Universal Music India will on Friday release a very special anniversary collection to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Bollywood's legendary blockbuster 'Sholay'.
One of the most iconic films in the industry, Sholay has been the first Indian film to have a stereophonic soundtrack and to use the 70 mm wide screen format.
Over the years Sholay has become a cult classic and was the first film to enjoy a 25-week run in over 100 cinemas.
In 1975, it became the highest grossing Bollywood film that year and film ranking website Box Office India gave the film a verdict of an 'All Time Blockbuster'.
Sholay holds a still-standing record of 60 golden jubilees (running 50 consecutive weeks at 60 theaters) across India and was the first film in India to celebrate a Silver jubilee (25 weeks) at over 100 theatres.
The multi-million selling SOUNDTRACK (music and dialogues) continues to sell across new formats including on line and mobile. The music from the film has captured the hearts of generations. Who can forget the iconic voices of Kishore Kumar, Manna Dey, Lata Mangeshkar and R.D. Burman crooning to classic tunes like "Mehbooba Mehbooba", "Yeh Dosti", "Jab Tak Hai Jaan" and "Koi Haseena" among others.
'Sholay: The 40th Anniversary Collection' includes over two hours of the dialogues and songs of the iconic film chronologically sequenced to take the listener through a fantastic Sholay experience.
Speaking on the occasion, Devraj Sanyal, Managing Director and CEO, Universal Music Group, South Asia, said, "Sholay is one of the most memorable films of our time.with one of the most endearing soundtracks ever. I don't think there is any other film in the history of Indian cinema where both the songs and the dialogues have become so iconic! And 40 Years later, it gives us immense pleasure to present this Anniversary Collection - an album packed with over 2 hours of music and dialogues to relive the magic of SHOLAY! This is indeed a collector's edition which every cinema enthusiast out there must possess. And to top it all, the album is now available across all digital formats keeping up with changing consumer preferences."
It's not just the album, Universal Music are rolling out a multi-pronged campaign to celebrate the 40th Year of the SOUNDTRACK..Bollywood's #1 DJ Suketu will be creating a five minute mashup that will introduce the music of Sholay to a whole new generation out there! Besides, riding on the film's popular dialogues and characters, Universal Music has associated with Dubsmash where enthusiasts will have the chance to create their own videos of Gabbar, Jai, Veeru, Jailor and other casts from the film. While Big FM 92.7 - the official Radio partner on the album will reach out to the films core audience through its pan-India presence. The station will run innovative campaigns around the film's characters and it's music!
The 'Sholay: 40th Anniversary Collection' will see a simultaneous worldwide digital download release on August 14 exclusively on the iTunes store. The album will also be available across streaming partners as well as on physical formats.
Universal Music India Pvt. Ltd. (UMIPL) is a 100 percent subsidiary of the Universal Music Group (UMG) and is home to record labels such as A&M Records, Blue Note Records, Capitol Records, Capitol Records Nashville, Caroline, Decca, Def Jam Recordings, Deutsche Grammophon, Emarcy, Geffen Records, Interscope Records, Island Records, Machete Music, MCA Nashville, Mercury Records, Motown Records, Polydor Records, Republic Records, Universal Music Latino, Verve Music Group, Virgin Records, Virgin EMI Records.
UMIPL has an extremely rich Indian catalogue comprising songs from classic Hindi and regional films, IndiPop, Bhangra, Ghazals and Devotional. It's enviable catalogue includes artistes such as Asha Bhosle, Anup Jalota, Bombay Vikings, Jagjit Singh, JoSh, Malkit Singh, Pankaj Udhas, Panjabi MC, Raghav, Mohit Chouhan, Euphoria, Adnan Sami, Rabbi Shergill, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan to name a few.
UMIPL 'film' catalogue (the second largest in India) spans music from blockbusters such as Sholay, Qurbani, Amar Akbar Anthony, Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, Devdas and Munnabhai MBBS amongst the numerous jewels which symbolize the musical journey from the 70's to date. On the International music front, UMIPL are the clear market leaders with artistes such as ABBA, Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams, Enrique Iglesias, Eminem, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, The Beatles, UB40, Deep Purple, Enigma, Norah Jones, Deadmau5, The Chemical Brothers, amongst host of others, popular music icons and household names in India.
