Director Ramesh Sippy's film Sholay changed the definition of Hindi cinema. The story written by the duo of Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan and its memorable characters made it a cult classic. Even today, people start whistling as soon as they hear the friendship of 'Jai-Veeru' and the dialogues of 'Gabbar Singh'.

Released on 15 August 1975, Sholay was slow in the beginning, but within a few weeks the audience started showering love and it became India's all-time blockbuster. It ran housefull in theatres for months and became immortal in the history of Hindi cinema. But the interesting thing is that the film, which was a record-breaking hit in India, flopped badly in Pakistan. Sholay was released for the first time in Pakistan in 3D format on 17 April 2015. But the audience there did not pay much attention to it and the film could earn only 3.22 crores (10 million).

Well-known Pakistani film exhibitor Nadeem Mandviwala said in a conversation with NDTV, “The biggest reason for this was that Sholay was shown on the big screen here very late. In the 70-80s, people had seen it on VCR. Later, due to its easy availability on TV, DVD and now YouTube, the audience did not come to the cinema halls.”

Tomorrow, on 15 August 2025, Sholay will complete its 50 years. It is not just a film, but a milestone in Indian cinema that gave new heights to stories, characters and dialogues. And even today if anyone is asked which is the most successful Bollywood film till date, the answer will be only one – Sholay.