New Delhi: Indian cinema’s masterpiece Sholay was released in 1975 and became a classic over the years. Directed by Ramesh Sippy, produced by his father GP Sippy, and written by Salim–Javed, the movie has been showered with a lot of appreciation and love by fans. After 49 years of its release, today social media is abuzz with the real ending of the film. Yes! you read that right. 

The makers shot an alternate ending where Thakur kills Gabbar, unlike the ending which the movie carried where the former hands over the criminal to cops. But do you know why Ramesh Sippy had to change it?

Real ending of Sholay that was censored pic.twitter.com/qjljYzVhd0
— Kru  (@Achari_Nimboo) February 25, 2017

REASON WHY SHOLAY’S ORIGINAL ENDING WAS CHANGED

Back in 2018, while speaking at the Pune International Film Festival (PIFF), Ramesh Sippy revealed, “I had shot a different ending for Sholay, where Gabbar is killed by Thakur. But the Censor Board didn’t allow that. They were not happy about Thakur killing Gabbar with his feet. I was also caught in a sticky situation… how else would Thakur kill him? He couldn’t have used a gun since he had no arms. They were also unhappy about too much violence… they said ‘you have to change the end’. I wasn’t happy, but I did that.”

The director shared his own experiences with the Censor Board, before Sholay was released during the Emergency, in August 1975.

Sholay featured an ensemble star cast of Dharmendra Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjeev Kumar, Amjad Khan, Hema Malini and Jaya Bachchan in lead roles. The music was composed by R D Burman.