Sholay@50: When a film gave birth to Hindi cinema’s most enduring villain in Gabbar Singh

When Salim-Javed envisioned “Sholay”, the character to first take shape was that of a dreaded dacoit. Little did they imagine that the role played by a newcomer in an otherwise star-studded film would create cinema history.

Gabbar Singh was unlike any antagonist audiences had ever seen before, portrayed to the T by Amjad Khan in his first major role in the industry — a sadistic, unpredictable and merciless outlaw who killed without hesitation, mocked fear and treated cruelty as a form of entertainment.

Film historian, author and archivist, SMM Ausaja said Khan’s role was written brilliantly and performed with great panache by the actor.

“There is an element of humour in him. It is a well etched out character by Salim-Javed. As a debut performance in a primary role, Amjad Khan was exceptionally good. If a character gets such a memorable impact across generations, then a big chunk goes to the performance of the actor,” Ausaja told PTI.

When Gabbar first appears on the screen, almost an hour into the movie, viewers see the shot of him walking on boulders, asking his henchmen, “Kitne aadmi the?” They had just returned empty-handed from their raid in Ramgarh, thwarted by the film’s heroes — Amitabh Bachchan’s Jai and Dharmendra’s Veeru.

“Woh do the aur tum teen... phir bhi waapas aagaye... khaali haath... kya samajh kar aaye the? Sardar bahot khush hoga, sabasi dega, kyoon? Dhikkar hai,” Gabbar rages against eerie background music.

Over the next two hours, he unleashes a reign of brutality on the village, killing without remorse, breaking the spirit of its people, and emerging as the living embodiment of fear.

In an interview with PTI, Akhtar said when they began working on the story, they had only a dacoit in mind. “We didn’t think of Basanti or Radha, we just had a dacoit in mind. But gradually, when the story was developed, a lot of characters came into the picture and we felt it could be a great multi-starrer.” In the 2024 docuseries “Angry Young Men” — which charted the legendary screenwriting pair’s career in movies — Salim Khan revealed how Gabbar was inspired by a real character.

“My father was a high ranking police officer. We heard stories of a dacoit named Gabbar Singh. He used to kill people and chop off their noses too. Anything inspired from real life has a distinct impact,” he said in the docuseries.

Their first choice for the character was actor Danny Denzongpa. He even signed him for the role but he had to quit the movie and leave to shoot for Feroz Khan’s “Dharamatma” overseas as “Sholay” kept getting delayed.

Both Bachchan and Sanjeev Kumar, who went on to play Thakur, wanted to take on the villainous part, sensing its potential impact. Bachchan fulfilled his wish with Ram Gopal Varma’s much-derided “Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag” in 2007.

At an event years ago, Bachchan recalled how he wanted to play Gabbar after he heard the script. “I told Salim-Javed that I want to play Gabbar. And whoever listened to the story, they all wanted to play the part because it was a great character. But in the end, Ramesh ji said that I will play Jai, not Gabbar. Amjad Khan walked on the set and he was recommended by Salim and Javed sahab. They had seen him perform on stage and were familiar with his work. I never thought that he won’t be able to do justice to the character. Though many people felt in the initial days that his voice was not appropriate but that voice became popular,” he said.

In her book “Sholay: The Making of a Classic”, film journalist Anupama Chopra wrote that Amjad Khan, the younger son of renowned actor Jayant, was struggling at the time. But he had a strong presence in theatre, which is where Akhtar spotted him first.

But it was Salim Khan who approached the actor for the role as he knew his father. They had bumped into each other on Bandra bandstand.

“Salim had heard about Amjad’s skills as an actor, and physically he seemed to fit the role. ‘I can’t promise you anything,’ he told Amjad, ‘but there is a role in a big film. I’ll take you to the director. Agar aapko yeh role mil jaaye, aapki koshish se ya aapki kismat se, I tell you, it is the finest,” she  wrote, recalling their conversation.

The actor grew a beard and blackened his teeth, taking a deep dive into the character that would bring him immense popularity. He followed it up with more villainous parts in movies such as “Inkaar”, “Satte Pe Satta”, “Hum Kisise Kum Nahin” and “Naseeb”.

Trying to decode Gabbar’s popularity among children as well as adults, Akhtar said it probably had something to do with how free he was from morality or fear.

“Why did children like Gabbar Singh? Even adults liked him. A ruthless man who had no emotional or moral justification for his cruelty. He’s totally free from morality, which is tightly wrapped around us like a rope. On some subconscious level, we admire that this person is free,” he said in the docuseries.

With his catchy rhetorical questions, crazy laughter and boastfulness, Gabbar is a villain that lives on.