Bollywood's classic film Sholay completed 50 years of its release today. Released on Independence Day on 15 August 1975, this film not only left an indelible mark in the history of cinema, but also made a deep place in the memories of the villages of Panvel-Uran Marg. A part of the film's shooting took place here around 1972, which kept the local people enthralled for years.

In those times, the main Agari and Koli communities here were engaged in farming and fishing. But on the days of shooting, they would leave their work and reach the set every day. “Dharmendra (Veeru) would often sit among the villagers, eat dried fish and bhakri, and in return feed them biryani or special dishes,” says Sanjay Shelar, 62. The crew members also exchanged drinks with the locals.

According to Shelar, many scenes of the film were shot on the Panvel-Uran road, though most of the shooting took place in the hilly terrain, about 50km from Bengaluru. The entire team, Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan and Hema Malini stayed at the Praveen Hotel in old Panvel. A place for horses was built behind the hotel.

The scene where Basanti (Hema Malini) takes Jai (Amitabh Bachchan) and Veeru to Ramgarh was shot near the Panvel railway station. At that time, hundreds of children and young men would leave work and school to watch the shooting. The famous scene in which Veeru tries to woo Basanti by pretending to shoot mangoes with a pistol was shot in the mango orchard of Chinchpada. Today, there is no mango orchard there, but a garage.

Local resident Patil says, “Our villages were so beautiful that producers and directors used to come here to film.” Apart from Sholay, films like Nastik, Yaadon Ki Baaraat and Paapi were also shot in this area. According to Patil, “Even after 50 years, people come to see the shooting location, this is the real success of Sholay.”