, Amjad Khan as Gabbar Singh, Hema Malini as Basanti, Sanjeev Kumar as Thakur Baldev Singh, Jaya Bachchan as Radha, Mac Mohan as Sambha, Asrani as Jailor, and Sachin Pilgaonkar as Ahmed, among others.