In the small village of Ramgarh, the retired policeman Thakur Baldev Singh (Sanjeev Kumar) summons a pair of small-time thieves that he had once arrested. Thakur feels that the duo-Veeru (Dharmendra) and Jai (Amitabh Bachchan)-would be ideal to help him capture Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan), a dacoit wanted by the authorities for a ₹50,000[b] reward. Thakur tells them to surrender Gabbar to him, alive, for an additional ₹20,000 reward.