From Salim-Javed's first meeting to actors rejecting Zanjeer: Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar make interesting revelations

Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan were the popular writer jodi of Bollywood who wrote blockbuster films such as Deewaar, Sholay, and Shakti among others. Angry Young Men, a docuseries based on the writer duo's life, was released on Amazon Prime Video. It was directed by Namrata Rao. Speaking about their lives and trivia surrounding Bollywood, Salim and Javed sat down with their children Salman Khan, Zoya and Farhan Akhtar for a fun interview with Farah Khan.

Salim-Javed's first meeting

Interviewer Farah Khan asked Salim-Javed about how they first met each other. Salim Khan revealed that he was working on a film called Sarhadi Lutera which was produced by M.S. Sagar and that is when he met Javed Akhtar. Adding to this, Javed said that he remembers very clearly that the first time he met Salim was at M.S. Sagar’s house in Malad. The writer added that Salim had come to meet the producer while Javed was living in Sagar’s house.

When Javed and Salim started working together

Later, when Farah asked the duo how they decided to form a jodi and start writing together, Javed said that they never came up with a decision to form a jodi and were writers individually in their lives. The writer revealed that when he was writing dialogues with Salim and later with producer Brij Sadanah for Yakeen, he made a decision that he would never become a writer. Javed added that Salim was the only person who prevented him from making that decision. He also said that when they started spending time together in Mumbai, they started discussing film stories and M.S. Sagar asked the duo to write a screenplay for a film for which they did ghostwriting. He said that after writing that screenplay, they started going to producers together and the jodi was naturally formed.

When Salim Khan used to help Salman in his films

In the interview, Farah also said that Salim’s son actor Salman Khan also has a talent for writing. The actor replied by saying that earlier they did not have a choice to decide which film to do and which to reject. He added that nobody used to recite films to them and then came a time when his films started working and he wanted to improvise for which he used to call his father and ask him to suggest some words. To this, Salim added that whenever Salman used to get stuck in a scene, the actor would call his father and explain to him the situation and would want him to suggest a few lines.

When Salman Khan wanted to be a director

When Farah asked whether Salman wanted to be a writer or not, the actor replied that growing up he wanted to be a director but people used to tell him that he was too good-looking and he should be an actor instead. He added that because of those suggestions, he ventured into acting.

Salim and Javed on Zanjeer

Speaking about their superhit film Zanjeer, Javed said that the film was rejected multiple times, and the astonishing thing is that all their films that got rejected multiple times turned out to be superhits. Salim added that the film was rejected by actors like Dharmendra, Dilip Kumar, and Raaj Kumar, among others. Javed added that after Amitabh Bachchan agreed to do the film, no actress was willing to do the film with the actor. Salim said that they thought actress Jaya Bhaduri (Jaya Bachchan) would not refuse to do the film because Amitabh was getting such a big break. He said, “For Amitabh Bachchan she did it.”

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