Sholay (Hindustani: [ˈʃoːleː] ^ⓘ, transl. 'Embers') is a 1975 Indian epic action-adventure film directed by Ramesh Sippy, produced by his father G. P. Sippy, and written by Salim–Javed. The film follows two criminals, Veeru (Dharmendra) and Jai (Amitabh Bachchan), who are hired by a retired police officer (Sanjeev Kumar) to capture the ruthless Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan). Hema Malini and Jaya Bhaduri also star as Veeru and Jai's love interests, Basanti and Radha, respectively. The soundtrack was composed by R D Burman.

The film was shot in the rocky terrain of Ramanagara, in the southern state of Karnataka, over a span of two and a half years, beginning in October 1973. After the Central Board of Film Certification mandated the removal of several violent scenes, Sholay was released as a 198-minute long film. In 1990, the original director's cut of 204 minutes became available on home media. When first released, Sholay received negative critical reviews and a tepid commercial response, but favourable word-of-mouth publicity helped it to become a box office success. It broke records for continuous showings in many theatres across India, and ran for more than five years at Mumbai's Minerva theatre. The film was also an overseas success in the Soviet Union. It was the highest-grossing Indian film ever at the time, and was the highest-grossing film in India up until Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (1994). By numerous accounts, Sholay remains one of the highest-grossing Indian films of all time, adjusted for inflation.

Sholay is often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential Indian films of all time. It was ranked first in the British Film Institute's 2002 poll of "Top 10 Indian Films" of all time. In 2005, the judges of the 50th Filmfare Awards named it the Best Film of 50 Years. The film is a Dacoit Western (sometimes called a "Curry Western"), combining the conventions of Indian dacoit films with that of Spaghetti Westerns along with elements of Samurai cinema. Sholay is also a defining example of the masala film, which mixes several genres in one work. Scholars have noted several themes in the film, such as glorification of violence, conformation to Indian feudalism, debate between social order and mobilised usurpers, homosocial bonding, and the film's role as a national allegory. The combined sales of the original soundtrack, scored by R. D. Burman, and the dialogues (released separately), set new sales records. The film's dialogue and certain characters became extremely popular, contributing to numerous cultural memes and becoming part of India's daily vernacular. In January 2014, Sholay was re-released to theatres in the 3D format.

Jai and Veeru are small-time crooks who are released from prison, where they are recruited by a former Inspector Thakur Baldev Singh to capture a notorious dacoit named Gabbar Singh wanted for ₹50,000, as the duo had saved Thakur from a train robbery which makes Thakur to recruit them for the mission with an additional ₹20,000 reward. The duo leave for Thakur's village in Ramgarh, where Gabbar is residing and terrorising the villagers.

After reaching Ramgarh, Veeru falls for Basanti, a feisty talkative horse-cart driver. Jai meets Thakur's widowed daughter-in-law Radha and falls for her, who later reciprocates his feelings. The two thwart Gabbar's dacoits, who came to extort money. During the festival of Holi, Gabbar's gang attacks the villagers where they corner Jai and Veeru, but the duo manage to attack and chase them away from the village. The duo are upset at Thakur's inaction (when Jai and Veeru were cornered, Thakur had a gun within his reach, but did not help them) and consider calling off the mission. Thakur reveals that a few years ago, Gabbar had killed his family members (except Radha and Ramlal), and had both his arms cut off; he concealed the dismemberment by always wearing a shawl, which was the sole reason he could not use the gun.

Seeing how much Thakur has suffered, Jai and Veeru took pity by taking an oath that they will capture Gabbar alive, free of charge. After learning the duo's heroics, Gabbar kills the local imam Rahim Chacha's son Ahmed, all to threaten the villagers to make Jai and Veeru surrender to him. The villagers refuse and instead get the duo to kill a few of Gabbar's henchmen in revenge for the boy's death. Gabbar angrily retaliates by having his men capture Veeru and Basanti. Jai arrives and attacks the hideout, where the trio are able to flee Gabbar's hideout with dacoits in pursuit. Shooting from behind a rock, Jai and Veeru nearly run out of ammunition. Unaware that Jai was wounded in the gunfight, Veeru is forced to leave for more ammunition and also to drop Basanti at a safe place.

Jai sacrifices himself by using his last bullet to ignite dynamite sticks on a bridge from close range, killing Gabbar's men. Veeru returns, and Jai dies, leaving Radha and Veeru devastated. Enraged, Veeru attacks Gabbar's den and kills his remaining men where he catches Gabbar and nearly beats him to death. Thakur appears and reminds Veeru of the vow to hand over Gabbar alive. Thakur uses his spike-soled shoes to severely injure Gabbar and his hands. The police arrive and arrest Gabbar for his crimes. After Jai's funeral, Veeru leaves Ramgarh and finds Basanti waiting for him on the train.

The screenwriter pair Salim–Javed, consisting of Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar, began narrating the idea for Sholay as a four-line snippet to filmmakers in 1973. The idea was rejected by two producer/director teams, including directors Manmohan Desai and Prakash Mehra. About six months after the release of Zanjeer (1973), Salim-Javed contacted G. P. Sippy and his son Ramesh Sippy, and narrated the four-line snippet to them. Ramesh Sippy liked the concept of Sholay and hired them to develop it. The original idea of the film involved an army officer who decided to hire two ex-soldiers to avenge the murder of his family. The army officer was later changed to a policeman because Sippy felt that it would be difficult to get permission to shoot scenes depicting army activities. Salim-Javed completed the script in one month, incorporating names and personality traits of their friends and acquaintances. The film's script and dialogues are in Hindustani; Salim-Javed wrote the dialogues in Urdu script, which was then transcribed by an assistant into Devanagari script so that Hindi readers could read the Urdu dialogues.