Metrograph

Sippy’s sprawling “curry Western,” blown up to 70mm for first-run distribution and shot over the course of two-and-a-half years in the rugged hills around the city of Ramanagara, was one of the most ambitious undertakings in Bollywood history: star-studded (including a young Amjad Khan giving a villainous dacoit for the ages), with earworm tunes courtesy legendary writing team Salim-Javed and composer R.D. Burman. India’s all-time box-office champion for nearly 20 years, having logged a storied unbroken five-year run at Mumbai’s Minerva cinema, this ripping yarn about a former lawman (Sanjeev Kumar) recruiting two petty crooks (Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra) to help him bring down a beastly bandit who’s terrorizing the village of Ramgarh can now be seen with its astonishing original ending, censored on initial release, restored.

Restored by Film Heritage Foundation at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in association with Sippy Films.

Distributor: Sippy Ltd.

Introduction by film critic Siddhant Adlakha on Wednesday, August 19th