Sholay (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

It’s difficult to overstate the importance of G.P. and Ramesh Sippy’s western-tinged 1975 epic Sholay to the history of Indian cinema. It was a lavish, three-hour spectacle that combined elements of American westerns and action pictures with the high romance, farcical comedy, and nonstop song and dance of more typical Bollywood fare. Sholay, in short, had everything, and its choreography, music, and cinematography took all of the best elements of Indian cinema to unprecedented heights. Sholay’s soundtrack, composed by the endlessly inventive Bollywood maestro RD Burman, is nearly as iconic as the film itself. The famously adventurous Burman had already earned a reputation for pulse-pounding funk- and psychedelia-laced soundtracks with his work on blockbusters like Hare Rama Hare Krishna and Amar Prem. But on Sholay, he truly outdoes himself, incorporating elements of Ennio Morricone’s grandiose spaghetti westerns, rock 'n' roll, and more traditional Indian music. The result is an unfailingly exhilarating album that stands as one of the greatest Bollywood soundtracks of all time.