Sholay set the tone

It’s truly a sign of the times we live in that action thriller Fast & Furious 7 is a runaway hit in Pakistan while Sholay, the 1975 Bollywood cult classic, is struggling to draw audiences there. Nostalgia is what all-time classics feed on, but sometimes even they have to just throw in the towel. Amitabh Bachchan, who plays one of its unforgettable characters, was in Chennai recently to pay tribute to Tamil thespian Sivaji Ganesan. If truth be told, tastes have changed while Sholay’s fans in Pakistan of an older vintage have already seen it in many formats, from illegal videotapes to CDs/DVDs of instant modern duplication.

Bollywood’s magnetism goes far beyond the success of Sholay 40 years after its release and multiple jubilees in India, including an unprecedented five-year run in a single Mumbai theatre, in contrast to its relative failure in today’s Pakistan. It was a forerunner of Bollywood’s success in many ways — in its spectacular Mackenna’s Gold-like canyon scenario, a Stagecoach-type attack on a train, the characterisation of two heroes, a veteran actor and a heroine and a pathbreaking portrayal of a villain by Amjad Khan, whose punch lines have long outlived him.

The reach of India’s Hindi cinema, thanks to mega-hits like Sholay, is such that Mumbai’s current stars are household names across the world, and not only within the Indian diaspora. The revenues raised from the sale of global rights has lent an extra dash of vibrancy to what has become the world’s biggest film industry outside Hollywood.