Is Sholay’s key sequence copied from Once Upon A Time in the West? | Bollywood

Remember the meditative sequence from Ramesh Sippy’s iconic Sholay (1975) where Gabbar (Amjad Khan) shoots down the entire family of Thakur (Sanjeev Kumar)? Well, we hate to break it to you, if you don’t know already, that the sequence is lifted from Sergio Leonne’s Once Upon A Time in the West (1968). (Also Read: Internet reacts as Julia Roberts replaces Hema Malini, Robert De Niro is Amitabh Bachchan’s Jai in Sholay’s AI version)

Adil Hussain tweets

Actor Adil Hussain took to Twitter on Monday and shared a clip from Sergio Leonne’s iconic 1975 Spaghetti Western Once Upon A Time in the West, which is eerily similar to the long, memorable sequence from Sholay, where Gabbar shoots down Thakur’s family members one by one.

Adil wrote in the caption, “Ha ha… Who would have thought that portions of one of the most watched/ Admired films in India will be a copy of this film below… Probably you already knew that!? .. But didn’t..”

Reactions to Adil’s tweet

Actor Ranvir Shorey commented on Adil’s tweet and posted a hilarious GIF.

When Adil responded to Ranvir’s GIF with covering-eyes and sweating emojis, Ranvir shared another GIF along with the caption, “And then they wonder why it’s called ‘Bollywood’…”

A user also commented on Adil’s tweet and wrote, “N they crib that they dont get oscar!!! Copy masters.” Another wrote on the same lines, “Correction- #Bollywood shouts over the roof that piracy killing it. (laughing with tears emoji).”

Another user pointed out how the sequence in Once Upon A Time in the West is itself inspired from Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 Japanese epic Seven Samurai. They wrote, “’Badass hit team protecting a village’ is a theme inspired by Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai in film industry of every language.” Another user wrote on the same lines, “Sir, Sergio Leone himself was heavily inspired by Akira Kurosawa’s Samurai films.” But a third user rebutted the argument by writing, “To inspire and to plagiarise. How different!”

Sholay is one of the most recognised Hindi films of all time. It starred Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Dharmendra, Jaya Bachchan, Sanjeev Kumar, Amjad Khan, Asrani, Viju Khote and Jagdeep among others. It was written by Salim-Javed and produced by Sippy Films.

Once Upon a Time in the West stars Henry Fonda. It’s the first instalment of Sergio Leonne’s Once Upon A Time trilogy, and was followed by Duck, You Sucker! ((1971) and Once Upon a Time in America (1984).