'Sholay', which was released on 15 August 1975, is going to complete its 50 years this year. On this occasion, we are bringing untold stories related to this iconic film. Today, let's talk about that first draft, in which there was neither Basanti nor Radha - just two soldiers and a Gabbar.

Javed Akhtar told that in the initial story of the film, there was a retired major and two undisciplined soldiers. This idea was of Salim Sahab. Both the soldiers were expelled from the army for violating discipline. But due to the rules of the army, this plot had to be changed and the characters were changed to a police officer and two criminals.

In that era, there was no trace of Basanti or Radha. The story revolved around a bandit. Then the script evolved, new characters were added and Sholay became a multi-starrer. According to Akhtar, he never thought of it as a "grand" film, but Ramesh Sippy's direction, a strong script and excellent performances by the actors made it a classic of Indian cinema.

Sholay was magical with the brilliant performances of stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Amjad Khan, Jaya Bhaduri and Hema Malini. The film started slow in the beginning, gradually became a blockbuster and now, even after half a century, it is fresh in the hearts of the audience.