Gabbar!

Sholay, through the years, has become a cult classic as it had a historic run in cinemas across India. Running for 5 long years in a Mumbai theatre was some record back in the 70s.

Typically, it had all the ingredients of a masala flick - a grand ensemble cast, rugged, dry terrains, catchy (understatement), memorable dialogues and some great music. But the thing for which Sholay is remembered is Gabbar Singh, the dacoit of the fictional town of Ramgarh.

And Gabbar isn’t the sole merit of the legendary Amjad Khan. Of course, he played his role flawlessly but then mere acting isn’t the treat for the audiences especially for Bollywood talkies fanatics (like me). We all look for dialogues, power-packed ones. And at that time, the dialogues et al were written by the most talked-about writers of the early 70s, “Salim-Javed”. This duo gave us some unforgettable characters and yes, Gabbar tops the list.

• The sadistic humour which is exhibited in Gabbar’s views creates a stir in the viewers.

Back in the early 70s, there wasn’t much sarcastic or hurtful humour - there was pure romance. Ending that romance era, we saw the era of political and social unrest. The people now, needed their projected images on the screen and that’s how the Angry Young Man was born. Come violence and some action and the hero got his nemesis (like Gabbar was nemesis to Thakur).

• The rustic language which Gabbar uses with one and all in the village, especially Basanti in that “khurach khurach ke” scene where Gabbar threatens the talkative taangewali in a rural and remote dialect gives Gabbar a separate class. He’s somewhere between a local gunda and a full fledged international don (in terms of the sophisticated terror he projects). Coming to terror in the next point.
• The ruthless behaviour of Gabbar provides dollops of awesomeness. I mean, Harry Potter would not be that touching if there weren’t Voldemort. He, (Voldemort) is cruel as hell and his ruthless demeanour captures every wizard’s attention (to the extent that they fear his name). Call Gabbar the Voldemort of India or whatever, he’s our favourite villain so far. The best example can be “Pachaas Pachaas koso dur jab koi baccha rota hai, to uski maa usse kehti hai ki beta so ja nahi to Gabbar aa jaayega!”
• This was admitted by Gabbar himself. In an interview (centring around R. D. Burman's music career), Amjad Khan was called in for his comments on the musician. He acknowledged his long-time friendship with Pancham and said that it was the background music of the film which added gravitas and fear to the role of Gabbar. Who can forget that eerie background music after the massacre of Thakur's family? That tune was something only someone as experimental as Pancham could produce. Some metallic car parts welded and moulded here and there and strung with a sarangi bow, that's it. Exeunt!
• The legacy of Gabbar is so immense, that one gives many references to his dialogues subconsciously. Be it a tough test, and the first thing which comes to our mind is “Tera kya hoga, Kaalia?!”. Or take the iconic '70s ad of Glucose biscuits featuring Gabbar. Or take the numerous Sholay spoofs and spiritual sequels spread across the '90s and 2000s (the legendary RGV ki Aag). Or take the Akshay Kumar-starrer Gabbar is Back, a vigilante film borrowing its title from our iconic villain. Interestingly, the film released in 2015, which marked 40 years of the release of Sholay. Gabbar has the knack of staying relevant today too: 45 years after inception. 

I acknowledge some people here - Diptakirti Chaudhari and Anupama Chopra who have written books like Written by Salim-Javed and Sholay: The Making of a Classic (National Award winner). From their books, I’ve learnt quite a lot and being the filmy reference quoter, I took some ideas and examples from these books.

Good old memories! This was my first Quora answer.