The movie drew heavily from the conventions of Western films, especially Sergio Leone\'s Spaghetti Westerns and John Sturges\' The Magnificent Seven. Sholay\'s extensive use of slow-motion in shoot-outs was influenced by the westerns of Sam Peckinpah, films such as The Wild Bunch (1969) and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) The film also alludes to Akira Kurosawa\'s Seven Samurai, which shows a village hiring mercenaries to protect itself from bandits, and was the source for the aforementioned Western remake The Magnificent Seven. Also, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) features two appealing outlaws, similar to Jai and Veeru.

It was a concoction of Hindi and English movies blended superbly by Salim Javed. The characters of Jai and Veeru were a direct lift from Haidley Chase\'s novels while Gabbar was inspired from Indian Dacoits of Hindi Films in the past.