Javed Akhtar on Salim Khan: Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar worked together as writers for some of the best Bollywood films like Sholay, Don, Deewaar and Zanjeer. This Bollywood duo was given credit for making veterans like Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra stars in Bollywood. However, after 12 years, Salim and Javed parted ways.
For what reason did the pairing of Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar break up?
Recently in an interview, Javed Akhtar spoke openly about not working with Salim after he became successful. After 42 years, Javed revealed the reason why his and Salim Khan’s partnership broke up. On parting ways with Salim, Javed said, ‘Writing partnerships are often difficult to maintain, because they depend on a strong mental rapport, like the one Salim and I once had.’
In the interview, Javed revealed that ‘It is easy to do partnership in a cement factory, because in that you know what is the cost of making cement, what is its price in the market? Partnership in writing is a ball game. If you don’t have a scale or weighing machine on which you can place a scene and determine its weight, it’s just a matter of feeling.’
‘It is important to have mental coordination’
Javed Akhtar further said, ‘You should have tremendous mental coordination. As long as you have great mental coordination, you guys can work together. The moment that coordination breaks or becomes weak, you cannot work together.
‘Many people come into your life when you become successful’
Further, Javed Akhtar also revealed that he never had any dispute or quarrel with Salim Khan regarding money or credit. He said- ‘When we started, we both had no one, we only had each other. So, we used to spend a lot of time with each other, sitting by the sea, talking about stories. He used to come to my room, I had a paying guest room or I used to go to his house, which was small. But when you grow up, become more successful, many more people come into your life.
He further said, ‘We never fought, there was no issue regarding credit, there was never any issue regarding money, there was nothing. We just drifted apart. We realized that we no longer have relationships, we no longer sit together in the evening, we have our own friends. Gradually this happened and the coordination became weak and it was affecting our work also.