The writing duo of Salim-Javed gave Hindi cinema its angry young man in the 1970s and during this phase the makers wrote some of the most successful films of the era. Sholay, Deewar, Zanjeer, Don, Haathi Mere Saathi, Yaadon Ki Baarat were some of the biggest hits of the decade and were written by Salim-Javed. In a recent interview Javed Akhtar he recalled how he and Salim Khan started writing and said it was Salim who encouraged him to become a screenwriter.
In a chat with BBC News Hindi, Javed said that he wants to become a director in films and is working as an assistant director and dialogue writer in a 1966 film called Sarhadi Lutera. Salim played a minor role in the film and it was here that they became friends. He remembered: “Salim saab unn chand logo mein se the jo mujhe boht encourage karte the. (Salim was one of the few people who encouraged me.)
Javed recalled that their friendship flourished because they lived in close proximity to each other. “Agar shayad main kahin aur reh raha hota toh itni mulakat na hoti unse lekin ab paas mein mujhe mil gaya kamra toh main aksar chala jata tha. (If I lived somewhere else, we might not see each other as often, but my room was close, so I would often end up at his house),” he said.
Javed remembered that they would sit by the sea for hours and this is where they started coming up with story ideas. This was when they had their first writing gig as spiritual writers, which paid them Rs 5,000.Humein toh laga lottery lag gayi, itna paisa toh aaj tak dekha nahi tha (We thought we’d hit the jackpot, we’d never seen so much money.)” Soon after, they got jobs at Sippy Films as screenwriters and ended Rajesh Khanna in Haathi Mere Saathi. “Ek din baith ke humne tay nahi kia ki kal se hum partners. Yes, gradually gay him. (We didn’t sit down and decide we were partners now. It happened gradually.)
Javed also talked about how they broke up after working together for 11 years. “Shuru mein jab hum nakaam log the, fight kar rahe the, toh bilkul ek the. Koi humare aur dost nahi the, hum hi baith ke subah se shaam tak kaam karte the. Shaam ko bhi saath the, raat ko khana bhi saath hota tha. 24 mein se 3-4 pm toh saath hi hot the. (In our earlier unsuccessful days, we struggled, we were one. We had no other friends, we worked together from morning to night. We even had dinner together. Out of 24, we spent 15-16 hours together.)”
Javed said that when they were successful, their lives became bigger and separate. “Jab kaamyaabi aayi, toh naye naye log zindagi mein aana shuru ho gaye aur voh circle dheere dheere alag ho gaye. Toh voh mental relation tha humara, voh toot gaya. That one fir voh kaam nahi ho sakta tha. (When we were successful, new people entered our lives and our circles separated. The mental relationship we had was broken. We could no longer work together.)
