'Hollywood Guys' Directed Sholay? Cast Member's Claims About Big B, Dharmendra Film Stir Credit Row

Bollywood News: Amitabh Bachchan , Dharmendra, Hema Malini and Sanjeev Kumar starrer Sholay (1975) has left a lasting impact on the legacy of Indian cinema. The Hindi epic changed the way filmmaking was done, as it introduced high-budget production and a big ensemble cast to Bollywood, a lesser-known practice at the time. Upon its release, initially, Sholay was met with criticism and did not do the expected box office collections, given the expectations were sky high from the star-studded cast. However, its popularity grew and now it is in the annals of one of the classics of Indian cinema.

However, an interesting revelation about the film's shoot has come to light. Actor Sachin Pilgaonkar, who was also part of the Sholay cast, has revealed that Ramesh Sippy only shot the major portions of the movie involving the main cast while the action sequences were shot by a lesser-known second unit of the film, of which Sachin and Amjad Khan, who played Gabbar in the movie, were a part.

Ramesh Sippy shot portions of Sholay with the main cast  

In an interview on the YouTube channel Khane Mein Kya Hai, Sachin said that he and Amjad Khan directed some crucial portions of the Amitabh Bachchan , Dharmendra starrer action-drama. He revealed that a popular director of action films- Mohammed Ali - and action director Azim were in charge of the second unit, along with two Hollywood "guys". Sachin said he and Amjad Khan were also part of the film's second unit, given their inclination for directing, which the former claimed Ramesh Sippy knew about.

"Rameshji decided to have a second unit to do some action sequences which don’t feature the main stars. These were just passing shots. For this, he had a director of stunt films, Mohammed Ali bhai. He was a renowned stunt filmmaker, and with him was an action director, Azim bhai. And the latter got two guys from Hollywood, Jim and Jerry."

The actor-director added, "He (Ramesh) wanted two persons to represent him because these people came from other countries. How would they know about the film and what’s happening? At that time, there were only two bekaar (useless) people in the unit: one was Amjad Khan and the other one was me.”

Sholay action scenes shot by second unit

Sachin, who is the director of the now-running Marathi movie Navra Maza Navsacha 2 further added, “He (Ramesh Sippy) was supposed to come only when Dharamji, Amitji, and Hari bhai (Sanjeev Kumar) had work. Rameshji shot those portions, and we handled the remaining scenes.”