Amitabh Bachchan: It took three years to film one scene in iconic film Sholay

It was released in 1975 and was crowned the best film of the 50 years in 2005 ​

Indian Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan (Getty Images )

It took three years to film one scene in Sholay, one of the most iconic Indian films, according to Amitabh Bachchan.

Bachchan, who is considered to be one of the greatest actors of his time, has claimed the director, Ramesh Sippy, was always on the quest for perfection – which often led to scenes taking much longer than anticipated.

The film, which was released in 1975, was crowned the best film of the last 50 years in 2005 and Bachchan has claimed they spent years searching for the perfect shot.

“There was particular kind of lighting that was required for the shot. Our Director of Photography, Mr Divecha, was keen to take the shot at the time of sunset.

“You would not believe that Ramesh spent almost three years before we finally got that shot," Bachchan told the Mumbai Mirror.

"Every time we would go to enact that sequence, something would not be right with the lighting.

“And Ramesh said 'until we get a correct light, we are not going to shoot this'. We waited for three years for one flash of a shot for the film," he added.

Bachchan portrayed the famous character Jai in the classic and the film was described by "trailblazer in terms of camera work as well as music," by the Hindustan Times.