Cast: Salim Khan, Javed Akhtar, Salman Khan, Arbaaz Khan, Farhan Akhtar, Zoya Akhtar Director: Namrata Rao Language: Hindi and English The coming together of Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar is a story that could make for a whole new documentary. When you decide to document the lives of Hindi cinema’s most iconic writing duo, it’s impossible to film every experience they have lived. But Khan, who’s a sharp and charismatic speaker, makes up for a lot of emptiness one could feel while watching the documentary.
And equally tenacious is Akhtar, whose sense of humour is truly for the ages. The fact they split during the making of Mr. India became an issue of national interest, and that’s perhaps the reason why Salim and Javed are interviewed separately, to add more drama to the pathos of their parting ways.
Director Namrata Rao takes on the challenge to dive deep into the lives of these two people who soon became a force to reckon with, and penned some of Hindi cinema’s most memorable and crucial films. We now call them the new wave. Zanjeer , for that matter, that came out in 1973, was as much of a game changer for this duo as it was for Amitabh Bachchan.
Bachchan and Salim-Javed were the blockbuster Jodi and yet, this actor makes an entry only towards the end of episode one. He says he was done and dusted and the fact that Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar wanted to even pitch an idea to him was heartening. And then began the journey that gave us Sholay, Don, Trishul, and Dostana.