Sholay Turns 50: A Fan's Incredible 20-Year Collection of Bollywood's Cult Classic

Bollywood’s cult classic ‘Sholay’ turned 50 this year and celebrated the milestone with a grand re-release across 1,500 theatres, including in Tamil Nadu, on Dec 12. The celebrations carried an added poignancy, coming just weeks after the death of the film’s hero, Dharmendra, at 89.But for Vikas Singh from Tirupati, his love affair with ‘Sholay’ has been on since the film’s release in 1975. The 52-year-old has built one of the most detailed private collections dedicated to a single film, from original 1975 lithograph posters designed by C Mohan and V G Parchure, the first-run film booklet, a preserved 1975 theatre ticket, all eight lobby cards, Polydor platinum EPs, director’s cut media formats, postal memorabilia, graphic novels and signed artefacts.“You have to be careful and keep an eye on auction houses,” says Vikas, explaining how he built his collection. “A few items came from an antique shop near Haji Ali in Mumbai. A 50-year-old poster is not easy to find; the sides may be torn.”One of his rarest finds is an original poster where producer G P Sippy was mistakenly credited as director. “When I got it signed by scriptwriter Javed Akhtar, he asked me how I had managed to find it,” says Vikas.

As to why Singh chose to build a collection around a single film, he says it is because its scale and visual ambition were unprecedented for its time. “The first item I brought home was film critic Anupama Chopra’s book on ‘Sholay’ in 2001. It reminded me of the old ‘Sholay’ audio cassette I had bought, which I listened to on a tape recorder. I found it buried in an old trunk along with other forgotten cassettes, and from that moment, the journey of this collection began,” he says.Vikas says he hopes to showcase his collection to the film’s director Ramesh Sippy. “The collection’s charm is timeless,” he says. “It will only grow stronger as the years pass.”