From the light of lanterns to coin flips and, of course, the zippy bullets, the splashes of 3D may not add much from this legendary Bollywood film, but neither does it feel terribly jarring.

Let's be clear about this: I hate 3D. Aside from Gravity, I'm yet to see a film in which the 3D effects are spectacular enough to make up for the discomfort of those glasses and the fact that colours are duller and dimmer when seen through those wretched glasses. But even if you are one of those whose heart goes pitter patter when the bullet (sorta, kinda) comes out of the screen and right at you, 3D feels particularly unnecessary when it's forcibly added to an old film that wasn't filmed for such technical trickery.

Still, there are moments in the re-released Sholay when those illusions are fun. From the light of lanterns to coin flips and, of course, the zippy bullets, the splashes of 3D may not add much from this legendary Bollywood film, but neither does it feel terribly jarring. The reason to watch Sholay, though, isn't the quality of visual effects — which reportedly cost in the range of Rs 25 crore — but for the sheer joy of seeing this movie on big screen.

Ramesh Sippy's Sholay may have drawn extensively from the American Western tradition, but with the film's phenomenal success, Jai, Veeru, Basanti, Thakur and Gabbar became iconic Bollywood characters that would inspire countless heroes, heroines and villains. When it was released in 1975, the film was nothing like what was being made in Bollywood at the time. Today, the stories and tropes it uses are more familiar, but Sholay still holds your attention. There's a tension in it that doesn't slacken even if you know what happen next. Plus, even if you have seen Sholay 100 times on television, there's something to be said for seeing the imagery of the film on big screen, with the town, Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Hema Malini and Amjad Khan literally larger than life.

There's no point talking about the plot of Sholay because everyone knows the story of two small-time thieves who are hired by a local zamindar to take on a fearsome gang of dacoits. So here are a few stories about the making of Sholay that you may not know.

1. Screenwriter Salim Khan had originally approached Dilip Kumar to play the role of Thakur, which eventually became one of Sanjeev Kumar's most celebrated performances. Kumar heard a narration of the role from Khan and then said he found the role too limiting.

2. Dharmendra was initially interested in playing the role of Thakur. However, he was quickly convinced to do Veeru when he was told that if he played Thakur, Sanjeev Kumar would play Veeru and get all the romantic scenes with Hema Malini. While Malini and Dharmendra were seeing each other, Kumar's fondness for Malini was well known. In the recent past, he had pursued her and proposed to her. She'd chosen Dharmendra, despite the latter being married. All this made the situation between Malini and Kumar quite uncomfortable. This is apparently why Thakur and Basanti have no scenes together.

3. Sholay and the character of Jai excited Amitabh Bachchan so much that he actively lobbied for the role and asked Dharmendra to put in a good word for him. The first choice for Jai was Shatrughan Sinha.

4. There was a real bandit named Gabbar Singh in the Chambal area and Salim-Javed based Sholay's Gabbar on this man. He reportedly chopped off the ears and noses of the policemen he captured.

5. Sanjeev Kumar was initially hoping to play Gabbar in Sholay and went to the extent of staining his teeth and messing up his hair to show he could look like a disgusting bandit.

6. The role of Gabbar ultimately went to the newcomer Amjad Khan, whom Salim spotted while walking along Bandra Bandstand. Khan got lucky because Danny Denzogpa, who had been approached for Gabbar, couldn't make the dates.

7. The casting of Gabbar wasn't particularly well-received, with the cast of Sholay being described by many as "ek chuha aur teen maharathi" (one mouse and three heroes). Khan's woes didn't end there. There was a suggestion to have his voice dubbed because he didn't have a gravelly baritone. Ultimately, however, director Ramesh Sippy decided that Khan was the best person to voice Gabbar.

8. The scene in which Jai convinces Basanti's aunt to let Veeru have Basanti's hand in marriage is inspired by how Salim Khan in real life convinced Honey Irani's mother to give her blessings to Irani and Javed Akhtar's wedding.

9. Jai and Veeru were named after two of Salim Khan's drinking buddies.

10. Sholay was shot in Ramanagara, a town near Bengaluru. The area is still popular with local tourists for "Sholay Rocks", where large parts of the film were shot. Back when Sippy shot Sholay, Ramanagara was quite inaccessible, so much so that the production costs included building a road from the highway to the town.

11. When Sholay was being shot, Jaya Bachchan was pregnant with her daughter Shweta. Amitabh was very concerned about her travelling on the rocky terrain so he would drive her to the set himself.

12. Among the reasons Sholay went over-budget is that there were frequent parties and banquets while shooting the film and that Sippy is a perfectionist who patiently took take after take after take until the shot was perfect. Sippy's perfectionism also led him to hire foreign stuntmen and technicians.

13. Once, after a post-shooting drinking session, a drunk Dharmendra started walking from his Bengaluru hotel to the location, in the middle of the night. There was panic in Bengaluru the next morning, but the crew found Dharmendra sleeping in one of the make up rooms in Ramanagara.

14. The climax scene of Sholay used real bullets and a shot fired by Dharmendra narrowly missed Amitabh Bachchan.

15. Ramesh Sippy's original ending for Sholay showed Thakur crushing Gabbar and then breaking down and crying. However, the Indian censor board thought this end was too violent and glamourised vigilantism. The censor board suggested Sippy change the end to show the police arriving just in time to capture Gabbar alive, which Sippy did grudgingly. When the film was released, one of the suggestions to bring in audiences was to keep Jai alive, but Sippy resisted and his decision proved to be sound since the film's box office collections started picking up after the third week.