Music composed by Rahul Dev Burman
Lyrics by Anand Bakshi
R. D. Burman, who composed the music for the film, was one of the most sought after composers in 1975, when the film was released. However, out of the twelve soundtracks he composed that year, Khushboo and Aandhi were critical successes and Deewar and Khel Khel Mein mild commercial hits. No other Burman film soundtrack that year attained the resounding critical and commercial success of Sholay.
The songs picturized in the film were the following:
Jab Tak Hai Jaan, sung by Lata Mangeshkar
Koi Haseena, sung by Kishore Kumar and Hema Malini
Holi Ke Din, sung by Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar
Yeh Dosti, sung by Kishore Kumar and Manna Dey
Mehbooba Mehbooba, sung by Rahul Dev Burman
A qawwali, Aa Shuru Hota Hai Phir, was also recorded, but it was never
picturized or released.
However, at the time, the songs from Sholay attracted less attention than the dialogues — a rarity for Bollywood. This prompted the producers to release audio-cassettes with only dialogues.
Another aspect of the soundtrack that was widely appreciated and has gone through a number of re-releases were the instrumental scores. The title track, which has a particular emphasis on acoustic guitar and brass sections is still well anthologized and is an example of Burman's foray into fusing Indian sounds with Latin and Afro-Cuban elements. Burman also created some disparate segments including a sparse track to augment the ferocity of Gabbar Singh amidst the desolate location and one to highlight the Thakur's shock at seeing his family exterminated.
Among the songs, two versions of Yeh Dosti were released, an extended version which was cited as the "happy version" and a shorter one called the "sad version". For many years this device became a mainstay of Hindi film soundtracks, with the sad concise version of the "happy song" played during the sad scenes.
No mention of the soundtrack is complete without a discussion of Mehbooba Mehbooba. This song was a copy of the song "Say You Love Me" by Demis Roussos. This song displayed Burman's impressive vocal skills as a singer, and courage to introduce gypsy elements into Indian film music, as a composer. This song has been highly anthologized, remixed, and recreated.
Sholay
(advertised in English as Embers or Flames) is the biggest blockbuster in the history of Bollywood, India's Hindi film industry. It was released in 1975 and starred Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Sanjeev Kumar, Jaya Bhaduri and Amjad Khan as the timeless villain, Gabbar Singh.
It is the highest grossing film of all time in India. It has earned Rs. 2,36,45,00,000 equivalent to US$ 60 million, after adjusting for inflation.
When first released, the film was declared a commercial disaster. Word of mouth convinced movie-goers to give the film a chance and soon it became a box-office phenomenon. It ran for 286 weeks straight (more than five years) in one Mumbai theatre, the Minerva. Sholay racked up a still record 60 golden jubilees across India, and doubled its original gross over reruns during the late 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s.[1] Sholay was the first film in the history of Indian cinema to celebrate silver jubilee (25 weeks) at over a hundred theatres across India.
In 1999, BBC India declared it the "Film of the Millennium"; Indiatimes movies ranks the movie amongst the Top 25 Must See Bollywood Films. In that same year, the judges of the 50th annual Filmfare awards awarded it with a special award called Filmfare Best Film of 50 Years.
Mehbooba Mehbooba
Yeh Dosti
