Sholay 1975
In all the sound and fury, Salim-Javed stood firm. 'Nothing doing,' they said to re-shooting proposals. 'This film will run.' It was the cockiness of youth and the confidence of a job well done. The following week, the two put an advertisement in the trade papers. The ad said, 'Salim-Javed predict that 'Sholay' will be a grosser of rupees one crore in each major territory of India.' The trade predicted that going by the response, the Sippys would be lucky if 'Sholay' managed forty lakh per territory.
Salim-Javed were wrong. As it turned out, one crore was a conservative estimate. Mid-week, a curious thing happened: there was little advance booking, but the theatre's were full. The proprietor at Geeta cinema in Worli told Ramesh, 'Don't worry, your film is a hit.' It was the first time Ramesh had heard the word used in connection with his film. 'How can you say that?' he asked. 'Because the sales of my soft drinks and ice-creams are going down,' the man replied. 'By the interval the audience are so stunned that they are not coming out of the theatre.'.
.