Editing Sholay (section)

=== Alternate version ===
The [[director's cut]] of ''Sholay'' has a different ending in which Thakur kicks Gabbar onto a nail on one of the two poles that Gabbar had used to chain Thakur when he had cut off his arms, stabbing him in the back and killing him, along with some additional violent scenes. Thakur's shoe soles getting armed with spikes, Gabbar's death scene, and the scene in which the imam's son is killed, were cut from the film by India's [[Central Board of Film Certification|Censor Board]], as was the scene in which Thakur's family is massacred.{{sfn|Chopra|2000|pp=77–79}} The Censor Board was concerned about the violence, and that viewers may be influenced to violate the law by punishing people severely.<ref name="ending" /> Although Sippy fought to keep the scenes, eventually he had to re-shoot the ending of the film, and as directed by the Censor Board, have the police arrive just before Thakur can kill Gabbar.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Prabhakar, Jyothi |date=28 April 2013 |title=Changed 'Sholay' climax because of the Censor Board: Ramesh Sippy |work=The Times of India |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/Changed-Sholay-climax-because-of-the-Censor-Board-Ramesh-Sippy/articleshow/19754678.cms? |url-status=live |access-date=5 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150817120148/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/Changed-Sholay-climax-because-of-the-Censor-Board-Ramesh-Sippy/articleshow/19754678.cms |archive-date=17 August 2015}}</ref> The censored theatrical version was the only one seen by audiences for fifteen years. The original, unedited cut of the film finally came out in a British release on [[VHS]] in 1990.<ref name="DVD" /> Since then, [[Eros International]] has released two versions on DVD. The director's cut of the film preserves the original full frame and is 204&nbsp;minutes in length; the censored widescreen version is 198&nbsp;minutes long.<ref name="Runtime" /><ref name="DVD" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=17 February 2001 |title=Sholay DVD review :: zulm.net :: definitive indian dvd guide |url=http://www.zulm.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=103&mode=&order=0 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120811131134/http://www.zulm.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=103&mode=&order=0 |archive-date=11 August 2012 |access-date=3 July 2013 |publisher=zulm.net}}</ref>{{efn|name=runtime|The [[British Board of Film Classification]] (BBFC) notes three running times of ''Sholay''. The version that was submitted in film format to BBFC had a running time of 198 minutes. A video version of this had a running time of 188 minutes. BBFC notes that "When a film is transferred to video the running time will be shorter by approximately 4% due to the differing number of frames per second. This does not mean that the video version has been cut or re-edited." The director's cut was 204 minutes long.<ref>{{Cite web |date=25 September 2012 |title=''Sholay'' |url=https://www.bbfc.co.uk/website/Classified.nsf/c2fb077ba3f9b33980256b4f002da32c/cde1a8bb41dd72ca8025660b0006032d?OpenDocument |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021153210/http://www.bbfc.co.uk/website/Classified.nsf/c2fb077ba3f9b33980256b4f002da32c/cde1a8bb41dd72ca8025660b0006032d?OpenDocument |archive-date=21 October 2013 |access-date=11 May 2013 |publisher=British Board of Film Classification}}</ref>}}