London: The 69th annual festival of the British Film Institute (BFI) is set to celebrate 50 years of ‘Sholay’ with a special screening of the iconic Bollywood film.
The special screening of the cult classic, featuring Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra, at the London Film Festival will include the restored version of the film with its original ending and some deleted scenes too, as per a PTI report.
“It’s wonderful that the Film Heritage Foundation has restored Sholay and that they have managed to locate and include the original ending as well as some deleted scenes in the restoration,” Amitabh, who played Jai in the film, said In a statement.
“Shooting for the film was an unforgettable experience, but at the time I had no idea that it would be a watershed for Indian cinema. Its dramatic change in fortunes from being declared an unsuccessful venture, to its record-breaking box office run was an emotional rollercoaster for all of us… .I hope that even 50 years later, the film will capture the imagination of new audiences across the world,” he added.
Dharmendra, who played Jai’s best friend Veeru in the film, shared, “Who can forget the dialogues of Salim-Javed and the direction of Ramesh Sippy? So many scenes have gone down in the history of Indian cinema and every character became a star.”
He added, “Few people know that I was offered the role of Gabbar and Thakur, but I was clear that I wanted to play the role of Veeru as he is so much like me. I had so much fun on the shoot. My favourite scenes were the tanki scene, the scene in the temple, and so many others, but the most powerful scene I feel was the death of Jai, which is still etched in my mind.”
The London Film Festival, which will screen films from across the globe, commences on October 8 in London and will be held the UK.
‘Sholay’ will be screened at BFI’s IMAX in London (UK’s biggest screen) on the last day of the festival on October 19.
The annual film festival also has other films like Lucknow-born Ahmed Alauddin Jamal’s ‘Hotel London’ and Anuparna Roy’s ‘Songs of Forgotten Trees’.