Book Review: Sholay - The Making of a Classic by Anupama Chopra

This virtually unknown book came to my attention as I was trawling Amazon's book pages during one of their umpteen 'Dhamaka' sales. Filled with anecdotes that went on behind the scenes during the making of 'Sholay', I found the book a terrifically fun read.

'Sholay' started off as a four sentence story idea that Salim and Javed had about a couple of good at heart crooks. Ramesh Sippy, in his mid twenties at the time, picked the story up and literally bled money (the budget of the movie was unthinkable for those times) to convert the four line story into one of India's cult classics.

'Sholay: The Making of a Classic' is on par with Jai Arjun Singh's 'Jaane bhi do yaaron'. I finished the book in a day and was left wanting more.

Read both these books to understand how two of India's favorite movies came to be made.