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Sippy said the film received poor press.Ĭontrary to reports, Sholay didn’t begin tamely at the box-office. The press thought it was the beginning of the end with big films like Sholay sure to prove duds. “We were delighted and satisfied with what we thought was a winner." “It was an overwhelming experience," said director Ramesh Sippy. “Secondly, the talk during the interval mainly centred around how not too many people thought the film would last."īy the time the premiere ended, the 70 mm prints had arrived and the cast and crew stayed on to watch the film again until the wee hours of the morning. But apart from the technicians, nobody in the theatre realized this had happened," said Umesh Mehra. “The 70 mm prints for the film couldn’t get through customs in time for the show. The evening shows for the day were cancelled for the premiere. Though the official release date of the film remains 15 August, a Friday, the movie began showing in the morning and afternoon shows at Minerva from the 14th itself. In August 1975, Yash Chopra’s Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Deewar had just completed its silver jubilee when Sippy decided to release his film. Manager Sushil Mehra recalls every big star from Amitabh Bachchan and Sanjeev Kumar to Dharmendra and Hema Malini walking down the portals of what was regarded a lucky theatre.Īnd lucky it did prove for Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay, which even 40 years after release, remains the yardstick for commercial success in the Indian film industry. “It was often said that you hadn’t truly achieved stardom unless your film was premiered at Minerva," said Umesh Mehra, adding that the family lost count of the silver and golden jubilee trophies after the number exceeded 30.Īlmost all big films at that time would hold their grand premiere at Minerva.
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But it was the 1500-seater Minerva, that was home to several jubilees over the years. He also owned the Plaza theatre in New Delhi. Under his banner Eagle Films, Mehra produced several movies such as Professor (1962), Sohni Mahiwal (1984) and Mujrim (1989), the last two of which were directed by his son Umesh Mehra, besides television shows such as Office Office and Khatta Meetha. After it was refurbished in the 1970s, the first film screened at Minerva was Mehra’s own production, Lal Patthar (1971) starring Hema Malini. Actor Shammi Kapoor owned a stake in it too. From Basanti’s banter with Dhanno, the mare, to Jai and Veeru’s legendary ‘dosti’ and villain Gabbar Singh’s inimitable dialogues, the theatre saw every tiny bit of the epic become part of people’s lives.įounded in the late 1960s, Minerva belonged to Indian film producer F.C Mehra. The theatre ran the film for five straight years from 1975 to 1980 and saw loyal fans turn up in hordes day after day.