EXCLUSIVE: Javed Akhtar on his fallout with Salim Khan: I do not feel sorry because it ended in a special place

Javed Akhtar is one of the most prominent gems of Indian cinema. The acclaimed screenwriter used to co-write with Salim Khan. The duo penned many iconic dialogues of blockbuster hits in the 70s and were one of the most popular Jodi’s of that era. However, after a few years, they parted ways and started to write movies separately.

Recently, Javed Akhtar appeared in Arbaaz Khan’s show The Invincibles on Bollywood Bubble and opened up on his bond with Salim Khan, the struggles they had to face back then and how they ended up parting ways.

Javed Akhtar on bond with Salim Khan

Speaking about bonding with Salim Khan and how they went on to write scripts together Javed Akhtar said, “I had come to be a director never thought will be a writer. One of my friends from Bhopal got me a job at SM Sagar as an assistant for Rs.100. But soon I started writing dialogues for the film. But for the future, I had decided that I did not want to be a writer anymore. I had met Salim Khan at Sagar Saab’s place and he was the only person who persuaded me to be a writer. He said, ‘It will be your biggest mistake If you will not be a writer’. One day Sagar saab came and asked us to write a script for their next film for which we received Rs. 5000. We soon started getting more work together.“

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He further revealed, “We never sat to discuss that we shall be partners, but it just happened. It was so natural that we never felt that we should work separately. Salim had sold a story to Dharmendra for Rs. 9000 and that was Zanjeer whose screenplay we wrote together and Prakash Mehra produced it. The movie went on to be a blockbuster hit and we went on to write scripts for many blockbuster hits.”

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Javed Akhtar on fall out with Salim Khan

On being asked the reason for their fallout Javed Akhtar said, “The reason for our separation even after so many years. To be honest I do not feel sorry about it because it ended in a special place. The eleven years of collaboration between us will be remembered with respect. But if we had faded out slowly it would not have been good. We separated after giving major blockbuster hits. With time what happens particularly with success? you develop your other friends and your other circle. Slowly the interactions you had with each other that we used to think that we are just sitting together post our work enjoying a drink together. But that too was a part of our work. “

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“Soon your relationship starts becoming very civilised. It was not that we never had misunderstandings or we never yelled at each other at times. Our relationship was very dynamic. But then we started behaving very civilised and spoke with caution, about which topic to talk about and which topics are taboo all this started coming in between our relationship. The rapport we had with each other ended. It was not something small, it was a big thing for Salim Javed to part ways and it dragged on for almost two to three years. Also, post Trishul and Don we did not have any work and thus a dead-end came professionally too. But I respect Salim saab to date,” Javed Akhtar added.

Watch the full interview with Javed Akhtar here:

Also Read: EXCLUSIVE: Arbaaz Khan asks Salim Khan if his failure in comparison to Salman Khan disappointed him