Salim-Javed remains an iconic directorial duo of Indian Cinema. The duo has given several hits and are the creators of the persona of the ‘Angry Young Man’ for Amitabh Bachchan. The duo created 24 films together in 11 years, and 20 of them emerged as blockbusters. However, the duo split after Javed Akhtar wanted to part ways and helm independent projects. In a recent interview, Salim Khan revealed that Amitabh Bachchan could have stopped the split, had he intervened.
In his conversation with NDTV, Salim Khan discussed his split with fellow directorial buddy, Javed Khan. Talking about it, he said, “Jab unhone mujhse kaha ki mei alag (films) banana chahta huun, maine kaha thik hai, koi dikkat nahi. Kisiko zabardasti rok nahi sakte. Mujhe toh abhi bhi nahi malum kyun alag hue. Ho gaya toh ho gaya. [When he informed me that he wanted to work separately, I said okay, no problem. You can’t force someone to stay. Even now, I don’t know why we separated. It just happened.]”
Further, he added that they never disclosed the reason behind their split to anyone. Moreover, they neither spoke behind each other’s backs nor mentioned it. Despite the split, they used to meet and talk. Moreover, Salim Khan would pass by Javed Akhtar’s house every day. While walking, Khan waved at Akhtar and he would return the gesture. “The friendship is still there.”
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As the conversation progressed, Salim Khan was asked if their split impacted superstar Amitabh Bachchan. To this, he replied, that the ‘Deewar’ star must have been impacted. He also added that if Big B had intervened, maybe their split wouldn’t have happened. “Lekin mei agar hota unki [Amitabh Bachchan] jagah… unko [Javed Akhtar] yehi raye deta ‘Maat chodo accha khasa tumhari ek jodi hai, kaam kar raahe ho accha khasa chal raha kahe ke liye isko chodhte ho?’ Mai hota toh yeh karta. [But if I were in his [Amitabh Bachchan’s] place… I would have given him [Javed Akhtar] the advice: ‘Don’t leave, you have a great partnership, you’re doing well, everything’s going fine, why would you want to end this?’ If it were me, I would have done that.]”
Even though Salim Khan and Amitabh Bachchan see each other often, they refrain from discussing it. Meanwhile, recently, a docuseries, ‘Angry Young Men’ on the iconic directorial duo released on Amazon Prime Video.