Mehbooba Mehbooba

Mehbooba Mehbooba by Rahul Dev Burman

Inspired by: Say You Love Me

Film: Sholay (1975)
Composer: RD Burman

Listen to
Mehbooba Mehbooba
Say you love me


Interesting Facts:

• India's first 70 mm, stereophonic sound film. It premiered at Bombay's Minerva theatre.
  
  
• Was about to be removed from cinemas due to low attendance figures but attendance started rising and word of mouth made it the biggest hit of Indian cinema so far with some screens playing the film for several years.
  
  
• The flamboyant Shatrughan Sinha was initially cast for the role of Jai, but Amitabh Bachchan convinced the producers that he was suitable for the role.
  
  

• Danny Denzongpa who was initially offered the role of Gabbar Singh was busy shooting in Afghanistan for Dharmatma (1975). He could not accept the role and the reluctant second choice Amjad Khan got it.
  
  
• Initially, 'Dharmendra' was keen to play the role of Thakur Baldev Singh. He eventually relented when the director informed him that Sanjeev Kumar would play Veeru if that happened, and would get the heroine. Sanjeev Kumar had just then proposed marriage to Hema Malini. Dharmendra was in love with her and quickly went back to the role of Veeru.
  
  
• The famous overhead tank scene where Veeru threatens Mausi with suicide and Jai attempts at making a proposal of marriage was drawn from a real life incident.
  
  
• Director Manmohan Desai was first approached by the writing duo of 'Javed Akhtar' and Salim Khan with the story for this movie . He was busy with Chacha Bhatija (1977) and could not accept the project.
  
  
• Actor Amjad Khan was almost dropped from the project because scriptwriter 'Javed Akhtar' found his voice too weak for Gabbar Singh's role.
  
  
• This film was directly inspired by the spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone. Some critics at the time even began calling it a "curry western".
  
  
• Amitabh Bachchan was almost killed at the end of the movie when a stray bullet from 'Dharmendra' missed him by inches.
  
  
• The train robbery sequence took about 20 days to film on the Mumbai-Pune line, near Panvel.
  
  
• Amjad Khan's calling one of his associates Sambha ("Arre o Sambha', tera kya hoga?") caught the fancy of not just moviegoers, but also producers. So much so that a producer promptly announced a movie titled Sambha.
  
  
• This was the first film in the history of Indian cinema to celebrate silver jubilee (25 weeks) at over a hundred theatres across India.
  
  
• The film was shot extensively in Ramnagaram near Bangalore, India. There are huge rocks of granite in this town which formed the backdrop of Gabbar Singh's hideout. As a mark of respect, the people of Ramnagaram renamed a hamlet in the town as Sippynagar after the director of the movie, Ramesh Sippy.
  
  

• SPOILER: In the original ending, the Thakur killed Gabbar. The Indian Censor Board did not agree with this ending, saying that its vigilante aspect undermined the rule of law and could adversely influence naive young minds. So, a new ending was created that showed the police running in at the last moment, arresting Gabbar, and specifically telling the Thakur that only the law has the right to punish criminals. The original ending was restored in the 204-minute director's cut.