Actor 'Amjad Khan' was almost dropped from the project because scriptwriter 'Javed Akhtar' found his voice too weak for Gabbar Singh's role.
The scene of killing of Thakur's family by Gabbar is an adaptation of the killing of McBain family by Frank in Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time In The West .
Sholay, despite being a huge hit, received only one Filmfare award (best editing: MS Shinde...The awards for the best film, the best dialogues, the best direction and others went to Deewar.
This was the first film in the history of Indian cinema to celebrate a silver-jubilee (25-week) initial release at over 100 theaters across India.
Initially, 'Dharmendra' was keen to play the role of Thakur Baldev Singh. He eventually relented when the director informed him that Sanjeev Kumar would play Veeru if that happened, and would get the heroine. Sanjeev Kumar had just then proposed marriage to Hema Malini. Dharmendra was in love with her and quickly went back to the role of Veeru.