Mumbai: As 'Sholay' completes 40 glorious years, filmmaker Karan Johar remembered a childhood episode when he tried dancing on broken glass shreds to the song "Jab Tak Hai Jaan", filmed on veteran actress Hema Malini in the iconic Bollywood film.
"Shahid (Kapoor) and Alia (Bhatt) were not even born when we all saw "Sholay". I saw the film when it was in its sixth year. I saw two back-to-back shows. I saw it at 3 pm and cried because I wanted to see it again. So I saw the 6 pm show as well. I saw it nearly 100 times," Karan told reporters here at the trailer launch of 'Shaandar'.
"My memory take away of "Sholay" is Hema Maliniji's dance --'Jab Tak Hai Jaan Main Nachungi' on pieces of glass. I did attempt to dance on glass till my mother slapped me," the filmmaker chuckled.
Karan thinks "Sholay" should be used to define Hindi cinema. "Whenever I speak of 'Sholay' internationally, I think we should not be called Bollywood but "Sholay" as that is what defines us. We should rather say films of "pre-Sholay" and "post-Sholay". It's a textbook," Karan said.
Ramesh Sippy's "Sholay" starring Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Jaya Badhuri, Amjad Khan, Sanjeev Kapoor and others is completing four decades since its release on August 15, 1975.
On the most "Shaandaar" personality of Bollywood, Karan says, "I think Mr Amitabh Bachchan is the most Shaandaar personality."
