Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar collaborated on quite a few films.
Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar were writing partners for 12 years before they split in the early 1980s.
Javed Akhtar reflected on his and Salim Khan’s partnership coming to an end in a new interview. The duo, best known as Salim-Javed, had penned several blockbuster scripts. These include Sholay, Zanjeer, Deewar, Don and Naam, to name a few. However, after collaborating for 12 years, Salim-Javed’s partnership came to a surprising end and the writers went their different ways. In a new interview, Javed Akhtar opened up about their split and said that he and Salim did not have a fight but simply drifted apart which led to the fallout.
Speaking with Barkha Dutt for Mojo Story, Javed Akhtar said, “When we began, both of us were nobodies, we only had each other. So, we would spend a lot of time together, sit by the sea, talk about stories. He would come to my room, I had one paying guest room, or I would go to his house, which was a small one. But when you become bigger, more successful, many more people enter your life. Then all those desires which were dormant, all those interests which were dormant… The moment you have done something which was the main issue of your life or the main interest, you reach a satisfactory position and then all the other interests start emerging.”
As they grew in their careers, their circles grew as well, Akhtar noted. Eventually, they stopped spending time with each other. He clarified that their split had nothing to do with money or credit. “You start meeting different kind of people and then gradually you become different people and that is what happened. We did not fight, there was no issue about credit, there was never any issue about money, there was nothing. We just grew apart. One realised that relationship is no longer there, that we now don’t sit together in the evening, we have our own set of friends. Gradually that happened and the rapport weakened, and it was reflecting on our work also,” he added.
Last year, Salim Khan’s son Arbaaz Khan opened up about Salim and Javed’s current relationship. He said that the duo has mended ways and often connect over phone calls as well.
“Today they are in a very good space. We, as kids, would have never thought that Javed saab and dad would ever sit across each other and make a conversation. That day, dad wasn’t well and Javed saab called me up and asked me to give his updates. He even asked me to give him a date when he can come home and see dad,” Arbaaz told Bollywood Bubble.
