The Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan Sholay shooting incident is among the most serious on-set accidents in the history of Hindi cinema, outlining the dangers that actors took during productions in the 1970s. During the shooting of the 1975 classic Sholay, a real bullet went off from a gun in Dharmendra's hand, and the shot was almost made at Amitabh Bachchan during an important scene. The Sholay shooting incident happened due to the most serious error in weapon handling, which was the use of live ammunition in place of blanks.
Over the years, Dharmendra had communicated that the occurrence weighed heavily on his mind. He could not control his emotions, so he left the location after he came to know how closely Amitabh avoided serious injury. Intent or negligence on the actor’s part has never been hinted at; the production was held responsible for not having taken the appropriate safety measures for the firearms.
The event occurred while shooting a jail scene in which Dharmendra’s character fires a gun at the iron bars behind which Bachchan’s character is. After the incident, different sources, including crew members and actors, have shared the same version of the story that the bullet hit the metal bars and went through the area where Bachchan was standing, and it reportedly grazed his ear. The Sholay shooting incident shocked everyone and brought the work to a temporary stop to attend to Bachchan, who had received a minor injury.
When Sholay was made, there were no safety measures in place in Indian film productions, no trained armourers and no strict rules for the use of weapons. Live ammunition and blanks were always kept together, which was the main reason for the accidents. The Sholay shooting incident is now regarded by many as a moment that led to better safety measures on film sets.
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