What Sholay says about 1970s India https://www.hindustantimes.com/opinion/what-sholay-says-about-1970s-india-101754836643574.html By
Rajni Bakshi (Read the whole article to check if I am not twisting the tale)
Sholay was released on Independence Day in 1975. the Emergency was declared on June 25, 1975. .The producers of Sholay changed the ending . the police , persuade Thakur to not kill Gabbar. (A sign of the Time or the future?)
Earlier, Hindi films critiqued the system of governance in order to project stories of rebellion or idealistic struggle. In Sholay, there is no samaj (society)..(.Just ) raw, personal, need for revenge versus Gabbar as an individual.
In India after Sholay, the validation and celebration of vengeance, by individuals and collectives, became a cultural and political phenomenon. ...The political discourse, using digital era propaganda mechanisms, has generated collective forms of victimhood and projected vengeance as both natural and justified.
a wide variety of audio-visual media.. now appears to be a collective bloodlust. ... ... mass acceptance of vengeance makes restoration of the justice system increasingly difficult or even impossible. (Check out ideas on this in https://www.youtube.com/@AhimsaConversations - ab tak 138 views)
... the rejected original ending of Sholay, which can be found on YouTube. For, this version leaves us with some difficult questions. After Thakur succeeds in killing Gabbar, he crumbles to the ground looking stunned. As Viru, the surviving hired-gun, tries to comfort him, Thakur breaks down and sobs bitterly. ..is Thakur also weeping because his victory somehow feels empty?ssed are personal