Top-rated
Tue, Aug 20, 2024
Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar were screenwriters in Bollywood.
Salman is Salim's son, and Farhan is Javed's son, Zoya is Javed's daughter. Dharmendra believes that Salim and Javed revolutionized screenplays and dialogues in Bollywood. Salim and Javed were both outsiders to the industry which they gate crashed. They did 24 films together, out of which 22 were blockbusters. This included Seeta Aur Geeta, Zanjeer (1973), Deewaar (1975), Sholay (1975), Chacha Bhatija (1977), Trishul (1978), Don (1978), Kaala Patthar (1979), Dostana (1980), Kranti (1981), Shakti (1982). The only common factor across all these movies was Salim-Javed.
Their dialogues became iconic one-liners for generations of movie lovers. People could connect with their characters, and they were very bold in their approach. They had the ability to draw audiences to theaters. AR Rahman quoted their dialogue at the Oscars "Mere Paas Maa Hai".
Jaya felt that Salim-Javed knew they were good and loved to praise themselves. They were the brats. They put their names on the movie posters, when it was unheard of to put writer's names on any of the marketing materials. They refused movies like stars and charged Rs 2.5 Lakhs for a movie, when the going rate was Rs 5,000. For Dostana, they charged more than Amitabh Bachchan. Whatever was paid to Amitabh, they would charge Rs 1 Lakh more. That was the power of Salim-Javed.
Salim came to Bombay from Indore, where he used to write love letters. He was noticed by a producer K. Amarnath, at a wedding in Indore and who asked him to come to Bombay for a screen test for an acting part in a movie. He got a role of Ajit's younger brother in the movie Baarat. He lived in the Marina Guest House, twin occupancy and rent of Rs 55 per month, and a common toilet. Naeem Khan is Salim's brother. Salim never asked for money from home.
Javed came from Bhopal. He always wanted to come to Bombay after graduation to become a director. He worked as an apprentice at Kamaal studios and earned Rs 50 per month. He saw the screen test of Sanjeev Kumar. He lived with some friends and then slept and lived at public places at railway stations, parks and studio compounds. He went through a lot of sleep and food deprivation and that left a lasting mark on his psyche. Even today, when he gets his breakfast at a 5-star hotel, he cannot believe that this luxury is for him.
Salim was launched in a movie as a hero with Farah's mother as the heroine. The movie was produced by Farah's maternal grandmother. The movie ran all of one show. Helen believed Salim was a good actor but was not overly expressive and hence was considered to be a bad actor. Salim met Salma as they were neighbors. Salma was 17 when Salim was 24. They got married in 1964. Salman was born in 1965. Salim accepted all sorts of job to pay the bills at home. He got into advertisements. Salim struggled in the industry for 15 years. Salim had the talent to conceive characters, but he did not possess the talent to bring them to life. Salim decided to stop pursuing acting as a career.
Salim and Javed never blamed anyone. They accepted the struggle as a part of their journey and did it properly. Salim and Javed met on the sets of a small film called Sarhadi Lutera. Salim was playing the role of a romantic lead. Javed was performing a stunt, when the dialogues came in for the next scene and the director was not happy for it. Javed offered to rewrite the dialogues and people started recommending Javed to become a writer full-time. Javed moved to Bandra and coincidentally was living close to Salim, and they became friends. SM Sagar, the producer of Sarhadi Lutera came to meet Salim-Javed and offered them Rs 5000 to write a script for his next movie Adhikaar.
Sudhir Wahi was an assistant on the sets of Adhikaar and asks Salim-Javed to meet Sippy Films in Khar, who were looking for new writers. Salim-Javed were hired on probation for 3 months at Rs 750 per month. They worked at Sippy films for the same money for 8 years. They wrote movies like Andaz, Haathi Mere Saathi, Yaadon Ki Baarat. Salim-Javed became partners.
Javed met Honey Irani on the sets of Seeta Aur Geeta, and they got married. Salim-Javed came at a time when there was a lot of discontent in society, and they reflected that in their writing. 50's and 60's had almost 500 romantic movies released, and Salim-Javed created the 70's by developing an angry, Angsty, anti-establishment lead. The Angry Young Man was created. Amitabh Bachchan came into the limelight after Zanjeer. The characters were so true to their role, that Amitabh had no songs in Zanjeer. Every lead actor had refused Zanjeer due to this reason, even though Prakash Mehra was producing it. Yet, Prakash stuck to the script. Amitabh's movies were failing at this point, and he was at his lowest ebb. No heroine wanted to work with him. Salim-Javed saw Amitabh in Mehmood's film Bombay to Goa at Chandan theatre. Salim-Javed recommended Amitabh to Prakash. Jaya never wanted to do Zanjeer, which was a Male-Centric film. Jaya did the movie as her co-star would be Amitabh and Salim-Javed asked her for a favor to not refuse the film.
Writers were never credited on movie posters. So, Salim-Javed hired a painter and printed their names on all Zanjeer movie posters all over the city. The emotions and anger of Salim-Javed got reflected in the character of Vijay, immortalized by Amitabh in numerous movies they did together.
Salman is Salim's son, and Farhan is Javed's son, Zoya is Javed's daughter. Dharmendra believes that Salim and Javed revolutionized screenplays and dialogues in Bollywood. Salim and Javed were both outsiders to the industry which they gate crashed. They did 24 films together, out of which 22 were blockbusters. This included Seeta Aur Geeta, Zanjeer (1973), Deewaar (1975), Sholay (1975), Chacha Bhatija (1977), Trishul (1978), Don (1978), Kaala Patthar (1979), Dostana (1980), Kranti (1981), Shakti (1982). The only common factor across all these movies was Salim-Javed.
Their dialogues became iconic one-liners for generations of movie lovers. People could connect with their characters, and they were very bold in their approach. They had the ability to draw audiences to theaters. AR Rahman quoted their dialogue at the Oscars "Mere Paas Maa Hai".
Jaya felt that Salim-Javed knew they were good and loved to praise themselves. They were the brats. They put their names on the movie posters, when it was unheard of to put writer's names on any of the marketing materials. They refused movies like stars and charged Rs 2.5 Lakhs for a movie, when the going rate was Rs 5,000. For Dostana, they charged more than Amitabh Bachchan. Whatever was paid to Amitabh, they would charge Rs 1 Lakh more. That was the power of Salim-Javed.
Salim came to Bombay from Indore, where he used to write love letters. He was noticed by a producer K. Amarnath, at a wedding in Indore and who asked him to come to Bombay for a screen test for an acting part in a movie. He got a role of Ajit's younger brother in the movie Baarat. He lived in the Marina Guest House, twin occupancy and rent of Rs 55 per month, and a common toilet. Naeem Khan is Salim's brother. Salim never asked for money from home.
Javed came from Bhopal. He always wanted to come to Bombay after graduation to become a director. He worked as an apprentice at Kamaal studios and earned Rs 50 per month. He saw the screen test of Sanjeev Kumar. He lived with some friends and then slept and lived at public places at railway stations, parks and studio compounds. He went through a lot of sleep and food deprivation and that left a lasting mark on his psyche. Even today, when he gets his breakfast at a 5-star hotel, he cannot believe that this luxury is for him.
Salim was launched in a movie as a hero with Farah's mother as the heroine. The movie was produced by Farah's maternal grandmother. The movie ran all of one show. Helen believed Salim was a good actor but was not overly expressive and hence was considered to be a bad actor. Salim met Salma as they were neighbors. Salma was 17 when Salim was 24. They got married in 1964. Salman was born in 1965. Salim accepted all sorts of job to pay the bills at home. He got into advertisements. Salim struggled in the industry for 15 years. Salim had the talent to conceive characters, but he did not possess the talent to bring them to life. Salim decided to stop pursuing acting as a career.
Salim and Javed never blamed anyone. They accepted the struggle as a part of their journey and did it properly. Salim and Javed met on the sets of a small film called Sarhadi Lutera. Salim was playing the role of a romantic lead. Javed was performing a stunt, when the dialogues came in for the next scene and the director was not happy for it. Javed offered to rewrite the dialogues and people started recommending Javed to become a writer full-time. Javed moved to Bandra and coincidentally was living close to Salim, and they became friends. SM Sagar, the producer of Sarhadi Lutera came to meet Salim-Javed and offered them Rs 5000 to write a script for his next movie Adhikaar.
Sudhir Wahi was an assistant on the sets of Adhikaar and asks Salim-Javed to meet Sippy Films in Khar, who were looking for new writers. Salim-Javed were hired on probation for 3 months at Rs 750 per month. They worked at Sippy films for the same money for 8 years. They wrote movies like Andaz, Haathi Mere Saathi, Yaadon Ki Baarat. Salim-Javed became partners.
Javed met Honey Irani on the sets of Seeta Aur Geeta, and they got married. Salim-Javed came at a time when there was a lot of discontent in society, and they reflected that in their writing. 50's and 60's had almost 500 romantic movies released, and Salim-Javed created the 70's by developing an angry, Angsty, anti-establishment lead. The Angry Young Man was created. Amitabh Bachchan came into the limelight after Zanjeer. The characters were so true to their role, that Amitabh had no songs in Zanjeer. Every lead actor had refused Zanjeer due to this reason, even though Prakash Mehra was producing it. Yet, Prakash stuck to the script. Amitabh's movies were failing at this point, and he was at his lowest ebb. No heroine wanted to work with him. Salim-Javed saw Amitabh in Mehmood's film Bombay to Goa at Chandan theatre. Salim-Javed recommended Amitabh to Prakash. Jaya never wanted to do Zanjeer, which was a Male-Centric film. Jaya did the movie as her co-star would be Amitabh and Salim-Javed asked her for a favor to not refuse the film.
Writers were never credited on movie posters. So, Salim-Javed hired a painter and printed their names on all Zanjeer movie posters all over the city. The emotions and anger of Salim-Javed got reflected in the character of Vijay, immortalized by Amitabh in numerous movies they did together.
Top-rated
Tue, Aug 20, 2024
Javed believes that screenplay is the art of telling a story by emphasizing the right moments.
In 1975, Sholay and Deewaar competed for awards. Both stories and screenplays belonged to Salim-Javed. Deewaar won best story, best dialogues, best screenplay. They felt that Sholay was short changed and realized that they should not do multiple films in a year. Yash Chopra considers Deewaar to be the duo's best script. For many years the Deewaar screenplay was taught at FTII as the perfect screenplay as the entire story was connected with no loose ends. Salim-Javed wrote the script in 18 days and then Javed wrote the dialogues.
Salim believed that the story of Deewaar was very simple and almost 25-30 movies were made on the same basic story-line as Ganga-Jamuna, Mother India and so on. But story is not enough, it has to be narrated properly on screen. Salim says that he could visualize the movie as he wrote it. Salim-Javed would plant scenes throughout the movie, that would come back later in the character, providing completeness and continuity to the story. Like the stuff around "Mein Pheke Hue Paise Nahi Uthata". Vijay said things in a way that everyone felt.
People identified with the character as getting a gas connection took 6 years and there were very long lines to apply for a ration card. They tapped into the prevalent mood of the nation, who had spent enough time after independence and was no longer willing to take things lying down.
Salim-Javed also tapped multiple times into the bond between a mother and a son. The mothers were strong characters who always stood up for what was right. Javed lost his mother when he was very young. In their films, the main hero always had a father issue, and the mother was the emotional tug. Salim's mother had TB and he could not go near her from the age of 5 to 9. He was the youngest of 7 brothers and sisters. His father only got close to Salim after his mother died.
Javed also lost his mother when she was 36 years old. Meeting his father was a rare event for him. Even at the age of 70+ Javed misses his mom. She had injected some sort of hero worship in him for his father.
Their need for attention and the neglect that they received, shaped Salim-Javed's choices as professionals. They wanted to be stars of their movie and not just someone who worked on it.
Sholay was a movie that had all emotions packed into one film. GP Sippy wanted to make a big film and he brought a wild west story to India for the first time. The scale of the movie was unprecedented. A township sprung near the shooting location creating all kinds of equipment needed to complete the shooting and the various scenes. The movie sank upon its release. Everybody lost money on the opening weekend and by Monday AM show, there were 4 people in the audience. Sippy had invested Rs 3 Crores into the movie, 3 times the original budget. The reviews declared the movie to be a flop, led by Indian Express who said that the movie would never take off.
Salim-Javed took out ads in the papers declaring that the movie will do business of Rs 1 Crores per territory. Sippy called for an emergency meeting and wanted to change the ending, where Amitabh would not die. Salim-Javed stick to their story. The sales team started saying that people are reciting the dialogues in the streets. The producers release an LP of the movie, and this provides a lift to the ticket sales. The movie started going house full by the following Monday. Black marketers made houses and bought cars with their earnings from the movie.
At one theatre, the movie ran for 3 years non-stop. The original story had Jai and Veeru as discharged army-men, but Sippy asked for army not to be involved as that leads to controversies. The movie had a host of other interesting characters that brought life to the movie, like Asrani, Soorma Bhopali and so on. Javed loved to write dialogues for the negative roles, the villains. The coin idea was borrowed from a Western called Garden of Evil. Salim-Javed took many such little bits from all over the world and re-fashioned them for their story.
The dialogues of Sholay are still recited 50 years later. They were not just dialogues but a philosophy. Salim-Javed were outsiders who changed the status of writers in the film industry. Salim and Javed had many commonalities but were also very different people. They complemented each other.
One day, the hottest writing pair decided not to work with each other anymore. It shook the industry.
In 1975, Sholay and Deewaar competed for awards. Both stories and screenplays belonged to Salim-Javed. Deewaar won best story, best dialogues, best screenplay. They felt that Sholay was short changed and realized that they should not do multiple films in a year. Yash Chopra considers Deewaar to be the duo's best script. For many years the Deewaar screenplay was taught at FTII as the perfect screenplay as the entire story was connected with no loose ends. Salim-Javed wrote the script in 18 days and then Javed wrote the dialogues.
Salim believed that the story of Deewaar was very simple and almost 25-30 movies were made on the same basic story-line as Ganga-Jamuna, Mother India and so on. But story is not enough, it has to be narrated properly on screen. Salim says that he could visualize the movie as he wrote it. Salim-Javed would plant scenes throughout the movie, that would come back later in the character, providing completeness and continuity to the story. Like the stuff around "Mein Pheke Hue Paise Nahi Uthata". Vijay said things in a way that everyone felt.
People identified with the character as getting a gas connection took 6 years and there were very long lines to apply for a ration card. They tapped into the prevalent mood of the nation, who had spent enough time after independence and was no longer willing to take things lying down.
Salim-Javed also tapped multiple times into the bond between a mother and a son. The mothers were strong characters who always stood up for what was right. Javed lost his mother when he was very young. In their films, the main hero always had a father issue, and the mother was the emotional tug. Salim's mother had TB and he could not go near her from the age of 5 to 9. He was the youngest of 7 brothers and sisters. His father only got close to Salim after his mother died.
Javed also lost his mother when she was 36 years old. Meeting his father was a rare event for him. Even at the age of 70+ Javed misses his mom. She had injected some sort of hero worship in him for his father.
Their need for attention and the neglect that they received, shaped Salim-Javed's choices as professionals. They wanted to be stars of their movie and not just someone who worked on it.
Sholay was a movie that had all emotions packed into one film. GP Sippy wanted to make a big film and he brought a wild west story to India for the first time. The scale of the movie was unprecedented. A township sprung near the shooting location creating all kinds of equipment needed to complete the shooting and the various scenes. The movie sank upon its release. Everybody lost money on the opening weekend and by Monday AM show, there were 4 people in the audience. Sippy had invested Rs 3 Crores into the movie, 3 times the original budget. The reviews declared the movie to be a flop, led by Indian Express who said that the movie would never take off.
Salim-Javed took out ads in the papers declaring that the movie will do business of Rs 1 Crores per territory. Sippy called for an emergency meeting and wanted to change the ending, where Amitabh would not die. Salim-Javed stick to their story. The sales team started saying that people are reciting the dialogues in the streets. The producers release an LP of the movie, and this provides a lift to the ticket sales. The movie started going house full by the following Monday. Black marketers made houses and bought cars with their earnings from the movie.
At one theatre, the movie ran for 3 years non-stop. The original story had Jai and Veeru as discharged army-men, but Sippy asked for army not to be involved as that leads to controversies. The movie had a host of other interesting characters that brought life to the movie, like Asrani, Soorma Bhopali and so on. Javed loved to write dialogues for the negative roles, the villains. The coin idea was borrowed from a Western called Garden of Evil. Salim-Javed took many such little bits from all over the world and re-fashioned them for their story.
The dialogues of Sholay are still recited 50 years later. They were not just dialogues but a philosophy. Salim-Javed were outsiders who changed the status of writers in the film industry. Salim and Javed had many commonalities but were also very different people. They complemented each other.
One day, the hottest writing pair decided not to work with each other anymore. It shook the industry.
Top-rated
Tue, Aug 20, 2024
Salim was a strict father. He never yelled or beat his kids, but his stare was enough to make them obey his commands.
Salim and Javed's families were good friends with each other. Honey was very comfortable with Salim and so was Salma with Javed. Farhan was very close friends with Sohail and Alvira. Salman taught Zoya and Farhan how to ride a bicycle.
The industry worked in a particular way and Salim-Javed were not willing to work with the tact and diplomacy needed to handle the big egos. They were delivering hits after hits, and the success got to them. This also affected their judgment of scripts and they felt that could do no wrong. Imaan Dharam (1977) was a flop. Salim admitted that the script made several mistakes. Javed says that a good dough has some salt in it, but in this case, the whole movie was made of salt. The movie was one of the biggest flops of the decade.
The other writers celebrated the flop. But then 10 more films were hit in a row, including Don (1978). Don was the first caper movie of its kind in Hindi. Farhan later did a remake of Don with Shah Rukh Khan. Salim-Javed also wrote very strong and Impactful women characters in their films. They didn't have too much screen time, but presented them as strong role models, professionals, who got things done.
But eventually, the Angry Young Man persona became repetitive and formulaic. Shaan was a hit, but the quality was not the same as Sholay. The overconfident persona started to come undone. The world called them arrogant, and they fell from grace with a hard landing.
Suddenly, one day, the duo announced the break-up of their partnership. Even today, Salim and Javed will not talk about why they broke up. Salim only told Salma that Javed wanted to break off the partnership. Gradually they had been drifting apart with their own social and friends circles. Javed felt that their career was drying up and their work was no longer fresh.
They separated, but in a very civilized way. There was no back talk, or mud slinging or anything like that. Thousands of people got livelihood because of their films. The families remained cordial to each other, but the old magic and closeness was lost forever. After the split, Salim spent a lot more time at home and bonded with his sons.
Javed's marriage also broke up around the same time and he still feels guilty towards Honey Irani. He says that 70% of the responsibility for the failure of the marriage lies with him. Zoya and Farhan lived with Honey after the split, and it was Shabana who brought them back together with Javed. Shabana credits Honey for not turning the kids against her.
Helen met Salim for the first time on the sets of Kabli Khan, where Salim was the villain, and she was the heroine. They started talking on the sets of Don. When they decided to be together, Salim spoke to his kids and explained the situation to them. Now Helen is part of the family, and good friends with Salma.
Salim and Javed inspired a whole generation of writers with their screenplay. Javed advises persistence, while Salim says that writers should read a lot. No writer ever reached their status, and in quest for power, many good writers were lost when they became mediocre directors.
Salim-Javed come together one last time for a photo shoot.
Salim and Javed's families were good friends with each other. Honey was very comfortable with Salim and so was Salma with Javed. Farhan was very close friends with Sohail and Alvira. Salman taught Zoya and Farhan how to ride a bicycle.
The industry worked in a particular way and Salim-Javed were not willing to work with the tact and diplomacy needed to handle the big egos. They were delivering hits after hits, and the success got to them. This also affected their judgment of scripts and they felt that could do no wrong. Imaan Dharam (1977) was a flop. Salim admitted that the script made several mistakes. Javed says that a good dough has some salt in it, but in this case, the whole movie was made of salt. The movie was one of the biggest flops of the decade.
The other writers celebrated the flop. But then 10 more films were hit in a row, including Don (1978). Don was the first caper movie of its kind in Hindi. Farhan later did a remake of Don with Shah Rukh Khan. Salim-Javed also wrote very strong and Impactful women characters in their films. They didn't have too much screen time, but presented them as strong role models, professionals, who got things done.
But eventually, the Angry Young Man persona became repetitive and formulaic. Shaan was a hit, but the quality was not the same as Sholay. The overconfident persona started to come undone. The world called them arrogant, and they fell from grace with a hard landing.
Suddenly, one day, the duo announced the break-up of their partnership. Even today, Salim and Javed will not talk about why they broke up. Salim only told Salma that Javed wanted to break off the partnership. Gradually they had been drifting apart with their own social and friends circles. Javed felt that their career was drying up and their work was no longer fresh.
They separated, but in a very civilized way. There was no back talk, or mud slinging or anything like that. Thousands of people got livelihood because of their films. The families remained cordial to each other, but the old magic and closeness was lost forever. After the split, Salim spent a lot more time at home and bonded with his sons.
Javed's marriage also broke up around the same time and he still feels guilty towards Honey Irani. He says that 70% of the responsibility for the failure of the marriage lies with him. Zoya and Farhan lived with Honey after the split, and it was Shabana who brought them back together with Javed. Shabana credits Honey for not turning the kids against her.
Helen met Salim for the first time on the sets of Kabli Khan, where Salim was the villain, and she was the heroine. They started talking on the sets of Don. When they decided to be together, Salim spoke to his kids and explained the situation to them. Now Helen is part of the family, and good friends with Salma.
Salim and Javed inspired a whole generation of writers with their screenplay. Javed advises persistence, while Salim says that writers should read a lot. No writer ever reached their status, and in quest for power, many good writers were lost when they became mediocre directors.
Salim-Javed come together one last time for a photo shoot.