Had to change Sholay's ending because of Censor Board, says director Ramesh Sippy

If you've seen the cult classic Sholay, it's hard to imagine a different ending than what went down.

However, recalling his own brush with the Censor Board back in the day, the movie's director, Ramesh Sippy shared a fun fact with the audience at the Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) reports Indian Express.

Sippy, who was awarded the ‘PIFF Distinguished Personality Award’ at the festival, made the revelation to Dr Jabbar Patel during an interview.

When an audience member asked Sippy about his views on censorship in India, the filmmaker spoke about his own experiences with the Censor Board, before Sholay was released during the Emergency in August 1975.

“I had shot a different ending for Sholay, where Gabbar is killed by Thakur. But they (the Censor Board), didn’t allow that. They were not happy about Thakur killing Gabbar with his feet. I was also caught in a sticky situation; how else would Thakur kill him? He couldn’t have used a gun since he had no arms. They were also unhappy about too much violence, they said ‘you have to change the end’. I wasn’t happy, but I did that,” he shared.