50 Years of Sholay: Hema Malini starred as Basanti in Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay, and it remains one of her most iconic roles to date. However, the actress was first hesitant to say yes to the part as she felt
that the role was too small. In a chat with the Hindustan Times, Hema Malini revealed that Ramesh Sippy convinced her to say yes by telling her she would regret not being part of the film.
Hema Malini said, “When the film was first offered to me, I wasn’t very excited about it. I even asked him ‘Are you sure? You are offering me ek tange walli ka role, itna chota role?’ See, I had worked with him earlier in Andaz and Seeta Aur Geeta, where I had a double role.”
“So when he said, ‘There are so many artists in the film, and you’re also playing one character,’ I felt it was a small role. I told him, ‘This doesn’t inspire me.’ But he looked at me and said, ‘Just say yes. Otherwise, you will repent.’ That’s exactly what I did, and I’m thankful I listened,” she added.
However, playing Basanti wasn’t completely easy for her. She recalled, “I was a bit confused about how to deliver the dialogues. Then Javed (Akhtar) sat with me, narrated the scene, and enacted it himself. I just picked up the way he said it and added my own flair. That’s how it became what it is today. Even now, people come up to me and quote Basanti’s dialogues. It makes them so happy—and that makes me happy too.”
Hema reflected, “Who knew that Basanti would become so iconic today? When I go in gathering, I can’t get off the stage till the time I don’t recite one of Basanti’s dialogues. That’s her craze in today’s time. Basanti was ahead of her time even 50 years ago. Ek ladki jo tanga chalati hai, she was a self-made woman.”
She added, “She lived life on her own terms. She was all alone and still looked after herself. That is what made the character special. Even now, when I think of her, I feel she truly represents what we today call ‘aatma nirbhar.’ So in a way, she was ahead of her time. And imagine, back then, I didn’t even know how important that would become one day.”
“I’ve seen a few shows where they talk about Basanti or use it as a reference, but I’m not very active on social media. I’ve heard that there are many memes and that people love quoting her dialogues,” the veteran actress said.
