Bollywood Directors pick their favourite dialogues from Sholay

By Subhash K. Jha -

August 20, 2015 - 10:30 AM IST

Farhan Akhtar: "Where does one start with memorable quotes from Sholay? The film is encyclopedia of quotable quotes. But the one section that usually goes under the radar is the banter in the prison sequence. So for my favourite dialogue I'll go with, 'Pistol jail mein aa chukka hai.'"

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra: "Gabbar Singh's 'Kitne aadmi ttthey?'"

Aanand L Rai: "It's difficult to pick one dialogue. Nonetheless I'll go with the dialogue where Basanti brings Jai and Veeru to the village. 'Tumhara naam kya hai, Basantiâ€¦ Pehli baar sun raha hoon yeh naam'. Loved the way the actors emoted in these lines. Sholay is a master-class for all filmmakers."

Subhash Kapoor: "When Jai meets Mausi for Veeru's rishta I thought it was unusually written, it had a tinge of satire, and it was very very funny."

Anees Bazmee: "When Sachin's character's corpse is brought to the village, the entire village blames it on the Thakur. And then comes my favourite dialogue. 'Agar duniya mein izzat se jeena hai toh uska kuch mole toh dena hi hoga."'

Prabhu Dheva: "I love Amjad Khan's Gabbar's entry sequence, the entire dialogue from 'Kitne aadmi tthey?'"

Kunal Kohli: "How can there be one favourite? Every scene and dialogue is a landmark. But Gabbar's introduction scene is definitely a favourite."

Nishikant Kamat: "'Jab tak tere pair chalenge isski saans chalegi. Yeh pair ruke toh yeh bandook chalegi.' And then Basanti dances to 'Jab tak haan jaan-e-jahaan main nachungi'."

Umesh Shukla: "Gabbar Singh's dialogue 'Holi kab hai â€¦kab hai holi?' and Thakur's dialogue. 'Yeh haath nahin phansi ka phanda hai.' In fact, I love so many other dialogues in Sholay too."

Omung Kumar: "Actually there are so many. We were the proud possessors of the Sholay dialogue LP and we'd listen to it every morning. But my favourite? 'Kitne aadmi theyâ€¦ Do, Sarkaarâ€¦ Woh do tthe aur tum teen yeh bahut nainsaafi hai'."

Sajid Khan: "My favourite scene in Sholay is without dialogues when Sanjeev Kumar returns home to his massacred family."

Ken Ghosh: "Tumhara naam kya hai, Basanti?"

Rahul Rawail: "Yeh haath mujhe de-de, Thakur."

Nagesh Kukunoor: "My favourite scene and dialogue are 'Kitne aadmi tthey?'. I actually did the whole scene when I was 8 years old, beard drawn on my baby chin with eyeliner, and I actually managed to snag a pair of khaki trousers and a thick belt for my costume. I must have done that scene at least a 100 times as a child."

Mahesh Manjrekar: Jai (Amitabh Bachchan)'s death scene. 'Mera khel hatam ho gaya, Veeru. Lekin koi dukh nahinâ€¦ Jiyo toh dost ke saath maro toh dost ke saamne. Bas ek baat reh jayegi, tere bachchon ko kahani nahin suna sakaa. Lekin tu unhein apne dosti ki kahani zaroor sunana. Dekh Veeru dekh. Yeh kahani bhi adhuri reh gayi. Kya socha ttha aur kya?'"

Priyadarshan: "My favourite dialogues are the unspoken words of love between Bachchan Saab and Jayaji."

Onir: "My favourite scene in Sholay has no dialogues. When Mr. Bachchan plays the mouth organ in the night and Jayaji extinguishes the lamp."

Rahul Dholakia: "I like all the dialogues of Sholay. But for me the most powerful scene has no words. It is when Thakur returns home to find his family massacred."

Remo D'Souza: "'Basanti, inn kutton ke saamne matt nachna.' But she still dances (the power of dance)."

Gauri Shinde: "'Tumhara naam kya hai, Basanti? I love the underplayed sarcasm of Mr. Bachchan.'"

Neeraj Ghaywan: "Tumhara naam kya hai, Basanti?"

Girish Malik: "Kitney aadmi ttheyâ€¦" and "Basanti, inn kutton ke saamne matt nachna".