BENGALURU: Koi haseena jab rooth jati hai toh aur namkeen ho jaati hai - Veeru (Bollywood’s legendary actor Late Dharmendra) romanced his lady love Basanti (Hema Malini) on Dhanno’s (mare) tonga on the muddy jungle roads leading to Ramadevare Betta—a revered shrine around 50 km from Bengaluru more than half a century ago in Bollywood’s magnum opus ‘Sholay.’
The jingle of the embellished Dhanno’s hooves as she ran along side the village kere (pond) since dried, the chase of horses on the make do roads and hills on which Veeru and Jai (Amitabh Bachchan) immortalised their legendary friendship and valour against a soulless Gabbar Singh iconised by Amjad Khan are archived in the silence of the bettas (hills) that are also home to the remaining vultures in their lone sanctuary in India.
The lone road leading to the makeshift Sippy Nagar famed as Ramgarh on the silverscreen was tarred to help pilgrims, tourists and now residents of Ramgiri colony which was borne out of the village Ramgarh created by Ramesh Sippy. As the sun sets behind the giant granite hills surrounding the village one can still hear the horse’s hoofs running up the incline where Gabbar teased Thakur (Sanjeev Kumar).
Bettaiah—a farmer recalled how he used to wait for the Sholay team to arrive in the desolate wilderness of Ramanagaram more than 50 years ago, when he was all of 15. Another villager, Dharmaiyya, named after Dharmendra, pointed out to the spot where the Thakur haveli (mansion) was set up under the slow incline of the hill from where Gabbar came down on his horse and shot his youngest grandson.