Book Review: Written by Salim-Javed – The Story of the Best Screenwriters in Hindi Cinema
I’m pretty sure all Amitabh Bachchan fans have plenty of electrifying dialogue etched into their vocabulary then and even today, be it from the movie Sholay, Don, Trishul or Deewar. The duo who gave the Midas touch to film writing in the 70s and 80s with their epic dialogues was none other than the eminent screenwriters Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar. Penguin Books India’s latest release titled “Written by Salim Javed – The Story of Hindi Cinema’s Greatest Screenwriters” covers his professional and personal journey that both of them experienced while traveling on their journey of discovery.
The good news is that for all Salim-Javed fans Penguin Books India has recently released a new book titled, Written by Salim-Javed – The History of the Best Hindi Cinema Screenwriters written by Diptakirti Chaudhuri. Author, Diptakirti resides in Bangalore, is a salesman by day and a writer by night. This being his fourth book and the third on Indian Cinema. A very well documented book that the author has divided into five parts:
1. Hindsight
2. The Association
3. Open wide
4. Themes and Messages and
5. Impact and legacy
Appearance of Salim Javed
Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar were completely different races. His talent for writing was matched by his business acumen and demand for fair credit. Their desire to be known as screenwriters for the film goes back to an interesting anecdote related to the original. Zanjeer. The treatment of the writers would be duly accredited in all the publicity material of the film. The duo had already worked together on three successful films before Zanjeer and received little to no credit. As the release date approached, the duo eagerly expected to see their name as writers on the Zanjeer posters, but when the posters went up, they were heartbroken. When Prakash Mehra was reminded of the deal, he apologized and had completely forgotten about his promise and it was too late. Salim-Javed then hired a poster painter who gave him a stencil that read “Written by Salim-Javed” and instructed him to paint on all the Zanjeer posters he could find. The painter in a hurry printed this anywhere on the poster instead of placing the print at the bottom where the credits would normally appear. On the morning of the launch day, Mumbai woke up to find every Zanjeer poster from Juhu to the Opera House emblazoned with the name “Salim-Javed”. Be it Amitabh’s nose, Pran’s beard or Jaya’s face. The Zanjeer posters were probably the first to promote the writers of a film heralding the rise of Salim Javed.
The Salim-Javed duo were also the first in the industry to submit the entire annotated script to the film fraternity. One of the leading directors, Raj Khosla, admitted that despite being in the film industry for over 25 years, he had never seen a script with the words “The end”on it for his entire career until he made Dostana.
Absorbed Reader Enlightening Experience
What I liked about the book is the chronological order in which the author has captured the flow of events in the life and times of Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar, which makes the reader feel engrossed and an enlightening experience. The book begins with “Prologue” (The Tale of Two Zanjeers), the original from 1973 and its remake in 2013. The duo had opposed Zanjeer’s rerelease as they wanted to receive proper compensation for their work. The book states that it also made Salim-Javed the highest paid writers in Bollywood in 2013.
Part 1 Flashback takes readers back to the early life of Salim Khan, the son of a high-ranking police officer, and Javed Akhtar, the son of a famous Urdu poet and it goes on until they land in what they call as Bombay Ki Mayanagari India’s Film Capital to try their luck, one as an actor and the other as a director, respectively.
Part 2 of the book talks about their decade-long association from “Andaaz” (1971) to “Shakti” (1982) and also includes some greats like “Haathi Mere Saathi” (1971), “Seeta Aur Geeta” (1972), Yaadon Ki Baraat” (1973), Zanjeer (1973), “Deewar” (1975), Sholay (1975), “Trishul” and “Don” (1978) and “Shaan” (1980) paved the way for Amitabh Bachchan became mega stardom.
Part 3 Split Wide Open talks about the strain on their professional relationships and how they each worked on solo projects creating their own identity. Be it the hit movie Naam (1986) written by Salim Khan or Betaab (1983) which was written by Javed Akhtar.
Part 4 of the Themes and Messages book deals with the themes of the movies, whether it’s Amitabh Bachchan as their “Angry Young Man” or Amjad Khan (Gabbar Singh) as the villain they wrote. The point to be made here in this book is what astounds director Shekhar Kapur of the film Mr. India (1987): “How on earth then did Mogambo become one of the biggest villains in commercial Hindi cinema?” Let’s not forget that both Gabbar Singh and Mogambo were creations of the Salim-Javed duo. Gabbar Singh is ruthless, he cuts off Sanjeev Kumar’s arms and also kills his own men in Sholay. Mogambo-in mr indianHe doesn’t do much but empty threats, snaps his fingers at the balloon, builds missiles, threatens to blow them up and smiles, “Mogambo Khush Hua”.
The last part of the book “Impact and Legacy” delves into the strengths of the duos and their respective weaknesses. It also raises questions like what turn our Indian film industry would have witnessed if the Salim-Javed duo had not parted ways at that time. To get the answer to the question “Will they meet again?” readers must read this book Written by Salim-Javed – The story of the best screenwriters in Hindi cinema.
Title Written by Salim-Javed (The history of the best screenwriters in Hindi cinema)
Author Diptakirti Chaudhuri
Editor Penguin Books India
Pages 361
Price Rs 399/-