Source: Eros: DVD, 1999.
Year: 1975
Director: Ramesh Sippy
Action Stars:
Genre: Dacoit Western
Country: India
Story Duration: 03:24:35
Act Duration:
1st Act: 00:54:33
2nd Act: 00:52:32
3rd Act: 00:43:36
4th Act: 00:53:48
Plot Turns:
1st: Veeru’s and Jai’s Change of Heart
2nd: Thakur Disarmed
3rd: Gabbar Swears Vengeance
ASD Ratio: 50%
AAD Ratios:
1st Act: 60%
2nd Act: 45%
3rd Act: 21%
4th Act: 69%
Action Structure: 3214
Action Scenarios:
Capture
Escape
Fall
Fight
Fight (Destruction of Property Variant)
Heist
Pursuit
Rescue
Speed
Speed (Dragged by Horse Variant)
Transfer
Total Action Moments: 35
Notable Action Sequence: Festival of Colors
Duration: 00:14:11
Act: 2nd
Action Scenarios:
Capture
Escape
Fall
Fight
Fight (Destruction of Property Variant)
Heist
Pursuit
Rescue
Speed
Description:
There are a number of qualities that make Sholay (1975) a distinct film. As a masala western, the film is a hybridization of the plot structure of the Hollywood professional western, with the Hindi cinema of interruptions in which song and dance numbers are inserted into the film’s plot, and elements of the Indian dacoit (bandit) genre. But what really distinguishes Sholay from other action films is the way in which the film’s musical sequences are integrated into action scenarios.
The Festival of Colors sequence is worthy of examination since it exhibits speed as a structural principle of the song and dance number as the village participants skip, run, and pursue each other [Figure 1]. The sequence culminates in a choreography of spin in which not only the villagers dance in circles, but so does the camera spin 360 degrees around Basanti and Veeru, as well as the Ferris wheel and merry-go-round that spin at speed. The celebrations are brought to an abrupt end when the sequence segues directly into an attack on the village by criminal bandits who torch the villagers’ homes [Figure 2]. Speed continues as a structural principle as the villagers flee from the bandits on foot, as the bandits race through the village on horseback.
The dynamic of the sequence changes when Veeru and Jai, the anti-hero protagonists of the film, fight back. Jai clubs a bandit off his horse and takes his rifle, and then takes cover in the burnt merry-go-round. Jai and Veeru run out of ammo as bandits surround Jai, initiating the capture scenario. Gabbar, the leader of the bandit gang, arrives and orders Veeru and Jai to beg for mercy, continuing their captive state. Jai walks up to Gabbar and tricks him by tossing sand in his face, as Veeru leaps and kicks Gabbar to the ground. At that moment, Basanti, Veeru’s love interest, demonstrates her agency by speeding in her horse carriage to Veeru and Jai, rescuing them as they hop on the vehicle [Figure 3]. The battle continues to turn in favour of Veeru and Jai as they acquire weapons and commence shooting bandits off their horses [Figure 4]. Gabbar becomes endangered as he rolls on the ground to avoid their gunfire. The sequence ends with the village victorious as the bandits escape on horseback, but the villagers remain under the threat of future reprisals.