Page 58 - Seniors Today - Jan25 Issues
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Films
Best Of
1975
It was an extraordinary creative Sholay:
year year for cinema, writes This Ramesh Sippy
Deepa Gahlot, as she picks her film became the longest-
favourite 10 Hindi and English running film in India,
films from 1975 till Dilwale Dulhania Le
Jayenge broke its record
The year 1975 was tumultuous. In India, 20 years later. It rarely
the Emergency caused unrest, Sikkim happens that the dialogue
acceded to India; elsewhere in the world, of a film—written by Salim Javed—passes
the long and destructive Vietnam war into common usage, but the lines and
ended, Microsoft was founded, the first characters were unforgettable, the biggest
cricket world cup was played in England, being the villain Gabbar Singh, played by
Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge took over a newcomer, Amjad Khan. The plot was
Cambodia—to enumerate just a few. simple—Thakur Baldev Singh (Sanjeev
It was also an extraordinarily creative Kumar) of the fictional village of Ramgarh,
year for cinema—in India Sholay made hires two petty crooks Jai (Amitabh
movie history, in Hollywood Jaws swept Bachchan) and Veeru (Dharmendra), to
the box-office. It would be tough to list just rid the people of the Gabbar menace and
10 of the best of 1975, but here it is a purely avenge the mass murder of his family.
subjective selection, so the year’s big hit Jai Hema Malini and Jaya Bachchan were the
Santoshi Maa, that actually introduced the female leads. A fabulous RB Burman score,
country to a new Goddess and the rituals and thrilling action—it was destined to be
associated with her, is not included. a blockbuster, despite a lukewarm opening.
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