Dharmendra wanted to play Thakur in Sholay but changed his mind - here's why

Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay, which released 48 years ago, continues to be remembered as one of the greatest Hindi films ever made. However, the making of Sholay is an epic tale in itself, brimming with many dramatic turns and twists. One of the most famous anecdotes goes about how the final casting of the film happened.

Dharmendra wanted to play Thakur, not Veeru

Reportedly, many actors were first gunning and trying to convince the makers for the role of Gabbar Singh. Even as Danny Dengzongpa was signed for Gabbar Singh, Amitabh Bachchan continued to pester the makers for allowing him to play Gabbar. Meanwhile, Dharmendra was keen to play the role of the intense, vengeant Thakur. 

However, it was only when Dharmendra came to learn that Hema Malini was playing the role of Veeru’s lover and the Tonga-girl Basanti that Dharmendra happily gave into the idea of playing the jovial, robust Veeru. Although Dharmendra and Hema Malini had worked together in a few films before Sholay, it was during the shoot of this Ramesh Sippy directorial that the two really came close together.

Why did Dharmendra bribe Sholay crew to make mistakes?

Meanwhile, Dharmendra’s antics to get close to Hema Malini did not stop here. As documented in the book Sholay - the making of a classic, Dharmendra would constantly fumble his lines during takes of the scenes that had him enacting romantic moments with Hema Malini. And to top it, Dharmendra came up with another ingenious idea later - he began to pay the lightmen on sets to make mistakes during his scenes with Hema Malini so that the scenes would get canned repeatedly, hence giving Dharmendra opportunities to spend more time with Hema Malini.

Sholay not only went on to be a milestone box office success, running for years at most theatres, but it only cemented the relationship between Hema Malini and Dharmendra. In the next 5 years, Dharmendra and Hema Malini worked together in as many as 14 films in next 8 years like Jugnu and Dream Girl among others, and made several guest appearance in each other’s movies. The two tied the knot in 1980, and later had two daughters Esha and Ahana.