50,000 reasons

A full fifty thousand.” Or in the original: “Poore pachaas hajaar.” That’s all it took for Mac Mohan to count amongst the icons of Hindi cinema. In turn the veteran actor of 175 films was for ever profiled by those three words in the 1975 hit Sholay. In the most famous scene in India’s most famous film,Gabbar Singh mock-asks his sidekick Sambha,played by Mac Mohan,“What price has the government placed on me?” Sambha’s three-word answer has been imitated by millions since. Mac Mohan’s death from cancer this week shines the light,yet again,on the film that continues to grip us 35 years later.

Sholay is India’s highest grossing film ever (adjusting for inflation),and every trivial detail is part of popular culture. Apart from Sambha’s baritone,the bumbling Soorma Bhopali was such a hit,that it spawned an eponymous film of its own. Amjad Khan’s front-shot moment,where lying on his stomach his gleeful eyes track a fly until he suddenly swats it,may have become Bollywood Villainy 101. But in later biscuit commercials,Amjad Khan reprised the role for comic relief. Even Ramnagaram,the south Karnataka village whose boulder-strewn terrain gave Sholay its Wild West feel,is now a pilgrimage spot. Imitation is often the clearest evidence of flattery,and besides cinematic take-offs,Gabbar Singh’s mannerisms,for instance,were copied by bad guys far and wide.

Film aficionados often wonder how a Spaghetti Western rip-off with a clichéd plot line could etch itself on the Indian psyche. Memorable characters provide one answer. But perhaps the film’s competing themes of private vengeance and official justice provide another. The legal system is always there,from jail scenes and police chases to the tense finale where Gabbar is handed over to the police,instead of being stamped to death. But so is the urge for private vengeance: an ex-cop hires two small-time crooks to protect himself from bigger fish; having lost Jai (Amitabh Bachchan),Veeru (Dharmendra) takes on Gabbar to get even. And in the director-approved alternative ending,Gabbar is shown being killed by a vengeful Thakur (Sanjeev Kumar). Whatever be the reasons — and there could well be,in Sambha-speak,a “full fifty thousand” — Sholay’s grip shows no sign of relaxing.