Dazzling Duo
SALIM KHAN (1935—) JAVED AKHTAR (1945—)
Creators of Hindi cinema’s first thoroughly modern hero
Salim Khan was the wannabe actor son of an Indore DIG of police. Javed Akhtar was the son of a Communist poet, one of Bhopal’s most famous citizens. They came to Bombay seeking individual fame but together they became possibly the most famous writers of their time, Salim-Javed. Between them, they wrote the story, screenplay and dialogues of 24 films, created the iconic Angry Young Man who embodied the turbulent ’70s, and generated plots, characters and lines that continue to influence cinema.
The characters they created were memorable—the larger-than-life villain; the long-suffering, usually single mother; the “najayaz baap” (to borrow the Trishul phrase about illegitimacy); and the independent-minded working woman. But their most seminal contribution to cinema was the articulation of a new modern hero. Here was a man who was a loner, often nursing a longterm grudge against a powerful villain, driven to excel in his profession because of a psychological hurt in his past, and usually missing a family. He was a man who could question faith, elevate money as his personal god, and wear flashy shirts and suits that almost bordered on the dandy. Here was a man who would write his own destiny, who could go from dock worker to underworld don with “buildingein, property, bank balance, bangla and gaadi’’ and who could destroy and take over his father’s construction business as an act of revenge.
He strode through the dysfunctional ’70s, where old certainties gave way to new ugly truths. Politics was losing its idealistic sheen, business was still seen with suspicion in an era of inert socialism, and joblessness was growing as fast as dissatisfaction among young people. The modern man, usually played with great swag by Amitabh Bachchan, the former boxwallah son of a poet, was able to encapsulate the simmering change. Akhtar says of their partnership: as a writer he had the courage and I had the intricacy. Indeed, Salim Khan may now be no more than Salman Khan’s always apologetic father and Javed Akhtar may now be a glib translator of our troubles, but their legacy is firmly imprinted in the consciousness of moviemakers and moviegoers.