Sholay: The Making Of A Classic

Chopra's book is expected fare from a Bollywood insider. The making of a film with iconic status has many ways of handling it. We have here the focus on music and songs but no conceptualising of any Indian or foreign trends. The action is dealt with reference to Westerns, Kurusawa and foreign technicians deployed under duress. But again conceptualisation of the Western and what SEVEN SAMURAI stood for. It has description of back breaking train scenes, but no reference to Gunga Jamun's train scene or Satyajit Ray' train scene in his famous trilogy. Again, no conceptualisation. There is Saleem-Javed Screen play, the Asrani, Macmohan and Amjad Khan sketch, but no comment on before and after knowledge about screen play writing or Small but effective characterisations. Post Sholay the books mentions what happens to the characters. The book carries the author's biases and prejudices about the dramatis personae linked with the film and Bollywood. If we discount knowledge and objectivity, please do read the book for a glass of adulterated juice- good pace bad knowledge.

Enjoyed the book. Finished it in one session. Read it immediately after watching the movie (for the umpteenth time). Great anecdotes. Love for movie making, love for movies and love for this movie is kindled by this book. As other reviewers have described, the writing is breezy and the characters described are compelling.(The book does have one un-PC term that is mentioned in the passing while describing the making of Westerns - made me cringe. But I don't think it is glaringly obvious).

This is a very well written book about the making of one of the greatest movies ever made. Readers will enjoy learning of the events that happened as the movie was being planned and filmed. There are many photographs (I wish they were clearer pictures, but I suppose, given that it is forty years since those photos were made, these might have been the only ones available) that add color to the already colorful narrative.I couldn't help thinking that this book may as well be classified as an "inspirational" book. When you have put your heart and soul into a project, you can be sure of its success, no matter what your critics and distractors may tell you. Your role may seem small and insignificant (as Sambha felt), but you can never predict its impact on the audience.The then little-known actor Amjad Khan would have never dreamt that the role that he so nervously tried to enact would turn out to be a towering performance, and his character Gabbar Singh would become a 'phenomenon'. There are many such inspiring tidbits one can gather from reading this book.Now that I know the massive scale of this movie project, and the hard work and dogged determination that went into its making, my respect for its makers is heightened and reinforced.

In India it is getting hold little by little of writing a book a classic movie, loved by people and admire by critics. Sholay is one such movie which holds a special place in heart of people of India. People remember it word to word. Anyone who has seen it once will never be able to forget it, it has such an effect on your heart and mind. and when a fine book is written on such a favourite subject, it has to be just like the film a roller coster ride, on which we would love to take ride on. Anupama Chopra's book is such a work, in which little anecdote are told in such a way you just love to read it. It makes alive events which took place in making of film. It is must read for film buffs

It's a decent read. Especially if you are a Sholay fan. I have watched this film about 10 times and grew up listening to dialogues and songs of this film. It was nice to go in to depth of making this genre bending movie which lies somewhere between spagheti western and typical action comedy. I would recommend this book to all Sholay fans out there.

I throughly enjoyed this book. In fact I saw Sholay again after reading the book. It was a wonderful experience. Anupama wrote it with great ease and with a tight "screenplay". Kudos to Ramesh Sippy and the entire Sholay team members for their hard work and passion to produce such a masterpiece.Hope we get few more masterpieces narrated with such a masterly by Anupama Chopra.Shrikant

AMAZING..for all those Sholay fans spread out there...this one is highly recommended. .the book takes its readers through a journey of making this epic..wid so full of simple relations..very true indian cinema can be divided into before Sholay n after Sholay era!

Nicely written book. Would have been better if some more details from the actual shoots were covered in addition to the coverage provided. Also some more insight into the editing aspect would have been really nice.

As someone born in late 70s, most of us grew up hearing the dialogues of Sholay on a tape recorder. It is one of the epics Bollywood has witnessed. What this book has opened up is a fantastic journey to the memory lane in the backyards of Sholay movie making. There are numerous stories in this book that as a Sholay fan I read it for the first time. I enjoyed reading this book and then watched the movie ahain to relate and spot the hidden gems cited by the author. More than that what I appreciated is how this book has opened up the readers an insight into the character traits of the Director, lead and supporting actors, staff and how it shaped the movie experience for better or worse.I liked the book and I will recommend it to my friends and family.

It’s a must read for Bollywood film lovers & definitely for “Sholay” fans. I have enjoyed reading every page & found it interesting to know all the hard work that goes behind making such a classic. It tells you the details about the film right from when only the first few lines of the story were written and takes you through those intensive 2 years of making this legendary film. Even though I had watched this film several times, watching it again after reading this book made me appreciate it even more.

Love this book

Poor print quality and poor black and white picture quality. Very disappointed. Dull and uninformed.

For all the Sholay fan and generally those who are interested in movie making should have a read. Not amazing but a good interesting read.