Sholay completed 50 years this August, and about three months after its anniversary, the makers re-released the film across India—this time with its original ending, the one in which Gabbar dies. What is celebrated as a phenomenon today once faced the same scrutiny that many big-budget films face even now. Conversations about Sholay’s budget were similar to the chatter around the budgets of films like Akshay Kumar’s Bade Miyan Chote Miyan and Ram Charan’s Game Changer. Trade experts back then were convinced that a film with such a massive budget would destroy the industry and disrupt livelihoods. Many even declared that it would be a flop from which the makers would never recover their investment. And when the film finally released, it seemed that way. The opening weekend was silent. Ramesh Sippy was shocked and was prepared to change the climax again—this would have been the third version. But the writers, Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan, remained confident that the film would eventually break records, and they were right. Recalling those days, director Ramesh Sippy …