Jai-Veeru once more

The Indian Film Festival of Sydney (IFFS), presented by the team behind the globally renowned Indian Film Festival of Melbourne, has announced that the newly restored version of Sholay will be its centrepiece film this October. The festival, running from October 9 to 11, will celebrate Indian cinema.

One of the most iconic films in Indian cinema history, Sholay has been meticulously restored in 4K by the Film Heritage Foundation in collaboration with Sippy Films. The process, years in the making, involved locating a rare colour reversal print in London and recovering original camera negatives and long-lost deleted scenes from a warehouse in Mumbai. The result is a visual and audio revival of extraordinary quality, returning the film to its original 70mm glory. Most significantly, the restored film features the original ending envisioned by director Ramesh Sippy, in which Thakur avenges his family by killing Gabbar Singh.

The restored Sholay had its world premiere earlier this month at the Toronto International Film Festival and now will screen in Sydney.

Festival director Mitu Bhowmick Lange expressed her excitement. She said, “Sholay is more than a film—it is woven into the fabric of Indian storytelling, memory and myth. To bring back its original ending, after all these years, is to restore not just a different final scene, but the full vision of its creator. As we mark 50 years of Sholay, we honour the courage of cinema to challenge, to endure, and to be reborn in its truest form.”