Restored Classic ‘Sholay’ With Original Ending Premieres in Sydney

Sydney, Sept 24: The legendary Bollywood classic Sholay, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra, is set to mesmerize audiences once again with a newly restored version at the Indian Film Festival of Sydney (IFFS) this October. The festival runs from October 9 to 11, showcasing the finest of Indian cinema.

The restoration, a painstaking effort by the Film Heritage Foundation in collaboration with Sippy Films, involved tracking down rare colour reversal prints from London, retrieving original camera negatives, and incorporating long-lost deleted scenes stored in Mumbai. The restored version also features the original ending envisioned by director Ramesh Sippy, where Thakur avenges his family by defeating the infamous dacoit Gabbar Singh.

Festival Director Mitu Bhowmick Lange said, “Presenting the restored ‘Sholay’ in Sydney is a moment of immense pride. Audiences will now experience the film with the ending Ramesh Sippy first imagined. This restoration revives a piece of our shared cultural history.”

Directed by Ramesh Sippy, Sholay narrates the story of two criminals, Veeru and Jai, hired by a retired police officer to capture Gabbar Singh. Hema Malini and Jaya Bhaduri play Basanti and Radha, the love interests of the lead characters.

Originally released in 1975, Sholay faced mixed reviews but became a blockbuster through word of mouth, running for over five years at Mumbai’s Minerva Theatre. It was India’s highest-grossing film until Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!, and remains one of the most influential films in Indian cinema history.