Sholay (1975) was an absolute classic and deserved every bit of accolades and box office returns that it got. The primary reason for its phenomenal success was its characterization. The writing duo of Salim-Javed etched out each idiosyncratic character to perfection. The most popular being the mercurial villian Gabbar Singh played by Amjad Khan.
Other notable characters that keep being talked about and mimicked endlessly are the verbose Basanti played by Hema Malini, the childish Veeru played by Dharmendra, the vengeful Thakur played by Sanjeev Kumar, the sidekick Sambha played by Macmohan, and so on... I could dedicate one blog post to each of these characters.
However, one character that does not get the mention it deserves is that of Jai played by Amitabh Bachchan. It was a brilliantly etched out character which was quite well-defined and to his credit, Amitabh Bachchan stayed within the limits of that character without trying anything overt. Even if he had been slightly extravagant in playing that character, it would have lost its charm.
Jai was an introvert. He was very brave, intelligent and kind but these qualities got hardly noticed by movie watchers even though he was one of the lead characters in the movie. Speaking from personal experience, introverts tend to get ignored because they are not 'loud' enough in displaying their qualities. Perhaps that is why it bothers me personally that Jai isn't talked about or caricatured as much as the other characters.
Anyway, enough about me, let me now explain why Jai's characterization was as awesome as the others. Firstly, he was kind and conscientious. When he and Veeru were apparently confused about the correct course of action, they used flip a coin. Jai always assigned heads to the decision which was morally correct - like getting the jailer to the hospital when he was wounded and in that process getting jailed himself or sending Veeru home with Basanti towards the end of the movie and doing the dangerous deed of fighting the bad guys alone. The reason why he assigned heads to the tougher but morally correct decision was because he had a special coin where both the sides were heads. Another example of his strong conscience was when he spoke with Mausi about giving Basanti's hand to Veeru in marriage. His tone may have been misleading but he only spoke the truth about the true nature of Veeru, even though Veeru was his best friend. Lastly, when Veeru tried to fool Basanti by apparently speaking in God's voice by standing behind God's idol, it was Jai who pointed the truth out to Basanti. I can think of two more examples of his kindness but I will not bore you...
Secondly, he was a cerebrally gifted man who came up with excellent one-liners like "Tumhara naam kya hai Basanti?" or "James Bond ki aulad hai". He asked Thakur searching questions about his intentions to bring Gabbar alive while Veeru stood next to him like a dud. Also, it seemed like Jai was the guy who planned the jail escape from the prison of 'Angrez ke zamaane ke jailer'.
Lastly, the man had balls. He chose to fight the bad guys alone in the end, and during Holi, he was the lone one who stepped up to Gabbar when all seemed lost, and he could do sharp shooting without flinching an eye.
The bigger point I am trying to make here is the writers, the director and the actor himself brought about great quality to the character of Jai and dealt with this complex person in a very sensitive manner. In my opinion, out of all the characters the great Amitabh Bachchan has played, this was the second best character.
