As Dudrah points out, it’s also sung by supporters of India’s cricket team during matches, becoming a Bharat Army anthem. Why has it endured? “Yeh Dosti cemented the place of Sholay’s two lovable rogues, Jai and Veeru, in Indian cinema and South Asian popular culture,” he explains.
Here was a masculinity to aspire to, that looked good, took on the system, was all action, wasn’t afraid of opening up and you could sing along with
“Jai and Veeru are drastically stylish guys – Amitabh looks fantastic in denim and flares, both have rugged good looks and impressive physiques and they became icons of South Asian masculinity,” says Dudrah. “Don’t forget for South Asians in Britain and America in the 1970s and 1980s, images like this weren’t available in mainstream media and racism was part of daily life. Yet here was a masculinity to aspire to, that looked good, took on the system, was all action, wasn’t afraid of opening up and you could sing along with.”
Despite being a mainstream blockbuster, Sholay is strikingly progressive, perhaps even subversive. Dudrah highlights how the relationship between Veeru and his love interest Basanti (Hema Malini) is removed from family and unfolds away from community – “it’s a utopian space for young lovers”. Chopra is struck by “Thakur actively matchmaking his widowed daughter-in-law with a criminal [Jai] because he knows this is where her happiness lies”.
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