Salman Khan opens up about Salim-Javed split.
Salim-Javed’s split came as a rude shock to the film industry. It was Javed Akhtar who wanted to separate from Salim Khan.
Salman Khan revealed the first thing his father, writer Salim Khan told the family after his split with Javed Akhtar. The superstar, in an episode of the newly released docu-series Angry Young Men that focuses on Salim-Javed’s journey in Bollywood, opened up about Salim-Javed’s split. In the episode, he revealed that Salim was disturbed after Javed told him that he wanted to split.
“I remember when the partnership broke off, so my dad came home, he was disturbed. So I was sitting at the dining table, and he said, Javed and my partnership… He wants to break up. So I said, ‘Why? Didn’t you say anything?’ He said, ‘No’. I said, there’s got to be a reason. He said, ‘If he wants to go, he wants to go.’ So that’s all he said. That’s all he said,” Salman said in the series.
Honey Irani, Javed Akhtar’s first wife, also shared how Javed broke the news to her. “The only thing I know is that Javed came home one day and he said that I have some bad news for you. So I said, what happened? Has he banged the car again? He says, no, I have split with Salim sahab. So I asked him, I said, why? He says, don’t ever ask me that,” she said.
Speaking about their partnership, Salman described as close friends, but Farhaan said that they were more than just friends. “I think they were more than friends. I don’t know how exactly to describe it. I think without any emotion, they were like brothers. But they were partners in the true sense. I think that’s probably the best way to put it. I’m sure it affected them both in terms of, you know, I mean, although you’ve done all this great work together, but when you go off and start doing it by yourself, you’re again now needing to create an identity just for yourself. So you’re starting from zero. It’s not easy,” Farhaan said.
Salim-Javed worked on 24 movies together, of which 22 were blockbusters. Their biggest hits include Sholay, Don and Zanjeer. They parted ways in the early 1980s and their last script together was the 1987 release Mr India.
Angry Young Men streams on Amazon Prime Video now.
