Sholay inspired many films and pastiches , and spawned a subgenre of films , the " Curry Western " , which is a play on the term Spaghetti Western . It was an early and most definitive masala film , and a trend @-@ setter for " multi @-@ star " films . The film was a watershed for Bollywood 's scriptwriters , who was not paid well before Sholay ; after the film 's success , script writing became a more respected profession .