The Foley Artists Who Made the Chal Dhanno Scene of Sholay Iconic

Watch this scene from the film Sholay which is one of the most iconic Bollywood Films ever made. Basanti, the heroine of the film is being chased by the dacoits To escape from them, she climbs on her tonga, and tells her horse ‘ Chal dhanno aaj tere Basanti ki izzat ka sawal hai".

Hearing the instructions of Basanti, Dhanno starts galloping on the terrains of Ramgarh and is chased by dacoits who owe allegiance to Gabbar Singh.

If you are born in the sixties or seventies, the chances are that you might have definitely seen Sholay. Even some youngsters might have seen this movie multiple times.

Now watch this clip again for a few seconds. What is it in the scene that creates nail-biting suspense? It is excellent cinematography where the chase sequence is beautifully filmed. But what adds emotion and life to the chase sequence is the galloping sound of the horses. This galloping sound is dubbed by special artists called Foley artists. And how did they do it? By recording the galloping hooves of horses? No!

They used sliced hard coconut shells to recreate the sound of galloping horses by beating the shells on the ground. A Foley artist is the person who creates this sound art. Foley artists use creativity to make viewers believe that the sound effects are actually real.

It was Jack Donovan Foley (April 12, 1891 – November 9, 1967, an American sound effects artist who is credited with developing many sound effects techniques used in filmmaking.

Using an arsenal of props, foley artists devise and record the everyday sounds heard in films, television shows, and video games—noises like footsteps, a sword being drawn from a sheath, or the swishing of clothing as two people walk past each other.

Next time when you watch a horror movie and notice a corpse coming out of a coffin producing a creaky noise or the thunder of rain clouds or the screeching of a car tyre or

the patter of raindrops falling on the window panes, remember that it is the work of foley artists who are the backroom boys of the film world who are giving you this experience.