Sultans of Screenwriting : Salim - Javed


Salim Khan. Javed Akhtar. They came. They saw. They conquered. They created dream stories for the big screen. Stories that everyone identified with. Stories everyone fell in love with. Stories everyone wanted to bring to reality.

Be it the man sitting in a plush office with a CEO stamped on his business card or the cart pusher on the street below. Be it the curly haired Catholic teacher in school or the always irritated guy issuing tickets behind the railway window. Or it was the tensed Mom or the happy go lucky buddy sipping tea at street corner tea stall. The gregarious Punjabi or the shy Tamilian. The inquisitive Bengali or the enjoying nariyal paani on Juhu Beach - Marathi.

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They were all under the hypnotic spell. For over ten years. The hypnotic spell of writer duo - Salim Javed. The bar of success set by them has not been touched since they parted ways. No writer has come close. Not even Salim and Javed’s individual works. The flag set by the duo is placed so high, that it’s doubtful any of the current screen writers can even “see” that flag.

According to Wikipedia

Salim started his friendship with Javed during the making of the film Sarhadi Lootera. Salim was a small-time actor, and Sarhadi Lootera was one of the last films he acted in before he turned his attention to writing. Javed was a clapper boy for the film and was later made the dialogue writer as director S.M. Sagar was unable to find a dialogue writer.

That’s true. Salim, it is said had a knack for building plots while Javed was quite adept at writing screeplays and dialogues. For those unaware of Javed’s family background, Javed Akhtar is the son of one of my favourites… Revered poet and lyricist - Jan Nisar Akhtar.

So what did these two guys - Salim & Javed - create? Well… some of the biggest money makers in Bollywood. Let’s take a look at some of their works that laid the foundation for a very different Bollywood that we are so used to now…

 

Haathi Mere Saathi (1971)

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So what’s your first project?
“A relationship between a man and an elephant”

You must be nuts.

Yes. You have to crazy to stretch your imagination beyond its elastic limits to be a successful writer.

A story of a man and an elephant? This is so stupid. Yes it looks stupid. But India’s first superstar decided to work in the movie.

Rajesh Khanna became the man who shares a close bond with his elephant. HMS infact brought in many of the firsts that Salim Javed were later going to slam Bollywood screens with.

The implausible. These things just don’t happen in real life. What the hell!!! But go sit and watch a Salim-Javed story. They’ll screw your head. Mess with it. Make you cry on scenes that even a morbidly mad guy would go shouting - “It just doesn’t make sense”. But in the movie… it would. It always did.

Using the absolutely fictional, will-never-happen-in-reality plots or subplots and then twisting and turning it, mixing it in the most perfect way imaginable to make it so believable that your hair would stand out - that dear reader - can only be the work of a genius or that of Salim - Javed.

They hit the bull’s eye with their very first project. HMS was declared a massive hit. The guys who would change the face of Bollywood had arrived. The fire that would rage for the next 10 odd years had just been given an entry into a Bollywood that was desperate for change. And change, it did… little did anyone know at that time that the architects of this change would be a failed actor and a flop movie set kid.

 

Seeta Aur Geeta (1972)

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This brought together SJ and the once-upon-a-time genius Ramesh Sippy. Though Javed had worked with Sippy a year earlier in Andaz, this was the first time that Salim, Javed and Sippy were all together working on one common dream. To entertain in the best way they could. There were many more bigger, better, greater projects to follow.

Seeta aur Geeta was a straight out adaptation of Dilip Kumar’s Ram Aur Shyam. (Years later Seeta aur Geeta would be the material used to make Chaalbaaz by Pankuj Parasher).

Seeta aur Geeta follows the SJ patented for the seventies plot line. Twins get seperated at birth. One is raised by an evil aunt. The other grows up in absolute poverty but is carefree and happy. They accidently meet. Change places. And the fight for good over evil comes all out in the open.

You could see it in Seeta aur Geeta - the uncanny ability of SJ to etch out razor sharp character definitions. SJ had no patience to make a character sit in a room and then let camera trace the character and its characteristics.

No Sir. They did not have time to do that. Instead the story would always be zipping forward at break neck speed and during the course of this journey, the manner in which each character played and reacted to the various scenarios thrown in by the plot, would be the way SJ would convey to the viewers the traits and mannerisms of each character.

Note that I mentioned each character. Each. EACH. This “Each” would be the card which SJ would use to make the biggest blockbuster of all time.

Though Hema Mailini was already a success by this time, Seeta aur Geeta shot her to the Numero Uno position. Every day after the shoot, Sippy and SJ would sit down with Malini and read to her the next script they were working on… they wanted her to work be a part of this new project… the one which changed the face of Bollywood. She agreed and became a part of the project which took a few years to complete. The project was “Sholay”.

 

Zanjeer (1973)

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There was a lot of anger and frustration during those times. Too many conflicts all over the country, dirty politics (yeah as if we are so clean now), agitations, underground movements, unemployment… there was anger all around.

SJ gave that anger a face… and

The Angry Young Man was born.

Ladies and Gentlemen… please give a standing ovation to the character and the men who designed it, a character which changed the meaning of “Hero” in Bollywood.

No longer would the hero sit down, suffer and cry. No longer would he bare his heart and soul out to the world. No longer would he be the sacrificial lamb. No longer would he be the true hardcore romantic who would go all puppy eyed on seeing his woman.

NO NO NO NO NO.

The angry young man would arrive on the scene with half his shirt buttons popped out, bare chest, chewing a toothpick from the corner of his mouth, intense eyes, broad shoulders, a focused yet casual walk while moving across the room. He was there not to listen. He was there not to see others. No way.

He would walk in the room and all eyes would turn upon him. He would open his mouth to speak with a hint of arrogance in his pitch, yet everyone listened to him. You either agreed to what he said or risked being beaten black and blue.

The angry young man. He had his goals all clear. He knew what he wanted. No one came between him and his aim. No one. No one dared.

The angry young man. He wouldn’t take things lying down. To him crying was for sissies. He was there to take destiny in his own hands and shape it to what he desired.

The angry young man. A towering personality. The true male Alpha had finally set foot in Bollywood.

The angry young man. There can never be anyone greater or more perfect for this greatest character ever built by SJ… no one and I mean no one was more perfect for this image which would shape his career and make him the king of Bollywood for the next two decades… Amitabh Bachchan.

If SJ had designed the concept, then it was Bachchan who most understood it. It was Bachchan who gave it the ideal face.

Can you believe that this role was rejected by most of the heroes when Prakash Mehra (the producer/director) went around with this script looking for a hero? Horror of horrors the late Raj Kumar (”Jaaneee yeh chaku hai…”) was supposed to do it, but things fell apart and it was then SJ suggested to Prakash Mehra to take Amitabh Bachchan.

Hardcore dialogues came all out in the open. (”Yeh Police station hai… tumhare baap ka ghar nahin”). SJ touched a raw nerve in the viewer. And Amitabh Bachchan just took it up a notch. The crowd went mad. After 12 flops, Bachchan’s 13th movie - Zanjeer broke box office records left, right and center.

The Angry Young Man had arrived… courtesy: Salim-Javed

 

Majboor (1974)

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The Amitabh - Salim - Javed combination had taken a flying start. Their next was a crime thriller - murder mystery masala, that had Amitabh playing Ravi Khanna, a travel agent. The story takes its first twist when Ravi becomes a suspect in the murder of a rich guy who was seen hours before the murder buying a flight ticket from Ravi. The next twist SJ threw in was that Ravi realizes he has brain tumor and may not have enough time to live. He worries about his mom, handicapped sister (Farida Jalal) and younger kid brother.

Twist number three. Ravi decides to implicate himself and prove to the police that he has murdered the rich guy. Reason: So he can claim the reward for finding the murderer and pass it on to his family.

Twist Four: And this is the kicker. While in jail Ravi suffers another tumor attack and is rushed to the hospital. His tumor is operated upon… and he surives. But now he is stuck in jail for a murder he hasn’t committed.

Damn it!!! Why can’t writers of today think of such plots, such conflicts… The story follows Ravi’s attempts to get himself out of the trap he’s built for himself.

This was one of the few suspense whodunit pieces that SJ worked on. Majboor worked. It simply cemented the Amitabh-SJ partnership.

But Majboor was nothing compared to SJ’s next two blow you out of your chair stories…

 

Sholay (1975)

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The one movie that had everyone from grandma to grandpa to grandchild… everyone begging for more. There was never a Sholay Part 2, so everyone ended up seeing Sholay a couple of hundred times.

To give a non-Desi an idea of what Sholay is about… ummm… think about the craze “Titanic” brought in… right… that’s it you got it… You know how crazy everyone went on “Titanic”…

Good. Now multiply that craziness a few million times over. Good. That to you dear non-Desi reader is… Sholay.

You don’t need to sit down and think of writing an article on the impact of Sholay. No, you don’t. All you do is write this:

{

Gabbar Singh. Veeru. Jai. Thakur Baldev Singh. Basanti. Radha. Ramlal. Hariram Nai. Soorma Bhopali. Jailor. Sambha. Kaalia. For god sake… even Dhanno.

Dacoits attacking the train in the opening sequence. Thakur chasing Gabbar. Gabbar Singh’s entry. Holi Scene. Gabbar’s goons chasing Basanti. Veeru flirting with Basanti. Jai’s dry, casual sense of humor knocking you off the seats. The mystery behind Radha’s silence. Gabbar wiping out Thakur’s family (steel cold, raw and so chilling - one of the best scenes ever from Bollywood), Veeru’s comic attempted suicide, Jai fighting the dacoits off the bridge… and amongst many others the “coin”.

“Aray O Sambha”

“Tumhara naam kya hai Basanti?”

“Yun toh hamein feejool baat karne ki aadat toh hain nahin…”

“Aray O Chamiyaa…”

“Mujhe toh sabhi police walon ki shakal ek jaisi lagti hain”

“Shayad… khatron se khelne ka shock hain mujhe”

“Kitne aadmi the”

“Jab hazar pachaas-pachaas kos door bachcha rota hain toh maa kehti hain…” (Correction courtesy: Pradeep)

“Yeh haath humko de Thakur”
“Naheeeeeeeeeeeeeen”

“Chal Dhanno… aaj teri Basanti ki ijjat ka sawal hain”

“Veeru toh bada seedha hain…”

“Loha garam hain… maar do hathoda”

“Woh do the aur tum teen…. Sooyar ke bachchon!!!”

“Aadmi teen. Goli che. Bahut na-insaafi hain”

“Tera kya hoga Kaalia?”

“Sardaar maine aapka namak khaya hain”

“Toh ab goli kha.. hehe hehe hehe”

“Aray oh Sambha, yeh Ramgarhwale apne chokariyon ko kon chakki ka aata khilate hain re”

“Chal toss karte hain. Heads hospital le chalte hain. Tails bhaag nikalte hain”

“Mujhe Gabbar chahiye………………….. ZINDA”

}

And that is all that needs to be said about Sholay. If you haven’t seen Sholay (which obviously means you are not a Bollywood fan or have not grown up in an Indian household) - then you cannot even begin to imagine the heart pumping excitement and the wide smiles each reader who’s seen Sholay, is going through after reading the words I’ve put in { }.

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Salim Javed became immortal with Sholay. There aren’t any more or better words that I at present can think of, to describe the duo’s genius that came out with such smashing force… it changed Bollywood. Forever. Sholay. Nothing has come near the success and impact it created.

When the great Satyajit Ray stood up and said that Sholay is a perfect film, you knew… Salim Javed had raised the bar so high with Sholay, that no one, not even they themselves, would ever be able to reach it. No one has. And I doubt anyone will, for the next 50 years.

 

Deewaar (1975)

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As if Sholay wasn’t enough, SJ came out with another one in the same year. A movie which permanently stamped the title: Bollywood’s biggest superstar on - Mr. Amitabh Bachchan.

If Zanjeer seemed like a preview that SJ showed of the Male Alpha, then Deewar brought it all out in the open. 1975 was the golden or perhaps the platinum year for SJ and Amitabh Bachchan.

Influenced by the life story of the late smuggler turned builder, Haji Mastan, SJ started writing about Vijay Verma, who works at the docks and soon his devil may care attitude sends him spiraling up and up in the world of crime.

Deewar was also the story of the ever sacrificing mother who is split between her two sons. One is the king of the underworld and the other an upright police officer.

Deewar was also the story of the love, hate and friction between two brothers and the common bond between them - their unflinching love for their mother.

Deewar should serve as the story writing 101 for all aspiring writers. How well etched out and sharply defined are the three parallel tracks (mentioned above) - is to be seen to be believed.

As mentioned earlier SJ’s creative knack brought in many firsts in Bollywood. Deewar has the famous “first” - which is time and again, even to this day - seen in every second movie:

How boring would it be to see a man talking to a statue… an idol?

Really boring.

Think again. SJ’s hyper creative drive gives you one of the most famous scenes ingrained in our memory…

Amitabh walking into the temple (breaking his own rule) and walks to the idol of Shiva and starts talking… leaving you spellbound.

BFI has some interesting annecdotes about Deewar -

Yash (Chopra) says he was aware of the script’s potential as soon as he heard it: Deewaar was a script which we heard, we didn’t work on it. Salim-Javed brought the script to us. What you see in the script they were inspired from Mother India, definitely inspired from Mother India. As far as the script is concerned Deewaar’s better than Sholay. Success of the magnitude you will never see. It was such top script. And, success of Sholay was unbelievable, but as script even Deewaar was better. Dialogue-wise. Then there was not any dacoit or anything like that. It was an emotional picture and it was not a action picture. There was only one fight. The godown fight is famous, the godown fight.

About the temple scene :

Javed says about the temple scene when Vijay is angry with Shiva: When this scene was shot, we had a discussion with Amitabh Bachchan. We felt he had too harsh a tone in this scene- a bit too defiant. But he was convinced and said, ‘If I start the dialogue on a low note then somewhere in between I’ll have to raise my tone. So instead I’m going to start the delivery of dialogue form a very strong stance and work my way down.’ I think it did work. He was right.

SJ redefined the word HERO for Bollywood. And that was no mean achievement.

Don (1978)

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Manoj Kumar’s one time assistant Chandra Barot started working on Don with SJ. While shooting the movie he invited Manoj Kumar to see the near finished product. Manoj Kumar comes out after the movie and suggests to Barot “The movie gets a bit heavy in the later parts. Add a song for the audience to let them take a break in the second half”

So what does Barot do?

He adds a song. And the song becomes the anthem of the nation. Yes dear reader. Khaike Paan Banaraswalla - had every nook, street and corner playing this song. We as school kids could not get enough of it, trying to enact each action and step of the great superstar (he had turned GOD by the time this movie was released)

Don was about an underworld kingpin who is shot dead by a cop. Inorder to apprehend the real brains behind the Don, the cop keeps the death of the don a secret and sends in his look alike to get into the gang and become a police informer. But nothing is simple and straightforward in an SJ world. The cop gets killed in a shootout. And with him is buried the secret that the don look-alike is not what everyone thinks him to be. Thus begins the struggle where the don look-alike has to prove who he really is and escape from his own gang, who by now have uncovered his true identity.

The art of putting a layer upon another layer, tying a knot over another knot over another knot - that art was being perfected. Don brought that art out. It showed how well SJ were perfecting it, stretching the boundaries beyond the wildest imagination of any other writer or director of Bollywood.

Farhan Akhtar (Javed’s son and director of Dil Chahta Hai) is now remaking Don with Shah Rukh Khan. Let’s see how it turns out to be.

Though Farhan has the brilliant hold you by your collar story… Don was Amitabh Bachchan. Bachchan was Don. Will SRK be able to touch what Bachchan defined Don as? Only time will tell.

 

Trishul (1978)

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Here’s a piece I wrote on Trishul while doing the 3 part article on Sanjeev Kumar…

1978, at 8 years old, following my mother, standing in the line to get advance booking tickets with mom for 1 hour, someone from behind in the line requested my mom if I could buy a couple of tickets for them, since they were a large family and the theater wouldn’t give them bulk tickets. Mom agreed and at 8 years old I had bought my first movie tickets, even though for someone else. Monday morning around 11, my vacations are on and the tickets we bought for ourselves were for following Sunday 6pm. – Had to pour out that memory attached with “Trishul” before I got back on track.

R…..K…..GUPTA. SK and Bachchan use this word from different angles and different intensities and you keep looking for when will the next time this word be uttered and by whom. Bachchan at his peak, worshipped as GOD, atleast in Bombay, yet SK was never ever overshadowed by the Bachchan mania in any of the movies they acted together in. If it’s hard to digest this fact then, watch SK as R…K…..Gupta…..in “Trishul”. Forced to leave his pregnant girlfriend, by his over ambitious mom, SK is married off to a rich family’s daughter and over the years finds himself becoming one of the richest builders in the country. But his illegitimate son (Bachchan) comes into the picture, who through dubious means becomes a powerful builder himself, with a burning ambition to destroy his father who gave up his mom for the riches.

“Trishul” by Yash Chopra (can you believe this is the guy who made Deewar and since the last decade is the Badshah of Love Stories!!!!) was one of the greatest, biggest hits of its times. Freshness is one of its keys, which makes this movie so watchable even today.

 

Kaala Patthar (1979)

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SJ’s major failure. About 9 years after their first venture, Kaala Patthar turned out to be a disaster. SJ had their first failure about a year earlier with the Amitabh - Shashi starrer Imman Dharam (don’t watch it if you haven’t). Kaala Patthar was their second disaster.

Kaala Patthar was a movie about coal miners. The various characters. Their love. Their clashes. The climax - water flooding the mines.

The magic suddenly vanished. It wasn’t there. At all. Some liked it. Though they were far and few in between.

I suspect this was supposed to be a disaster movie where the focus would be on the miners trying to escape the water flooded holes. But too much time was spent on the other parts… actually most of the movie was about everything else.

Yash Chopra brought in technicians from Hollywood to design and shoot the water flooding scenes. The media thought it was way too amateurish, the way those scenes were shot. I thought it was well done, given the limited resources Chopra had at that time.

With Kaala Patthar, SJ showed that they weren’t invincible. Yes, they weren’t. There was more flops soon to follow.

 

Shaan (1980)

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This was it. The whole country waited with bated breath. Shaan. The team was back. The team that gave them Sholay 5 years ago. They were back. Ramesh Sippy, Amitabh Bachchan, Salim - Javed, a new Gabbar Singh - called Shaakal.

And then the annoucement came. It would be a 4 hour movie. HOLY SHIT!!! THIS IS GOING TO BE BIGGER THAN SHOLAY. The movie was to be released on Friday. All cinema theaters opened their windows to take in advance bookings on Monday morning of the week Shaan is to be released.

In about 3 hours, all tickets are sold. Sold Out. The appetite for entertainment was so huge that no movie between Sholay and Shaan had been able to satisfy the Indian Movie-goer.

Shaan came. We saw. Shaan sank.

The hype was too high. It wasn’t SJ’s fault. It wasn’t Sippy’s fault. But everyone failed to realize that a Sholay comes once in a lifetime. Shaan on its own was still a much above board movie. But when you compared it to Sholay… no chance. It wasn’t even a poor man’s Sholay.

Shaan was the city boy to the countryside Sholay. A Bond-ish caper. Shaan has its engaging moments. Again tons of characters flowing in and out. A fast forward moving story line. But a not so impactful villain as dear old Gabbar. Again. There can be only one Gabbar Singh.

But Shaan pointed to you one thing… Salim and Javed were slipping. They needed to tighten their belts, laces and whatever - fast. They had a reputation to live upto.

Even though Shaan wasn’t a big hit, it was not a flop either (as projected by the media), it did recover its money in the long run.

 

Kranti (1981)

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Manoj Kumar put every last bit of his penny into this one. This was a make you or break you movie for him. If he had been doing patriotic movies for the last two decades, with Kranti he was pushing the envelope so far and wide that it’s disaster could have resulted in Kranti being the last movie he would ever make.

SJ were in unchartered territory. They had never done a period film before. Their last two movies had bombed. And now they were coming out with something they had never tried before.

To top it all, Kranti was being released at the same time as Shaan. That was like asking for a death wish. The next projected Sholay was being released and who in their right minds would think of releasing their movie at the same time.

But Manoj Kumar did go ahead with his plan. Both Kranti and Shaan were released (approximately) around the same time. Shaan flopped. Kranti was a huge success.

I personally have not watched the entire movie. Bits and pieces - here and there. I can’t digest what SJ wrote here. The longer they stayed in the industry, the more their minds got corrupted with the stupid ideas and crappy creativeness of the people around them and those they worked with.

Kranti is a prime example of what can happen to a genius in Bollywood if they don’t have a self defense mechanism that shields them from the influence of the pinheaded intelligence floating all around them.

Shakti (1982)

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O BOY!!! What a comeback after the few disasters. WHAT A COMEBACK!!! This is one of my most favorite scripts. The best emotional pack SJ would ever write (besides Deewar).

Shakti also brought in SJ’s most successful director Ramesh Sippy.

And then the trump card. Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan together. Unbelievable. (If you remember it also had Anil Kapoor in a guest role playing the grandson of Dilip Kumar)

Shakti had the classic tussle between a father and a son. The clash of principles. The head-on collision of two different views of life. How efficiently this is brought out on screen was a master stroke. You had to hand it to them. SJ were back in form.

Many complained the movie was heavy. Perhaps they still suffered from the SJ kind of stories - hangover. Shakti was different. Shakti was amazing. Shakti was powerful.

Shakti begins with the permanent scarring of a little kid’s psyche when he hears his father, a top cop, refusing to bend to the demands of thugs. Thugs who have kidnapped the kid and are using him as a leverage to get one of their own released from jail. If the cop doesn’t give in to their demands, they will kill the kid.

The cop doesn’t budge. Kill my son, go ahead, but I will not waver from my upright principles. The kid is saved but the cop has lost his son forever. The cop’s upright statement keeps playing in his son’s mind right till he grows up.

The clashes over minor to major things between father and son, simply continue. Yet there is love between them. The father loves his kid… he wants to use his life savings to help start a business for his unemployed son. In another scene: On seeing his father after a long time the son’s heart is filled with warmth, you can see it in his eyes, he wants to walk forward and hug his dad.

Shakti also had Ramesh Sippy working out beautiful images for SJ’s script. Chief among them include the meeting of Dilip Kumar and Amitabh after they have parted, the scene where Dilip Kumar enters the jail cell where his son is put in, the scene where the father sees his son walking away from his office forever and ofcourse the climax where the bullet finds its target just as the plane takes off… amazing!!!

Rakhee who played Amitabh’s lover in many movies, acted as his mother in this one.

Shakti was different in terms of what SJ had done so far. They moved in the opposite direction. They had reshaped Bollywood with stories that made all the unrealistic so believable. But in Shakti it was real flesh and blood characters that were taken into unimaginable situations. That was an out of the box thinking. That dear readers is the mark of a true genius.

 

. . . . . .

 

Unfortunately Shakti was the last movie they did together. Call it creative differences or external influences - that made Javed take the first step. He called for a split and then on they never worked together again. The media went bonkers over the split. Conspiracy theories were published. Gossip mongers went on an overdrive. But never once did Salim or Javed speak about the split and the reasons behind it, in public. Never once did they utter anything against each other. It just goes to show that whatever differences they had which caused the split - it was just a minor dot in the presense of the huge respect they had for each other.

Javed immediately started working as an independent writer and also ventured in writing lyrics. Some of his works which achieved mediocre success included Mashaal, Arjun, Saagar and Mr. India (even though it was credited as a Salim Javed story). When Javed had walked into Shekhar Kapur’s office with the story idea of Mr. India he had two pages in it which he had written along with Salim years ago. But besides these movies, all others that Javed worked on, were miserable failures.

Salim went into a shell, only to surface years later with a big hit called Naam. But there was nothing to talk about after that. Like Javed, the movies Salim wrote for would crash, even before they made any attempt to walk.

Javed, after his failures, ventured into poetry and writing lyrics, full time. And he found big success. Today he stands next to Gulzar as one of the best lyricists Bollywood has.

Salim after his dismal failures, stopped writing for movies. His son Salman Khan is one of the biggest superstars in Bollywood.

The split impacted the writing industry too. During their peak, SJ were known to charge right upto 25% of a movie’s profits. They were in demand and they set things right. The focus had to be on the writer. He was no longer the miserable fellow at the bottom of the food chain. But the split changed all that. Things went back to where they were before. Sadly it exists even today. Script writers are the lowest paid in an industry where millions flow into the making of a movie, yet no attention is paid to its soul - one created by the writers.

And little would the angry young man know that he would become a superstar courtesy the writings of Salim Javed. The SJ split affected him too. Amitabh Bachchan never again was able to give as huge a hit that he had delivered one after another with the duo.

The Sultans of Screenwriting. Two down and out writers get together to create plots and write screenplays. Little did they know that they would change the face of Bollywood. Salim-Javed. The architects of modern Bollwood.

Its time to stand up and give these two Sultans a huge round of applause. Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar. Immortalized on the 70mm screens of Bollywood. Forever.

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33 Responses to “Sultans of Screenwriting : Salim - Javed”

  1. ravptor Says:

    Oz, am learning all about hindi movies that I never knew from ur writing.

    What energy baap! Seriously, to write such comprehensive posts… hats of man!

  2. sumeet Says:

    Holy Cow Oz, please when will you stop amazing me. Dude you are in the wrong field boss, use the same energy that you use in writing scripts/blogs/tributes into getting hold of bollywood and rest would be history and in due time you will find me writing tributes to your work. AMAZING BOY..

  3. VC Says:

    Superb oz…Beautiful…Spellbound man…

  4. DesiPundit » Archives » Sultans of Screenwriting Says:

    [...] Oz at Desi Train remembers the hit duo Salim - Javed, who penned many of Bollywood’s classic movies that have led to countless cliches now. The originals, as Oz describes still retain their enigmatic excellence. [...]

  5. Happy-Go-Lucky Says:

    Phew!!

    Awesome post!!

    I think this should find its way to Wiki.

  6. Deepja Says:

    Like your good researched articles like these!

  7. ThE_BoSs Says:

    Are writers still paid so badly?

    I thought that people like RGV was paying his writers well(even if most of them are crap) and Abbas Tyrewala and Milap Zaveri are making good money

  8. Nirav Says:

    ^:)^^:)^^:)^

    Its a common misconception that Prakash Mehra gave Amitabh Bachchan the angry-young-man image. It was actually Salim-Javed!

    Actually, I have the DVDs of most of the movies listed above (though they were bought because of AB)… I never realized that all the top Big-B movies that I loved were written by SJ… Thanks

  9. Anand Says:

    OZ Bhai,
    U r jus too gr8 yaar. I dont know how do manage doing such type or research. I, as research fellow this sort of research in my field. Good work done and thanx a lot. Really as someone as said, u should have been different field. But it is very nice that u r in this field. Thnx again.

  10. chandni Says:

    OZ, time for career change, ASAP!

    loved this post

  11. Pradeep Says:

    superb post oz. thanqui soo much for writing this.

    btw, didn’t Gabbar say “..pachaas-pachaas kos door..” instead of “hazaar kos door..” /:)

  12. suresh Says:

    Thank you for that wonderful trip down memory lane. All I had to do was look at that majboor poster and that image from deewar ..gosh! the desi neural pathway in my brain starts secreting some weird desi hormones that a non-desi brains can never experience… thank you salim bhai and javed bhai.
    You can tattoo my arms anytime you want with the words “Aaj bhi bollywood mein bahut jhor hai”

  13. Zulfiquar Says:

    Absolute gem of a post read for some time on bollywood.

  14. k s manojkumar Says:

    U put them in the right prespective. wonderful piece of critcism. They ushered in a new era that amitabh was able to successfully cash. i would have liked to see some discussion on what Hollywood films inspired them as well.

  15. Dhaval Says:

    This was a long time ago. We were talking about the way our lives were shaping out.

    One of my friends said, “I wish my life was written by Salim-Javed rather than God.”

    Inadvertently, he gave the greatest tribute to Salim-Javed I have ever come across .

  16. sumeet Says:

    Dhaval, can you share that tribute man?

  17. sophocles Says:

    about kala patthar…

    the story was concieved after the Chasnala disaster where hundreds of miner had died in a mine collapse. Yashraj films had camped at a coal mine to shoot the film..again a mammoth starcast - Amitabh, Shashi Kapoor, Shatrughan Sinha, Sanjeev Kumar, Prem Chopra, rakhee, parveen babi, neetu singh, etc…again a mix of strong emotions, a basic story line that makes sens, good locations, realistic costumes etc..my fave scenes in the film:

    1. Amitabh and sharad saxena - where amitabh grips the knife and his hand bleeds but there is no hint of emotion on his face..just stone grit..then he snatches it and folds it back and returns the knife. Simply amazing.

    2. Amitabh’s dialogue to Rakhee when she says “why dont you understand” and he replies in perfect english ” My pain is my destiny and i cannot avoid it” - sends shivers down my spine everytime I see it.

    3. Shashi kapoor confronts prem chopra and the lengthy dialogue about him being a “rakshas” towards the end…

    4. Mac mohan losing the last card game while stuck in the mine…

    I think that this was a brilliant movie…why it did not work …is a question…but as a film I rate it higher than Kranti, kabhie Kabhie and others….

    a brilliant movie that had a real angry young man….

  18. Kartik Says:

    Memorable (dialogue)scenes from SJ films:

    Sholay & Deewar : where do I start ???

    Shaan: The entire sequence about AB and Shashi kapoor sitting and one is talking about the car and the other is talking about Bindiya Goswami.

    Trishul: The scene where AB brings a hurt Poonam to Sanjeev Kumar’s house. SJ nurses his wounds…talk about metaphors and puns !!!!!

    Shakti: The drunk sequence of AB with Smita patil…about saanp…kanoon…police etc..
    Even a simple scene like 1st meeting between Amrish puri and Dilip kumar is immortalised by delightful dialogues

    Don: Mauka aaney par junglee billi bhi sherni ban jaat hai…(or something like that)
    Pran: Main tumsey itni nafrat nahi karta jitni apney bachchon sey muhabbat…

  19. ravptor Says:

    aaaaaahhhaacuuu…. hmm

    cobwebs arnd here…

    Oz ? where are thou?

  20. Kartik Says:

    Oz bhai…
    We’re falling in love with ur posts so much day by day that we’re becoming more impatient…
    Love ur posts on bollywood…:x

    Seriously..seriously…have u actually thought of doing a Nagesh kukonoor or a Mani Sir (he’s a qualified MBA - Consultant turned film maker)
    :-?
    By the way…hows ur scriptwriting classes going ??? Reading books by Syd Field eh ???

  21. oz Says:

    - Ravi, The energy comes from you guys supporting Desi Train dude!! A big =d> to you guys for inspiration.

    - Sumeet, LOL… tribute to oz’s work LOL!!! Thank you so much :d

    - VC, HGL, Deepja, - Thank you so much :)

    - Boss, Umm… yeah :d atleast that’s what Anurag Kashyap had to say to me at the IFFLA 06

    - Nirav, Anand Thank you ^:)^

    - Chandni, Well if destiny is going that way then it will (career change). Thank you :)

    - Pradeep, Suresh, Zulfiquar Thanks for the encouragement :)

    - KSM, THAT my friend is a fantastic material for discussion.

    - Dhaval, S-J were good. But not greater than the greatest scriptwriter sitting up there. :) Nice one though.

    - Sophocles, Ummm… memories galore…

    - Kartik, Ah… thats right. Where does one start?…

    Deewar : “Uffff tumahare yeh adarsh yeh usool”

    “Mera paas maa hain”

    786

    “Yeh lo chaabi. Main yeh ab tumhari jeb se nikalke hi taala kholunga”

    “Aee saab apun joota polish karta hain koi bheekh nahin mangta hain…. paisa hath mein do”

    “Dawar (or was it Daaga?) saab, main aaj bhi feke huey paisa nahin uthata”

    “Aaj khush to bahut hoge tum… (temple scene)…”

    Trishul…

    “R… K…. Gupta….”

    Amitabh’s act where he brings the ambulance whenever he goes to bash goons up.

    Shakti :

    “Maar dalo use… lekin main apne usool aur adarsh se baimaani nahin karoonga”

    “Tumhare khalayat itne ghatiya hain…”

    “Vijay… tum jin logon ke saath jaa rahe ho… kahin itni door na nikal jaana ke wapas na aa sako”
    “Main is baar wapas aane ke liye nahin jaa raha”

    “Main bhi tumse bahut mohabbat karta hoon Vijay”
    “Toh Dad pehle kaha kyon nahin…”

    - Ravi, Sorry buddy. Last three days have been hectic. Won’t get any breathing space today either. Damn where’s my next post!

    - Kartik, I replied to your email. Send me your file. I don’t know man I just don’t know. I’m leaving it upto destiny to take me where it plans to. Script writing class is confusing me. Its messing with my brains and my natural way of writing stuff. I think my best teacher is the cinema and my DVD. :d

  22. Swapna Says:

    Good one !! :)

  23. Vandita Says:

    :x:x how r u doin these days..Gairik? Missing u :((

  24. Muzzy Says:

    Isn’t Majboor a bad copy of “Zig zag” (1970) a George Kennedy Movie? GK does everything for his wife while in Majboor, AB does for his apaahij behna

    Oz, Go to your Patel DVD rental & get Zig zag .I might not be 100% correct. Lemme know what truth is.

    Cheers

  25. aparna Says:

    Salim-Javed wrote updated versions of old movies so u can give them no marks for originality.. ‘haathi mere saathi’ was originally a tamil film, ’seeta aur geeta’ was a gender change of ‘ram aur shyam’, ‘zanjeer’ was hollywoods ‘death wish’, ’sholay’ was like kurosawa’s ’seven samurai’.. ‘deewar’
    was an updated ‘ganga jamuna’ and ‘mother india’ .. and so on.
    But in their scripts the language and morality was very new.. it was not seen before on the Indian screen. The thakur of ’sholay’ approves of the widow Radha to re-marry Jay.. the heroine of ‘deewar’
    gets into bed with bachchan, the hero of ‘trishul’ was a bastard child and so on..
    This was the real contribution of Salim and Javed.

  26. Chiradeep Says:

    to good analysis… and very comprehensive.. i had once heard a radio documentary on SJ on the Radio, that when they said that they had worked on a movie after Shakti, one of the star was Vinod Khanna.. I dont remember anything else, its after that they had a split.. Can you check. Thanks.. Anyway too too good work

  27. konny Says:

    awesomeeeee article….never knew any of his stuff..i love salman khan.. and farhan akthar is a gr8 director…n i just read that ..srk n farhan went to Salims house to invite him to the premier of Don.. which he came to met with Javed hugged and let by gones be by gones..such a bollywood ending..:x

  28. Vijaya Kuamar Says:

    Because of Superstar Rajesh Khanna these two writers have become famous of his first film Haathi Mere Sathi.

  29. Mohd Yusuf Says:

    Yes its true because of rajesh khanna salim javed got break into films during era of rajesh khanna.

  30. hemapande Says:

    I like Trishul. Hemamalini wears nice bell-bottom pant-shirts in this film. Her white and orange bell-bottom pant in song “Jaaneman tum kamal karti ho” was very good

  31. SITARAMAIAHM Says:

    I want to mention one thing in this article.You told kala pathar is a failure.But it is not a failure.It is average grosser.yash chopra had written an interview he had got the money back.

  32. Puneet Says:

    Great article ……… one of the last film Salim-javed did together was “Zamaana” starring Rishi Kapoor and Rajesh Khanna
    Puneet

  33. Dan Says:

    Thanks for the article. Very nice job

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