When makers of Sholay almost re-shot a happy ending for Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya

October 11 is Amitabh Bachchan Day. The megastar will be celebrating his 80th birthday on Tuesday. Fans and several celebrities have already started wishing him on social media.

Fans are celebrating 80 years of Big B in different ways across the country. On the special occasion, here's a special story of how the makers of Sholay almost re-shot a happy ending for Jaya Bachchan and Amitabh Bachchan.

Big B, Hema Malini and director Ramesh Sippy had once recalled that the film was initially declared a flop (on a Friday) and after discussions with writers Salim Khan, Javed Akhtar, the makers decided to re-work on Amitabh and Jaya's track.

The original ending shows Big B’s character Jai die in the film leaving Jaya (a widow) without a companion once again.

Amitabh said, “They thought that the times were changing and widow remarriage was a trend that was catching on with the general public. It was decided unanimously that we would reshoot some scenes. My character would be revived and there would be a happy ending for Jaya’s character.”

However, as the team left for the studios to do a re-shoot, Ramesh had an intuition and urged them to wait till Monday.

“Ramesh ji stopped us and he instinctively said, ‘Let’s wait till Monday and see what happens. I feel something will click’. And look what happened on the Monday. History got made after that Monday,” added Amitabh.

Sr Bachchan also asked Ramesh as to why he chose Hema Malini as 'Basanti' and how did he think about 'Jai-Veeru'.

Replying to Amitabh, Ramesh Sippy shared, "See, Hema ji in her first film with me had portrayed the role of a young widow and in the second film, 'Seeta aur Geeta', she surprised us. So, for the role of 'Basanti' I felt that no one can do it apart from her. Also, there was one more thing. When we completed 'Seeta aur Geeta' and it became successful, it is then when we decided whatever I make after this, Dharam ji, Hema ji and Sanjeev ji must be there. And as the script of 'Sholay' was shaping up, it was fitting perfectly."

When asked about how he thought of 'Jai-Veeru', Sippy replied: "We had 'Veeru', he was there in the last film, too. So, there was one thing that I had thought about is that we have three superstars and if I get one more superstar, it would be difficult for me, only. So, then I thought I need a good actor, who does good work and becomes a team. Because when Salim-Javed suggested Amit ji for this role, saying there's one 'Amitabh Bachchan' who's doing good work and is working with us in 'Zanjeer'. I said ok, that's good."

"And, then I thought that he's not a star at the moment so I won't have that problem that there's one more star on the set. But there are two things that I remember about you. You did a great job in the film 'Anand', a very serious role and then in 'Bombay to Goa' you did a light role with Mehmood Saab. In that bus, you were this tall man and the way you danced gracefully. I felt this seems to be an actor who can do anything. So, he will be able to give us what we want. That's how the casting was done," he added.

To all that Sippy said, Amitabh acknowledges and responded: "Thank you very much, Sir". Replying to this, Sippy shared: "You proved it. And by the time the film released, you became the biggest star."