Angry Young Men In Bollywood Began With Screenwriting Legends Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar

Stories inspired by life lessons

“ Hunger and tiredness teach you life lessons like nothing else can,” said Javed Akhtar in Angry Young Men – a three-part documentary series showcasing the personal and professional journeys of stellar Bollywood screenwriting duo Javed Akhtar (79) and Salim Khan (88), whose advice to aspiring writers is “Read a lot!”

The series delves into how the formidable writing duo Salim-Javed stirred Indian cinema in the 1970s by introducing ‘angry young man’ heroes in a romance-dominated Hindi movie industry, triggering a new taste for the action-man genre. Zanjeer (1973) written by Salim-Javed and directed by Prakash Mehra launched the original ‘angry young man’ Amitabh Bachchan into superstardom – before that, Bachchan had appeared in a string of forgettable films.

Producer Zoya Akhtar, the daughter of Javed Akhtar says that the story of Bollywood’s greatest story and screenwriting team has been long overdue. “I grew up watching these films. But, there’s a generation that doesn’t know Salim-Javed and there is nobody else who has managed as writers to create that kind of a niche for themselves or garnered the kind of attention in the highly competitive Bollywood film industry that is obsessed with heroes,” said Akhtar in the series.

Friends & Family

The documentary builds on interviews with Salim and Javed, their families, actors, directors, and other personalities from the film industry who worked with the two screenwriters. It skillfully captures their very successful partnership and the separation that followed. Their reunion at the end of the series left me misty-eyed.

Family members sharing their memories include Salman Khan, Zoya Akhtar, Farhan Akhtar, Arbaaz Khan, Honey Irani, Helen, and Shabana Azmi.

Salim Khan’s famous actor son Salman Khan said of their work “ Agar kisi ko marna hai na, to kaam se maro (Let your work speak for you), and the Salim-Javed duo did exactly that.”

Zoya Akhtar, who grew up watching her father at work noted, “They did about 24 movies together of which 22 were blockbusters. It hadn’t happened before and I don’t think it will happen again.” Akhtar’s wife Shabana Azmi described herself as an early critic. “People sat up and took notice and a lot of them also said, what do they think of themselves and I too was one of them.”

Bollywood Stars

Bollywood stars including Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Hema Malini, Hrithik Roshan, Aamir Khan, Karan Johar, Kareena Kapoor Khan and others candidly share their experiences on and off the sets of Salim-Javed screenplays.

Success came with a dose of hubris, however. Jaya Bachchan says frankly, “Once they got the success, they were very irreverent. They were the brats.” Honey Irani, Javed Akhtar’s ex-wife added, “They were not at all humble.”

But many actors acknowledged the influence of the writing duo on their careers, movies, and the Hindi film industry. “Show me any writer today on whose name the audience will come to watch a movie,” said Aamir Khan.  “Whoever has grown up seeing their movies, carries a bit of Salim-Javed in their blood,” concurred Hrithik Roshan.

A walk down memory lane

The docu-series includes rare archival footage that takes viewers on a nostalgic walk down memory lane. Scenes from iconic films such as “Deewar,” “Don,” “Sholay,” “Trishul” and “Dostana” showcase the impact and charm of their stories, including a memorable scene from Deewar where the child protagonist and later the hero – Vijay played by Amitabh Bhachan says – “ Me phanke hua paise nahi uthata (I don’t pick thrown money).”

Many of us who grew up watching these movies still remember their legendary dialog. Who can forget blood-chilling lines like “ Kitne aadmi the?” and “Yeh haath humko de de thakur Thakur” ( from the terrifying Gabbar Singh in Sholay. )

The series also touches on the duo’s unexpected split in 1982. Why they parted ways remains uncertain, but Javed Akhtar acknowledges that “Fatigue had set in our partnership, and that started showing in our work.” “We separated in a very civil manner and remember only the good times,” adds Salim Khan.

A directorial debut that’s honest

The series which was well received by viewers and the Bollywood fraternity is the directorial debut of Namrata Rao who has won several accolades for her editing prowess in films like Ishqiya, Band Baaja Baaraat, Ladies vs Ricky Bahl, and Kahaani .

Rao ensures that the series is not just a feel-good, nostalgic undertaking but an honest work that addresses the good, bad, and ugly aspects of the Salim-Javed story; it asks uncomfortable questions and presents difficult answers.

Javed Akhtar admits to taking 80% of the blame for his divorce from his first wife-Honey Irani while Irani is forthright about the arrogance that overcame the screenwriting partnership with their success.

Answering a question about falling in love with another woman (Helen), while already married, Salim Khan smiles, “Love happens. If you have ever fallen in love, you would know.”

Copycat stories

The duo are honest about copying Hollywood and other language movies because in those days, adapting storylines from foreign films was not frowned upon‌. “There was no internet or streaming services for people to know what was going on in other places,” says Javed Akhtar. Thanks to the internet’s omniscience, blockbuster Sholay’s story is now known to be a ripoff from Hollywood’s 1960 classic Magnificent Seven, itself copied from the Japanese movie The Seven Samurai .

The docu-series is executive produced by Salma Khan, Salman Khan, Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar, Zoya Akhtar, and Reema Kagti, under the banner ‘Produced by Salman Khan Films’, ‘Excel Media and Entertainment’ and ‘Tiger Baby’.

Not only does Angry Young Men chronicle the journey of two rule-breaking icons who transformed the role of screenwriters in Indian cinema, but with Salim and Javid helming this authentic retelling, it frames how their drive and ambition fueled the angry young man genre that lit a fuse in 1970s Bollywood moviemaking; if recent releases like Animal are any indication the ripple effect of their genius continues to reverberate even in movies made today.

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