Salman Khan on Salim-Javed’s work: They took stories from life and put them in cinema

Mumbai, Aug 13 (PTI) Superstar Salman Khan on Tuesday said iconic writing duo Salim-Javed drew from their life experiences to write stories for the big screen.

The actor was speaking at the trailer launch event of the Prime Video docuseries “Angry Young Men”, which chronicles the storied filmography and partnership of his father Salim Khan with industry colleague Javed Akhtar.

In the series, Salman Khan and his mother Salma Khan serve as executive producers via Salman Khan Films alongside Akhtar’s children Farhan Akhtar of Excel Entertainment and Zoya Akhtar of Tiger Baby Films. Ritesh Sidhwani (Excel Entertainment) and Reema Kagti (Tiger Baby Films) are also attached as executive producers.

“They’ve taken (stories) from life and put it in their cinema. What rest of the writers did was, cinema se uthake cinema mein daala hai,” Salman told reporters here.

“God makes man, (but) they don’t want to be men any more. This generation, they don’t want to be men. But these two here, my father and Javed sahab, are still men, and they want to be men,” the Bollywood superstar added.

In the trailer of “Angry Young Men”, Salim-Javed are labelled as “brats”, which according to Salman is an incorrect perception to harbour about the celebrated writers.

“They had to refuse (work from) a lot of producers and actors. So, people would think what do they (Salim-Javed) think of themselves? Have they lost it? But they are very intelligent. That’s why they were able to deliver one hit after another.

“Those who couldn’t work with them, whether it was due to date issues, creative differences or if they didn’t like the face (of that person), branded them crazy. In reality, they weren’t crazy, those people were,” he said about the duo known for hit movies such as “Haathi Mere Saathi”, “Deewar”, “Seeta Aur Geeta”, and “Mr India”.

Javed Akhtar’s son Farhan Akhtar said Salim-Javed sought inspiration from people around them while penning their stories.

“This documentary is aptly titled ‘Angry Young Men’ because they brought their life experience, their voice and their identity to the characters, we’ve all come to know as ‘Vijay’ (the name of the protagonist in many of their films)” he said.

Farhan Akhtar, who is also a writer and director, said the duo’s work is a prominent influence on his filmography.

“All of us who grew up in the ’80s and were products of films that were made in the ’70s, we all carry the legacy of Salim-Javed. It’s not about being part of their family, it’s really as viewers. The impact and influence of their films on all creative minds is undeniable.

“It has influenced my work (too). It’s not about emulating or copying consciously. But there’s a certain darja (standard), for a lack of a better word, that was given to the parts that they had written. Every character contributed in some way, had a personality, had a moment in the film… That has subconsciously come into the writing that we do.”

Zoya Akhtar, also a filmmaker, said it’s admirable that her father Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan continue to have respect for each other even after discontinuing their partnership long ago. Their last film as Salim-Javed was 1987’s “Mr. India”, starring Anil Kapoor, Sridevi, and Amrish Puri.

“What I discovered while making the series was that nobody really knew what happened, and after making the series we still don’t know what happened,” she said referring to their fallout.

“So, somewhere you discover that (despite) whatever happened, the respect was intact and that was something heartening,” she added.

Directed by Namrata Rao, “Angry Young Men” is a joint production of Salman Khan’s Salman Khan Films, Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani’s Excel Entertainment, and Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti’s Tiger Baby Films.

It will start streaming on Prime Video from August 20.