This story was first published in Deccan Herald's Metrolife on September 25, 2019, when Amitabh Bachchan was conferred the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. It is being republished today on the occasion of the superstar’s 83rd birthday.

Sholay, the most spectacular production in Amitabh Bachchan’s early career, was shot near Bengaluru. The hills and ravines you see in the film are in Ramanagara, just an hour’s drive from Bengaluru. The town is today known for a folklore museum, and is a pit stop for motorists on the way to Mysuru, but in the 1970s, when Sholay was shot, it had no easy access from the main road, and the production unit had to make its own road to reach the sets.

The film features two real-life couples: Amitabh and Jaya, already married, and Dharmendra and Hema Malini, whose romance

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