Written by Salim-Javed: The Story of Hindi Cinema’s Greatest Screenwriters

by Diptakirti Chaudhuri

  Salim–Javed came to Bombay with certain ambitions but ended up becoming writers, something they had not envisaged. Not only did they reach the pinnacle of success, their dynasties have now become as influential as they were in their prime and are looking good for a lot more.

  As Mayank Shekhar wrote, ‘Javed had entered movies to become a director. His son fulfilled that ambition. Having done 25 films as an actor, Salim couldn’t quite make it as a successful leading man. His son Salman Khan became a superstar. The circle was complete.’

  The circle is complete but the journey is not.

  Epilogue: Will They Meet Again?

  ‘Dad has never spoken about what the issues were. Salman, Arbaaz and Sohail tell me that neither has Salim uncle. They used to be such close friends. It would be great if they could be friends again’—Farhan Akhtar

  When the new Zanjeer was announced, the first person to call Javed Akhtar was Salim Khan. During the initial negotiations (which seemed to head towards an amicable settlement) and the court hearings (when the negotiations broke down), the duo was back as a team. They used their considerable clout with film-makers, stars and industry bodies to swing public opinion in their favour. Major stars—reacting to the controversy—advocated the payment of dues to the writers, despite being friends with the makers of the new films. The rights of a creative person were back in the news. Their combined efforts and star power led to a far greater buzz around this story than what is usually seen around other writers’ cases for credit or compensation. The court case was a blessing in disguise because they had to spend considerable time together—four to five hours at a stretch at times—in courtrooms, attending the hearings.

  During the mid-to-late 1980s, gossip columns were abuzz with news of their rivalry and how they revelled in each other’s failures. While gossip columns are meant to be taken with a pinch of salt, their rivalry definitely existed. In subsequent years—when both had given up writing scripts—they studiously avoided each other at public functions.

  When they split in the early 1980s, they both told their families that it was a business decision and all personal relations should continue. While the relations were not entirely normal, the children too remained cordial with each other and deferential towards the two writers. In fact, Farhan Akhtar personally met Salim Khan to take his permission to remake Don before he purchased the rights. Salim Khan, on his part, was gracious enough to endorse the film heartily.

  While the thawing of the relationship was not rapid, it has definitely eased out in the recent past and the two have become more open to appearing together.

  In 2013, they first talked about their differences being resolved. This was probably a direct result of the conversations they had during the court battle and a realization that the two of them were very similar after all.

  Salim Khan said, ‘We worked together for fifteen years and despite our different personalities, complemented each other professionally. I don’t rule out the prospect of us coming together again. We are more mature now and can look beyond petty issues. There is no block between Javed and me today. We have a few ideas, but they are still half-baked. If we can pen a script together, I don’t think there will be any dearth of producers.’ Echoing his view, Javed Akhtar added, ‘We have resolved our differences. There is no animosity between us now and we are open to working together.’

  In January 2014, they appeared on a television show together and talked about their joint career with humour and intelligence. In the interview (to Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN), Salim Khan emotionally said that as the elder member of the team, he was responsible for the split. ‘I should have shown the maturity of reaching out and solving our differences,’ he said. Javed Akhtar affectionately held his hand while he spoke and reminded him that both team members are always equally responsible.

  For fans, it was an emotional moment.

  Old warhorses coming together for (often impossible) projects has always been a big favourite theme of Hollywood movies. Maybe we will see it once in real life also . . .

  1 Their first ‘low-profile’ film was their ninth—Aakhri Daao—which released a week before Sholay, and their first flop was their eleventh film, Immaan Dharam.

  2 Gulzar wrote an excellent short story—Sahir Aur Jaadu—which is a fictionalized account of Javed’s relationship with Sahir Ludhianvi.

  3 He was actually the co-writer of dialogues, along with Deven Verma.

  4 Baboobhai Bhanji directed only one film in his career—Tarzan Aur Jadui Chirag. This is a perfect example of an original story that had come before!

  5 His last words were ‘Yeh haathi tere saathi . . .’ ii

  6 The film was originally called Pyar Ki Duniya, before Laxmikant–Pyarelal’s hit song prompted them to change the title.

  7 In one scene from Seeta Aur Geeta, Raaka gets angry with Geeta and says, ‘Jis din yeh teen kilo ka haath padh gaya na toh fillum ke poster ki tarah deewaar pe chipka doonga.’ viii Nearly thirty years later, his son—acting in Damini—would make this line famous but in deference to his father, he would assert a lower weight for his arm: ‘Dhaai kilo ka haath’! This is actually a strange coincidence, since the dialogue writer for Damini—Dilip Shukla—had no recollection of the original line from Seeta Aur Geeta.

  8 See the chapter on the Angry Young Man in Part IV of this book.

  9 The scene of the parents’ murders—where only the killer’s bracelet is seen by a hiding Vijay—is somewhat inspired by the Western, Death Rides a Horse. In that film, there are several killers and the child hero notices one identifying mark on each e.g. a locket, a scar on the forehead, a tattoo etc.

  10 In their previous film, Seeta Aur Geeta.

  11 Amitabh was desperate to get the role in Sholay and he had also requested Dharmendra to put in a word with the Sippys. When Dharmendra did so and Amitabh got the role, he was very grateful. He repeatedly mentioned this in many interviews and speeches, thus upsetting Salim. Salim maintained Dharmendra’s efforts were more out of courtesy and certainly not based on any conviction about Amitabh’s talent. Later, Amitabh apologized to Salim and acknowledged his and Javed’s efforts warmly.

  12 The painter’s name in the film is Gulzar. He is seen wearing short kurtas and dark-framed spectacles, much like the real-life Gulzar.

  13 Incidentally, the hospital scenes of Don (where the crime syndicate smuggles Vijay away, thinking him to be Don) were filmed on the sets that were created for Majboor.

  14 During this discussion, Salim–Javed suggested changing the title to ‘Geeli Deewaar’. ‘The dryness will go,’ they observed wryly in the face of conventional wisdom on what works in Hindi films.

  15 Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai (a film sued by Haji Mastan’s family) had a line which directly alludes to the filmic quality of Mastan’s life. Kangana Ranaut tells Ajay Devgn (ostensibly playing Mastan), ‘Tumhare upar ek film banni chahiye. Banne se pehle hi superhit hai . . . Acting kisi aur se karwa lenge. Woh naya ladka hai na—Amit? Naya superstar? Bahut suit karega. Uski aankhen bhi tumhari tarah hai. Bahut bolti hain . . .’ (‘A film on your life will be a superhit from the word go . . . We will get someone intense to play you. You know the new star—Amit? He’ll suit the role. His eyes are like yours, they speak a lot . . .’) While moving court for OUATIM, Haji Mastan’s daughter said, ‘My father had seen Deewaar and did not exactly find Amitabh Bachchan’s character modelled on him!’

  16 Bindiya Aur Bandook had the trademark Joginder line—‘Ranga khush’—which went on to become the title of another cult film that released in 1975.

  17 Salim–Javed’s role in Jai’s casting has been described in the chapter on Zanjeer.

  18 Incidentally, the very next page of Screen carried an advertisement for a film where the lead credit was given to another successful writer: ‘Shatranj Ke Khiladi from the short story by Munshi Premchand’.

  19 ‘Khaike paan Banaraswala’ was actually composed by Kalyanji–Anandji for the Dev Anand-starrer Banarasi Babu. When the prod
ucers did not use the song in that film, it was used in Don.

  20 The remake rights of Don were purchased from Nariman Films and permissions were taken from Salim–Javed by Farhan Akhtar’s Excel Entertainment. However, when Don 2 was made, Nariman Films filed a suit for copyright infringement citing that they had only given the right to remake the movie and not the rights to make a sequel.

  21 The climax of the film, where water floods the mines, was shot with the help of foreign technicians who created Hollywood-style special effects. The ‘mine’ sets were created by Sudhendu Roy in Film City. In fact, Kaala Patthar was the first-ever film to be shot there, even before the studio had been inaugurated.

  22 M*A*S*H was an extremely popular American TV series (that ran from 1972–83) about a group of army doctors, nurses and soldiers stuck in the middle of the Korean war, who created morbid dark humour to escape the tragedy of their daily lives.

  23 Interestingly, Helen had worked in both Adhikar and Yakeen, films written by Salim and Javed respectively, before they teamed up.

  24 Javed was approached for writing the dialogues of Masoom but he turned them down because his price did not fit into the film’s small budget.

  25 The name Mogambo was also the villain’s name in a film called Maha Badmaash (1977), where a mysterious criminal kingpin remained hidden in the shadows and instructed his minions in a booming voice.

  26 The reference was to Rahul Rawail’s Dacait, written by Javed, which had released around that time and had not done well.

  27 Aa Gale Lag Jaa is remembered for being the adult debut vehicle of Masoom’s child stars, Jugal Hansraj and Urmila Matondkar.

  28 Shiv-Hari were two reputed classical musicians—santoor player Shiv Kumar Sharma and flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia—who composed music for Hindi films (almost exclusively for Yash Chopra) as a team.

  29 Javed Akhtar had three major hits in 1985—Saagar, Meri Jung and Arjun, in that order.

  30 This is actually a Portuguese phrase (Mama yo quiero quiero quiero mama) which means ‘I want my mother’—taken from a popular song.

  31 The 1970s decade had three extremely hard-fought elections (1971, 1977 and 1980), which saw major upheavals in political fortunes. With higher stakes and the need to turn tables on bitter rivals, politicians started using criminals for more and more ‘ground work’.

  32 In a superbly choreographed scene in the rains, the friend Mohan (played by Satyajeet) is chased and killed by the goons in a maze of black umbrellas.

  33 His most quoted line and the best-known character were both from Kaalicharan where he drawled, ‘Saara sheher mujhe Loin ke naam se jaanta hai.’ li

  34 Javed Akhtar is referring to the line where Gabbar tells Basanti, ‘Dekho chhamiya, zyada nakhra mat karo humse nahin toh yeh gori chamdi hai na—saare badan se khurach khurach ke utaar doonga.’ lvi

  35 Incidentally, the Glucose D campaign was executed by Britannia’s then group product manager, Sunil Alagh, who went on to become the biscuit company’s managing director.

  36 Incidentally, the climax of Sholay was supposed to have been even more violent, with Gabbar being impaled to death. The Emergency-era censor board refused to allow the depiction of a former police officer taking the law into his own hands. Hence, the death and Thakur’s guttural screams were replaced by a tamer version where the police force walked in and arrested Gabbar. The original version is available quite freely on YouTube and is a gut-wrenching watch. Sanjeev Kumar’s measured performance throughout the film has a tragic conclusion when he breaks down and cries at his ‘victory’.

  37 In Shakti, as well as the lesser-known Aakhri Daao (starring Jeetendra), the hero displays exemplary confidence during a job interview by replying to the same question—‘Aap iss kaam ko nahin jaante’—with the same words, ‘Aur aap hume nahin jaante! ’lxiii

  38 Hindi cinema specialized in ‘virginal prostitutes’ as several mainstream films have depicted sex workers whose primary draw was their music, without even a hint of sex. Devdas’s Chandramukhi (Vyjayanthimala), Pyaasa’s Gulabo (Waheeda Rehman) and Amar Prem’s Pushpa (Sharmila Tagore) are three such iconic characters among many others. This was an accepted template.

  39 One of their most repeated lines is from Don—‘Don ka intezar to gyarah mulkon ki police kar rahi hai lekin Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahin, namumkin hai.’ The impact of this line is such that it feels like it was Don’s signature line and repeated several times in the film. Actually, it was just said once.

  40 Present-day residents of Mumbai will have to stretch their imagination considerably to visualize Versova as a deserted spot, conducive for receiving smuggled gold!

  41 Only one film—Hello—based on his book has failed. The film based on his latest book (Half Girlfriend) was announced by the A-list team of Mohit Suri and Ekta Kapoor even before the book had hit the stands.

  42 Those familiar with the one-upmanship prevalent in the Hindi film industry would understand the significance of the additional one rupee in Rajesh Khanna’s donation.

  43 The film was supposed to be made with Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor and Parveen Babi.

  44 Their standard answer to this question has been, ‘He used to write the nouns and I, the verbs.’

  45 In a supreme bit of irony, it is really difficult to ascertain the person who said this. The Internet attributes it to Benjamin Franklin, journalist Franklin P. Jones and even Albert Einstein. QuoteInvestigator.com believes this aphorism began with a statement by one C.E.M. Joad in 1926 and kept on evolving.

  46 Another film to which the double-sided coin is attributed is One-Eyed Jacks, starring Marlon Brando, but even that does not have a coin. The film has a situation where one guy (Brando) rigs a draw of lots to let his partner/mentor escape.

  47 Of the top ten box-office hits of 2014, six were remakes (official or unofficial) of previously made films. Apart from the four films mentioned above, Bang Bang (official: Knight and Day) and Ek Villain (unofficial: I Saw the Villain) were also ‘inspired’.

  48 One of the objectives of this meeting was to seek land for building cooperative housing for writers and a loan from the Film Finance Corporation to make a film, proceeds of which the writers would use for the construction of the building. However, Salim–Javed weren’t present for the meeting.

  49 Veer, despite being a flop, grossed nearly Rs 60 crore worldwide and was among the top-ten grossers of 2010 but the production costs were reportedly much higher.

  50 Farhan Akhtar became a heart-throb after his performance in Rock On! and gained a lot of critical acclaim after Karthik Calling Karthik and even more so after Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. Strangely, his first acting role (which convinced Zoya to cast him in Luck by Chance) was in a film that never released in India—The Fakir of Venice. In the limited release the film had in USA, the Hollywood Reporter praised his performance by saying, ‘Akhtar, making his film debut here as an actor, is talented and handsome enough—and with looks that could translate into any number of ethnicities—to have a huge career ahead of him.’

  51 Honey Irani has won two Filmfare Awards for best story (Lamhe and Kya Kehna) while Salim–Javed have won only one (Deewaar). She has also won a best screenplay prize for Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai.

  Acknowledgements

  Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar have been much more than the subject of a book that I worked on for the better part of two years. Ever since I started watching films, they have given me endless smiles, guffaws, sighs, tears, exhilarations, heartbreaks, dreams and memories.

  This book is an insignificant way of thanking them for all that.

  For this book, I interviewed several writers and directors of Hindi cinema, who were extremely generous with their time and thoughts. In alphabetical order, they are Dileep Shukla, Kamlesh Pandey, Khalid Mohammad, Loveleen Tandan, Mansoor Khan, Rajat Aroraa, Ramesh Talwar, Sriram Raghavan and Vinay Shukla.

  I also spoke to some excellent writers and passionate films fans, whose thoughts gave heft to some of my theories: Anita
Padhye, Carla Miriam Levy, Jai Arjun Singh, Kaushik Bhaumik, K.Y. Thomas, Rachel Dwyer and Sukanya Verma.

  The archive departments of the Hindustan Times and Indian Express were extremely helpful in locating scans of old issues of newspapers and magazines.

  The Library at the National Film Archives of India is like a temple for movie buffs. I spent many happy hours researching less and browsing more through their treasures.

  Dhirendra Ukarde translated long Marathi passages into English, often adding his own valuable opinions as a film fan.

  Manisha Lakhe helped a lot with her contacts in the film industry.

  At Penguin, Ambar Sahil Chatterjee shepherded the book from the rambling-incoherence stage to its final form.