 The director 's original cut of Sholay has a different ending in which Thakur kills Gabbar , along with some additional violent scenes . Gabbar 's death scene , and the scene in which the imam 's son is killed , were cut from the film by India 's Censor Board , as was the scene in which Thakur 's family is massacred . The Censor Board was concerned about the violence , and that viewers may be influenced to violate the law by punishing people severely . Although Sippy fought to keep the scenes , eventually he had to re @-@ shoot the ending of the film , and as directed by the Censor Board , have the police arrive just before Thakur can kill Gabbar . The censored theatrical version was the only one seen by audiences for fifteen years . The original , <unk> cut of the film finally came out in a British release on VHS in 1990 . Since then , <unk> International has released two versions on DVD . The director 's cut of the film preserves the original full frame and is 204 minutes in length ; the censored widescreen version is 198 minutes long . 
