Sholay's end is unforgettable; who could forget Thakur (Sanjeev Kumar)'s moment of dilemma when he was face-to-face with the man who slaughtered his family (Gabbar Singh played by Amjad Khan) but had to restrain himself from avenging them, and hand him over to the cops?
However, Sholay: The Final Cut which was released a few days ago dramatically changes Gabbar's fate. In the re-released version Thakur takes Gabbar's life!
When Sholay was released in 1975, its original climax ran into trouble with the censor board, which objected to its violent resolution during the tense atmosphere of the Emergency under then prime minister Indira Gandhi. The filmmakers were forced to drop the ending in which Thakur kills Gabbar Singh after a prolonged showdown.
Instead, audiences were shown a version where Gabbar is captured and handed over to the authorities by Thakur and Veeru. For decades, that censored ending was the only one Indian viewers knew, until now!
Sholay: The Final Cut, which arrived in theatres on December 12, restores the original climax, showing Thakur killing Gabbar in the final confrontation.
The uncut ending of Sholay shows Thakur killing Gabbar by kicking him onto a large nail protruding from a pillar, after a gruesome fight where he uses steel-spiked shoes to crush Gabbar's fingers in revenge for cutting off his arms.
It makes sense because Thakur asked Jai and Veeru to hand over Gabbar to him alive, which implies he wants to kill the dacoit himself.
Most fans are elated with the new ending as it gives them a sense of closure. "The inclusion of the original ending in Sholay's Final cut truly makes the whole movie so much better than it already was," a fan writes on X.
Another fan quipped, "Ramesh Sippy hated the typical ending where police came at the end. It is a revenge story and Gabbar already escaped from jail."
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