Ramesh Sippy reveals Sholay’s budget swelled from Rs 1 crore to Rs 3 crore: ‘Newspapers declared the film a flop’

Ramesh Sippy was shocked and was prepared to change the climax again—this would have been the third version. But the writers, Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan, remained confident that the film would eventually break records, and they were right.

Recalling those days, director Ramesh Sippy told Siddharth Kannan: “Newspapers declared Sholay a flop. They wrote that the investment was too high, that the makers would never recover it. They even claimed that such expensive films would destroy the industry. If filmmakers continued spending like this, the industry would sink. But five weeks later, they took back their words and admitted they were wrong.”

He also revealed the film’s budget: “The film’s initial budget was Rs 1 crore, but we ended up making it for Rs 3 crore. Rs 1 crore then is equal to about Rs 100 crore today.”

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When the film failed to create buzz during its opening weekend, the rest of the industry celebrated. “The industry was happy. They said, ‘Good that the big film didn’t work.’”

Ramesh Sippy explained: “This was the discussion among distributors, exhibitors, and producers. They thought the film would destroy them. People thought we were crazy to make something so expensive.”

Just as many films today undergo major changes due to censor board interventions, Sholay faced similar challenges.

“I had to reshoot the climax because of the censor board,” he recalled, adding, “They said, ‘Sanjeev Kumar is playing a police officer—how can he take someone’s life?’ According to them, he couldn’t kill Gabbar; Gabbar had to be sent to jail.”

There was no room to argue.

“This was during the Emergency. You couldn’t argue with anyone. If the censor board ordered a change, you had no choice. I had to return to Bangalore and shoot the climax all over again.”

What Ramesh Sippy couldn’t do 50 years ago, he has finally done now by restoring the original ending in the re-release.

“In the re-release, we will show you the original ending. I felt terrible when they asked me to change it. Why should the censor tell me how to make my film?”