Roll cameras, guys.
Sound rolling. Quiet, please.
After they watch this series, Hollywood should call to say:
“We’re short of stars!”
I used to think of myself as James Dean.
Then Devdas was released
and my confusion began.
Sometimes I thought I was Devdas and sometimes James Dean.
[Interviewer] Sir, please wipe your forehead.
That’s my destiny! It shouldn’t get wiped out.
If my destiny is erased, that’ll be the end of me.
Shut the door, please.
You’ll have to hide this too.
Put up a board with an arrow pointing
to a list of my evil deeds.
- Okay then, shall we start? - Yes.
- Are you ready? - Yes.
Is the camera on? All this was recorded?
You’ll get me into trouble!
Without the camera rolling, I can’t be intimate!
How many men were there?
Master, there were two.
See, I’ve done lots of interviews.
This is the first one that I’m actually nervous on.
If I tell you something that
rubs them both the wrong way,
Dad and Javed saab.
I’ll get beaten up at leisure!
So the first time... when I started getting importance,
I realised my father was a celebrated writer.
When Salim Uncle and Dad were working in the study at home,
like the kids were told: “keep it down. ”
There’s going to be a “sitting. ” You’re wondering what’s a “sitting”?
Salim,
Javed
this incredible duo, brought about a revolution
in the writing of screenplays and dialogue.
They turned everything upside down in the Hindi film industry.
They just gate-crashed into the citadel of Bollywood,
which is like a fortress,
it doesn't allow new people to come in.
They introduced the age of the writer.
They did about 24 films together.
Out of which 22 were blockbusters.
That’s a crazy strike rate! It hasn’t happened before,
I don’t think it’s gonna happen again.
One after one, superhit films. The common factor- Salim-Javed.
The producers and actors kept changing.
It could be Dharmendra, Jitendra or Amitabh Bachchan.
Obviously, it got underlined that
these writers are special.
We were looking for you.
You were looking for me, and I’ve been waiting here for you.
Give these arms to me, Thakur!
No!
Actors used to clamour and yearn for a Salim-Javed script.
Through their short, crisp dialogue,
they imbued life into the narrative,
into the characters and the stories.
Amazing!
People could connect very strongly with their characters.
They were very bold in their approach.
They had mass appeal.
People wanted to consume what they were writing.
Whoever has grown up watching their films
carries a little bit of Salim-Javed in their blood.
That writing - it was just so powerful.
There definitely was a time when I was in college when...
I said: “Oh, this is a Salim-Javed film. We have to go and watch it. ”
I admired their ability
to draw audiences,
and maybe to some extent even... envied them.
“The police of eleven countries are looking for Don.
“It’s not just difficult to catch Don - it’s impossible!”
“Till I tell you to sit, keep standing.
“This is a police station, not your father’s house!”
I am like, yes!
“Don’t dance for these dogs, Basanti. ”
“A scared man is a dead man. ”
“Today I have a building, property, bank balance, a bungalow, cars...
“What do you have?”
“I have my mother” which means:
I have nothing but I have a mother. So, my mother’s here.
A. R. Rahman can stand at the Oscars’ stage
and say: "I have my mother". I mean one line...
and it resonates across decades and people and geographies.
They were stars.
They were writer-stars.
Once they got the success, they were very irreverent.
And I remember still sometimes
when they would all be praising themselves,
you know, they used to love praising themselves.
To put it
in a very...
not in a very nice way, but they were the brats.
At a time when it was unheard of
that a writer’s name would be on a film poster
they had the gall to hire someone to go
and just put their names on those posters.
You want to call it confidence,
you want to call it arrogance, whatever you want to call it.
Then they used to rub people the wrong way.
It wasn't that they were very humble.
They were not at all humble.
Like big stars - they refused film offers.
“We won’t write like that. We’ll do it like this!”
They had so much attitude!
Writers typically used to get 5,000 or 10,000 rupees.
Suddenly one day we heard these writers
who are taking 250,000 to write a script!
And people wanted them.
People wanted their scripts at any cost.
They knew it
and they took advantage of the situation.
Dharma Productions was actually...
we started with Dostana.
I remember my father coming home and having this chat with my mom
that Salim saab and Javed saab want 100,000 more than Bachchan.
Whatever his fees, they’ll take 100,000 more.
Can you imagine today? And I’m giving you a parallel,
if a writer today said: “I want a crore more than Salman Khan. ”
It's unheard of.
You must understand... that was the power of Salim-Javed.
In my experience, things never go as planned.
I had so many other plans, but nothing materialised.
My first writing experience was writing love letters for friends.
That was the first writing experience. I had no idea I could write.
So when I left Indore, those guys who I wrote for were crushed!
They told me how I had messed things up for them.
My career took off at a wedding in Indore.
Tarachand Barjatya’s son was getting married.
Many producers came from Bombay.
I frequented a hotel where they were all staying,
including the producer K. Amarnath who had made many films.
He saw me and asked someone: “Who is this boy?”
He then asked me: “Do you want to act in films?”
I said: “I’ve never acted before. ”
He replied: “There was a first time even for Dilip Kumar!”
No one knows acting before they start. There’s always a first time.
Then I came to Bombay for the screen test.
Amarnath was producing Baraat.
He cast me in the role of Ajit’s younger brother.
Ajit saab was a leading actor.
His house was unoccupied, so I stayed there initially.
He said I could stay there till his house got sold.
It was my bad luck that it sold very quickly.
Then I had to move to Marina Guest House.
There were two beds in one room.
The rent was 55 rupees per month.
My first ambition was to be able to rent the entire room
for 110. But that ambition was never fulfilled.
A lady used to run the Marina Guest House.
She was very strict. I once stayed there too.
There was a small room,
Suresh Puri was his roommate.
On one side was his bed, with his suitcase under it.
It had a common toilet.
I had no choice.
When I was leaving home for Bombay,
my eldest brother said: “What’s the point of going there?
“You’ll come running back. ”
You see we had a very comfortable lifestyle at home.
We even had a servant who poured water for us
when we were washing our faces.
I struggled so hard in Bombay
because I did not ask my family for any money.
I could’ve asked them for money, they would’ve given it easily.
But I never asked.
Hello?
[Shabana Azmi] I want you to be lit properly.
Tell them my wife is saying you better light me properly.
Speak louder so they can hear you.
Make sure that you make my husband look very nice.
Yeah, yeah, he’s looking very good.
Also, his right profile is better than his left profile.
Excuse me, but my left profile isn’t that bad.
When you are a teenager, life is very simple and easy, you know
and you can do anything. That’s what I believed.
I decided, after my graduation, that I’d move to Bombay.
I’d work as an assistant director,
hopefully, either with Guru Dutt or Raj Kapoor.
They were the directors I admired at that time.
And...
I was sure I’d become a director myself in a short time.
This is Natraj Studio.
When I had moved to Bombay, it was called Kamal Studios.
This was Kamal Amrohi saab’s studio.
Over there was his office. Mahal Pictures.
I started working there as an apprentice,
earning 50 rupees a month.
The first day I was on set as an assistant,
a young actor was giving a screen test.
That actor’s name was Sanjeev Kumar.
The room is now a make-up room.
Earlier it was Kamal Amrohi’s costume room.
I used to sleep there sometimes.
There was a canteen here.
I was working on Yakeen.
I met a thin modest-looking guy, kind of cute!
It was Javed. He came to give me the dialogue for the shoot.
The pages were all jumbled up.
I threw them away and scolded him:
“Put them in the right order!”
Later I wondered why had I ticked him off.
He was just an assistant. I knew working in films was a struggle.
I was in my father’s house for exactly 5 days
and then I went on my own.
And I lived with some friends and...
I slept at railway stations, parks, studio compounds,
in corridors, on benches and so on.
Sometimes I’d have to walk miles,
say from Dadar to Bandra, because I didn’t have money for the bus fare.
Sometimes I realised I hadn’t eaten for two days.
I used to always think the day I write my autobiography,
or if someone else does,
this day would make for an amazing moment.
This thought never crossed my mind that I wouldn’t make it.
I used to visit the studios to meet people,
hoping to be noticed, just like I was in Indore.
They’d make false promises saying: “I’m starting a film in July,
“come and meet me then. ”
But nothing was working out.
So Salim uncle and my mother, Menaka - Irani - at that time
unfortunately had done a movie together,
where she was being launched as a heroine.
This skinny Parsi girl and Salim uncle,
who my grandmother called “The thug from Mahim”,
were being launched together in a film called Bachpan.
My granny was a very ferocious old lady,
who was the producer of Bachpan.
She used to take a cane and hit Salim uncle,
if he did not act well.
And of course that movie ran all of one show, I think.
Farah’s mother was the heroine and I was the hero!
The film was doomed from the first shot.
But in those days,
everything was overly done.
If you had to say 'No',
it was a “Nooo”!
So he couldn't do that.
That's why he was known as a bad actor.
But if you see one or two of his films,
he was good.
- May I go now? - So soon?
Soon?
It’s been two hours.
He’s cruel.
- Who? - The creator of time.
There’s someone more cruel.
- Who? - The creator of duty.
- There’s someone crueller still. - Who?
The creator of hearts.
In the days when Salim saab was struggling,
the place below our building was where he would hang out.
That’s Regi House over there. On the first floor
Salman Khan’s mother, Salma, used to live there.
I could see her from my balcony.
It started with us exchanging glances.
She was about 17 years old at that time
and I was 24.
We used to meet in the evenings in the nearby lanes.
Then her family pressurised Salma to either marry me,
or someone of their choice.
Under those circumstances, I got married in 1964.
In 1965, Salman was born.
We didn’t have much money and I was worried about work.
So how would we manage?
Since I needed money, I accepted anything.
I did cigarette ads, clothing, shirts...
I did everything.
We all wanted him to get good roles and become a star.
The actor Johnny Walker once told me to tell Salim
that the film business was bad and tough to get into.
My brother struggled for 15 years.
I had a talent for conceiving characters.
I could explain a character to actors like Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan.
But I couldn’t perform it myself.
I had the art of narration and conceiving,
but I lacked the art of projection.
I decided to stop pursuing acting as a career,
because I realised, I’ll not be able to reach the top.
Should I tell you about an incident?
One day when I was 18, I realised I have nothing to wear.
Now how’s that possible?
Obviously, I’d been wearing clothes for 18 years.
So how could I have nothing to wear?
But that’s how it was.
My last trousers, and the only trousers I had,
was torn to the extent that it couldn’t be worn anymore.
And I had no other trousers.
[Interviewer] But you didn't ask for money from your family or... ?
Family? Which family?
Where you grew up with your relatives.
I had left from there long ago.
I never looked back. Never asked them for anything.
I grew up with my aunt
and I left her for good when I was 15.
I never asked them for help.
There was a time
he hadn’t eaten a single morsel of food for three days.
And it was raining heavily.
And from an apartment in a nearby building,
he saw a faint light shining.
He saw that light and said to himself:
“I wasn’t born to die like this. This time shall pass. ”
Sleep and hunger.
If you’ve been deprived of food or sleep in your life,
it leaves a deep mark on you that you’ll never forget.
When I go to a five-star hotel,
with their large sprawling double beds,
and sometimes when I’m lying there...
I remember coming to Bombay in a third-class train compartment.
It used to take two days.
There was no place to sit in the compartment.
Not even a place to lean against.
And how I was deprived of sleep and how tired I was.
If only I had a little stretch of that double bed then.
Sometimes I’m served breakfast on a trolley.
Breakfast with butter, jam, half- fried eggs, coffee.
I think do I deserve this?
Even now I think this breakfast can’t be for me.
It must be someone else’s.
I can’t get over that.
Prophet Muhammad once said:
“A worker must be paid his wages before his sweat dries. ”
I told you about someone who once made me wait for 8 hours,
and asked me to come back again.
When I was walking away, the thought that crossed my mind
was not how to get back at him, I didn’t think that.
I thought I’d never do this to anyone.
I will not do it.
They didn't blame anyone.
They thought: “This is our journey, and we need to do this properly. ”
And they did that.
If you want to get back at someone, let your work do the talking.
They lived like that. Their work did all the talking.
- Don't you guys drink tea?- We’ve had tea.
I drink tea in the morning. Two cups,
and coffee in the evening.
There are many things which come together and make a story.
Pradeep, take all this away.
Strange coincidences, circumstances - they are not in your control.
That’s exactly how I met Salim saab.
You didn’t go to steal, you went to rape a girl.
Murad! Robbery is our profession.
There was a very small stunt film called Sarhadi Lutera.
In that film, Salim saab was playing the romantic lead.
In those days the dialogue was delivered on set.
So the dialogue came straight-from-the-oven,
but the director was not happy with it.
In order to secure my job, I offered to rewrite some lines.
The director agreed.
So, everyone then said to me: “You should become a writer.
“Focus on writing. ” Even Salim saab would say:
“You should become a writer. ”
He used to write stories too.
He told me a few of his stories. They were amazing.
My first film as a writer was released in 1969.
I wrote the Do Bhai script. Mr Ashok Kumar bought it.
It did make some money but wasn’t a big hit
So the news spread that: “Oh! A new writer has come”
Nothing like that happened.
As luck would have it,
I moved to Bandra,
to a room close to Salim saab’s house.
I often used to go to his house in the evenings.
We would sit on the parapet by the sea on Carter Road,
and discuss possible plots and stories.
One day, S. M. Sagar, the producer-director of Sarhadi Lutera,
came to Salim saab’s house and I happened to be there.
He told us about a story he had bought,
but was unable to make a full-fledged screenplay out of it.
He offered us 5000 rupees to write it.
This was a ghost-writing job. We weren’t credited on screen.
Today’s party
will decide the course of our lives.
If you’re in love with someone else,
just tell me.
I’ll refuse to marry you and you’ll be free.
An assistant called Sudhir Wahi was working on the film.
He was a wonderful man and has contributed hugely to our lives.
He said: “You guys write very good screenplays.
“Go and meet Sippy Films in their new offices in Khar.
“They want to set up a writing department
“and they’re looking for new writers. ”
We narrated something to them. They were convinced.
They offered us 750 rupees per month for a trial period of 3 months,
and if things worked out: “We’ll increase your wages to a thousand. ”
We ended up working there for 7-8 years at 750 a month!
I was tense about playing the widow’s role. Could I do it?
Then director Ramesh Sippy explained the role to me.
And then I was introduced to Salim and Javed
that they were writers. I was like okay.
There used to be a lot of loud noise on set.
They’d call us when the shot was ready.
But they kept discussing the shots.
I’d ask: “What’s happening?” You know.
So they used to say
they were refining the dialogue a little more,
to make the lines even better.
We can start a life together.
No, Ravi.
I’ve had to face the world judging me.
I don’t want you to go through it too.
I am not scared of the world, Sheetal.
One cannot stop living for fear of being judged.
If we have the right to cry in bad times,
it’s only fair that we smile in good times.
While working together, we eventually became partners.
We never consciously decided to be partners,
nor did we discuss how we’d split the money, etc.
We were gradually credited for our work.
So you two became friends
- while working together? - Yes.
I had a feeling that he was talented.
He knew the work.
And if we wrote together, it would speed up the work, improve it.
During that time I had met Javed saab
when I was doing Seeta Aur Geeta.
Mummy!
- Mummy! - Oh, God!
Javed was playing rummy with all the actors on the set.
So he says: “I’m losing such a lot. ” He had lost 100 or 200 rupees.
It was a lot at that time, of course.
So he says: “You pick a card for me. ”
So I pulled a card for him
and it was a run in rummy card or whatever, and he declared.
So he says: “You’ve pulled such a great card for me,
“I think we are meant for each other.
“I’m going to propose to you, let’s get married. ”
That’s how it happened.
It’s all because of the card.
But I should’ve realised gambling never pays!
The quintessential masala Hindi movie
can be traced back to Salim-Javed.
Sholay, Deewaar, Janjeer... I mean these are films, Shaan...
they defined my childhood.
They defined what cinema was.
I think they’d freak out that you called it “Janjeer”!
- Well, it’s Zanjeer. - “Zanzeer!”
- How do you say it? - “Zanjeer. ”
Zanjeer!
I think they came in at a time when
socially there was a lot of stuff going on,
politically, socially in the country at that point.
I think there was a lot of discontent amongst,
you know, middle-classes, lower classes
and they reflected that.
There was a certain artistry in the 40s and the 30s,
the golden era of entertainment.
It went on into the 50s.
Then post-independence, where we actually took a holiday in cinema
was in the 60s.
All of the 60s were these simplistic plots.
Full of songs and music in hill stations.
If you just go into the archives,
you’ll find about 500 movies like that.
Salim-Javed made a difference to the 70s like nobody else had.
Like, they literally created that era.
They came from outside the movie industry.
They came with the sentiments of that time.
They were anti-establishment in their ethos,
they were angry and they were angsty.
And they created an angry, angsty, anti-establishment lead.
1970s...
this was the period, you know,
when you needed somebody
to create heroes for you who’d get things done.
Some... we need some hero.
Somebody who would clean up the system.
Salim-Javed found in the “Angry Young Man”,
the perfect representation of dissent.
Dissent came on the streets probably in ’74 onwards.
On screen, it came probably before that, say Zanjeer.
Sher Khan.
I am not wearing my police uniform now,
nor am I on duty.
I’m in your neighbourhood. And I’m alone.
A new hero stormed into the film industry
after Zanjeer.
This is a new hero.
A hero who doesn’t sing songs, doesn’t romance,
doesn’t break into comedy or doesn’t bullshit.
The other characters were doing all that. But not the hero.
You be honest to the character,
without pushing the character according to the need of your plot.
Then you can give the character an individuality,
an authenticity and a third dimension.
Had we got Amitabh Bachchan to sing a few songs in Zanjeer,
you would not remember the “Angry Young Man” today.
You might remember, in that film,
the hero Vijay sang no songs.
This was why Dev Anand refused to act in it.
Dev Anand said:
“The audience is not going to accept Dev without songs!”
Many lead actors refused the film.
The director Prakash Mehra was also the producer.
It was his first production, yet he didn’t change the script.
Even though we weren’t big-shot writers then.
We only became known after Zanjeer.
He remained loyal to the script.
It is very easy to talk but you need guts to do it.
Prakash Mehra’s anger was: “How dare anybody do this?”
“I know this is a good story. I know that it would make a difference. ”
He was angry that he got rejected by so many people.
He had to prove a point.
Mr. Bachchan didn’t have too many choices at that time.
All his films were flopping.
Heroines didn't want to work with him.
And, he was at his lowest ebb.
It was his luck that Salim-Javed saw him -
they were passing by Chandan theatre
and they said: “Let’s go in and watch Mehmood’s new film. ”
In Bombay to Goa, he’s chewing gum and fighting.
I think he topples the guy
and he gets up and he’s still chewing gum.
And I think that confidence is what they liked about him
and they gave himZanjeer. I mean...
Hats off to everybody who took that decision and of course, Amit-ji
who then went onto become Vijay forever.
At a stage when you have failed
in many of the attempts that you’ve made in the profession,
you actually enjoy the fact
that somebody is actually coming to narrate something to you.
To narrate a script to you, rather than...
be a little obtuse about what kind of film it’s going to be.
Or what the story is going to be, or who am I going to be working with.
And therefore,
just the fact that Salim saab and Javed saab
wished to come and see me for a narration
was in itself a huge moment.
I didn't want to do Zanjeer.
I basically never wanted to be a part of a male-centric cinema.
It was a male-centric film.
Salim saab and Javed saab - they were very straight-forward.
They had tried a lot of other women actors.
Of course they all had refused.
And they said: “You can’t say no, we need you. ”
Of course another temptation was my co-star.
So I thought at least we’d get to spend time together.
We had written the complete script of Zanjeer.
But when the posters were put up,
our names were nowhere to be seen.
A script is the most important thing in filmmaking.
Yet writers were not valued, and sometimes not even credited.
There were many other good writers,
but I hadn’t seen their names on any banner.
They would receive their money,
but due respect or credit
wasn’t even given to senior writers, except for one or two.
This was another common practice
that we wanted to break.
So we caught hold of a painter,
gave him paint, a brush and a stencil with our names.
Now this painter went on the job a bit tipsy!
So he painted our names on the heroine’s nose, the hero’s forehead,
even across Pran’s mouth!
He painted in large letters: “Written by Salim-Javed”
The next morning people saw
our names on posters all over Bombay.
How did you get the idea of adding your own names?
You should ask Salim saab about that.
All these acts of bravery were his!
He used to instigate me, and I’d ask: “Are you sure?”
“Sure, I’m sure! We wrote it. Why fear anyone?
“We’ll see later. ”
Everyone saw those posters.
What could be greater publicity than that?
Has anyone ever managed that?
Until the film was released, people said:
“These are foolish fellows!
“Stamping on the posters: ‘Written by Salim-Javed. ’
“Who has heard of them?”
We worked so hard and you won’t give us credit?
A songwriter who writes a single page
has his name on the poster.
While the writer of the entire script isn’t mentioned.
A lot of people didn’t take it well.
“You’re just a writer and you want everyone to know you?”
We said: “That’s just how it is”.
What’s the name of a strange man like you?
Vijay.
“I don’t pick up money thrown at me, ”
is something they would’ve said to a producer.
That kind of Vijay, I think,
embodied both of them together.
Be it Vijay of Zanjeer,
Vijay of Deewaar,
Vijay of Trishul,
or Vijay of Shakti -
These characters were called “Angry Young Men”.
Where was this anger from?
Maybe we had anger and hurt within us.
Anger is a very strong emotion,
if used in the proper way.
It can be a very potent emotion.
“Next week another coolie will refuse to pay protection money. ”
Will you sign or not?
My name is Vijay, sir.
What has not happened in 25 years will happen now.