Written By Salim-Javed: The Story of Hindi Cinema's Greatest Screenwriters

by Diptakirti Chaudhuri

The dramatic, entertaining story of the dream team that pioneered the Bollywood blockbuster. Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar reinvented the Bollywood formula with an extraordinary lineup of super hits, becoming game changers at a time when screenwriting was dismissed as a back-room job.
From Zanjeer to Deewaar and Sholay to Shakti, their creative output changed the destinies of several actors and filmmakers and even made a cultural phenomenon of the Angry Young Man. Even after they decided to part ways, success continued to court them-a testament not only to their impeccable talent and professional ethos, but also their enterprising showmanship and business acumen.
Fizzing with energy and brimming over with enough trivia to delight a cinephile's heart, Written by Salim-Javed tells the story of a dynamic partnership that transformed Hindi cinema forever.

Genres: Nonfiction, Pop Culture, Film, Media Tie In

372 pages, Paperback

Published October 28, 2015

About the author

Diptakirti Chaudhuri loves marketing by day, movies by night.

His first book was for children, on the 2011 cricket World Cup. From then onwards, he has been writing about his first love - Bollywood.
His second book (Kitnay Aadmi Thay) was on Bollywood trivia as was his third - BollyBook: The Big Book of Hindi Movie Trivia (published in September 2014).
His next book was Written By Salim-Javed: The Story of Hindi Cinema's greatest screenwriters, an in-depth look at the story of the two writers who revolutionised the Hindi film industry.
He has written Bioscope: A Frivolous History of Bollywood in Ten Chapters, looking at the evolution of Hindi cinema in quirky ways.
Subsequently, he went back to Bollywood trivia with BollyGeek: A Crazy Trivia Guide to Bollywood.
His latest is a set of four Bollywood Pocketbooks - one each on Iconic Dates, Places, Characters and Things.

He lives in Bangalore with his wife, a son and a daughter. None of them shares his obsessive love for the movies. Yet.

Reviews

[Vikas Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally a well researched book, written in fluid filmi style, on the duo that in many ways shaped the Indian film industry. Salim-Javed not only scripted some of the biggest block busters of Bollywood- Sholay, Zanzeer, Deewar.... they were also instrumental in giving the Industry it's biggest super star- Amitabh Bacchan. For any bibliophile and lover of written word, it is a must read for the way it chronicles the early struggle, suave marketing , originality of plot, eyes and ears to the ground and finally the success of two biggest writers of Indian film industry

[Ashok Rao · Rating 5 out of 5]

The screenplay of Deewar is considered to be the Perfect Hindi Film Screenplay. While writing the screenplay of Slumdog Millionaire, writer Simon Beaufoy studied Salim-Javed's kind of cinema minutely and the director Danny Boyle described Deewar as being 'absolutely key to Indian Cinema'. With this book Diptakirti Chaudhuri does justice to the phenomenon called Salim-Javed.

[Gorab · Rating 3 out of 5]

★★★½☆
What fun it would be, had the book about them been written by Salim-Javed themselves.
And after reading the book, feels like many parts were actually written by them - repeatedly blowing their trumpets :P

Well researched. Bollywood fans of 80's and 90's films are bound to connect better with this book.
It showcases the struggles the film writers went through and still go through for claiming their due credit.
Also a case study to realize that you need much more than just talent to earn glamour and fame.

Glad about:
Verbatim cheesy dialogues bringing in nostalgia.
Abundance of trivia from their films, casting decisions, other writers and how they cooked the scripts.
Book structure and decent narration.

Disappointed about:
Almost no info on why/how they split up. Apparently they are both mum about it.
Very little info on who did what in their partnership. But it can be derived (in a speculative way) that Akhtar was good with words, and Salim was better with guts and handling people.
Adding too much of sugar spoils a sweet! Felt it quite a lot of time when the author was going more than ga ga over them.

Overall:
A good combination of light hearted read with deep research!
From now on, I'll make it a habit of not walking out immediately when the credits start rolling :)

[Arun Divakar]

Note : This review can easily be shelved under nostalgia porn. If you have been smitten by Hindi cinema of the 70’s and 80’s, it’s witty comebacks and explosive dialog and Amitabh Bachchan’s angry young man avatar (all these three in no particular order) then this might connect with you.

A bit of name dropping first. Here are some of the movies that have been terrific successes at the Indian box office three decades ago :

Haathi Mere Saathi

Seeta Aur Geeta

Zanjeer

Deewar

Sholay

Trishul

Don

Shakti

Mr. India

These movies pretty much restructured the entire landscape around Hindi cinema in terms of the money they reclaimed from the box office, the careers they helped catapult and also by the massive cult followings that some of them still have. The common factor for all of these movies were the screenwriters : Salim-Javed whose names have become stuff of lore in Bollywood. From this list, like many of the kids growing up in India in the 80’s the first movie that I saw was Sholay and to this day I remember seeing the titles flash by which read ’Written by Salim-Javed’ against the backdrop of two men riding their horses through the barren lands of India.

Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar came into their own at a point in time when Hindi cinema treated its screenwriters a step or two above the lower level technical staff. Bollywood was (and still is) an industry guided primarily by stars and the directors come a close second and in this pecking order one could never find a place for the people who actually wrote the movie. Salim and Javed began at the low rungs, formed a partnership and then started pitching ideas for movies to potential directors and producers. They hit one gold mine with the success of Zanjeer and with it came the launch of the archetype of the angry young man which was cemented to much greater effect with the runaway success of Deewar two years later. However they became icons with the unprecedented success of Sholay and could command much more of clout in the industry. With the way things went from there, one could almost write a whole chapter on how Hindi cinema evolved with these two men for almost a decade. They did eventually split up and go their own ways but by the time they decided to part ways, their stories had slowly started becoming stale.

If you were to critically examine the movies written by Salim-Javed then you might find that quite a few of the stories are rehashed version of older ones. You have certain templates : a family which splits apart when the children are young owing to a traumatic incident later comes together after vanquishing the villains, siblings or a father/son or a mother/son duo on opposing sides of the law, the power of friendship, sacrifice, the angry young man, the flamboyant antagonist bent on world domination are all used time and again in their movies. Their story ideas have not aged well while their dialogs have. It is rather amusing to see that even knowing of these handicaps their stories are still be remade by filmmakers. The book covers the career of these two men, the social background that existed in the 70’s and the role of cinema in it and how the rehashed versions became hackneyed after a phase. The author is a dedicated fan of these scripts and does not hide it. Like I said at the onset, this is pure nostalgia porn.

So the next time you see and hear :

A tall lanky man walk into the Sanctum Sanctorum of a temple and tell the statue of Lord Shiva that ’Aaj khush to bahut honge tum..' (Today would be a very happy day for you isn’t it ? ) OR

A stocky man with a potbelly, blackened teeth and olive green military attire paces a sun scorched boulder while a bandolier in his hand keeps clacking on the boulder. His boot heels click ominously on the rock as the sun beats mercilessly down on three sweating and fidgety men standing to one side. The pacing man’s face is still not shown but there is an off-screen growl from him ’Kitne aadmi the ?’ (How many of them were there ?) to which one of them stammers a reply ’Sardar…do aadmi the’ (Chief, there were two of them) and after an ominous silence he suddenly whips around with a fierce ’Suvar ke bachcho, aur tum teen ? ’ (You sons of pigs, there were three of you against them and you still lost ? ) OR

An underworld tycoon replies with suave charm to a woman who tries to lure him into a honey trap that ’Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahi, naamumkin hai (It is not just difficult to capture the Don, it is pretty much impossible)

Remember that there are two old men in Mumbai who made all of this possible.

[Vikas Datta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a readable book about some of Bollywood's most famous films and the central role of the film's wordsmiths in the final product

[Suhel Banerjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Diptakirti's 4th book in 5 years, and 3rd on Bollywood (the first, and only non-Bollywood book was on cricket). His previous two Bollywood outings, Kitnay Aadmi Thay and Bollybook were out and out Bollywood masala trivia blockbusters. That is, Satyajit Ray level of research and Karan Johar style of easy entertainment. I have been a fan for a while now and also a friend, so there goes the disclaimer.


Slightly young to have missed the magic of these four words - 'Written by Salim-Javed' on the big screen, but old enough to get excited when they showed up during the Doordarshan movies on Friday and Saturday evenings, this book is as much dipped in nostalgia for our generation as gulab jamuns in sugar syrup. However, in spite of being fairly versed with the might of the duo on Bollywood during the 70s and early 80s, WBSJ is an eye opener in terms of how these two young men changed the entire profession of script writing and story in Bollywood by making it mainstream, glamorous, and most importantly respectable and well paying. The chutzpah displayed by them from their early struggling days is straight out of a Salim-Javed movie (trivia and quizzes at the end of the post). WBSJ is divided into five neat Parts: 1. Flashback (background till where S & J start the partnership), 2. The Partnership (basically the book itself, a deep dive into each movie they wrote together), 3. Split Wide Open (as the name suggests, the split), 4. Themes and Messages ( like an extended Guidebook for (2)) and 5. Impact & Legacy (self explanatory).

If there's one thing you can expect from a Salim-Javed script, it is drama. The equivalent in a Diptakirti book is painstaking research. As you cherish every nugget of Bollywood gold dust thrown at you, you feel like giving the author a hug for the hours he must have spent at elevated attention levels noting down tidbits for us. It is also quite obvious that the author is a fan, and the strain of reverence is explicit throughout, sometimes slightly embarrassingly like calling Javed Akhtar's daughter's 'Dil Dhadakne Do' a commercially and critically acclaimed venture. This is a man paying homage to two men who provided him with the object of his obsession - Bollywood in the 1970s and 1980s. He also conducted some first hand interviews with the protagonists of the book, but primarily relied extensively on old issues of trade magazines and other like minded contemporaries (e.g. Sriram Raghavan, film director) who associated themselves with the world of movies. These publications and individuals (film critic Sukanya Verma making regular appearances) come back again and again through the pages.

The book is really Parts (1) and (2), and through some fresh anecdotes, some of the most well known Bollywood stories, and simple yet clear language Diptakirti takes us through a journey of all S-J's 19 unforgettable movies. The chapters include a brief recap to refresh the memory or to aid you to follow along in case you missed one or two of these (you really shouldn't though!). Sholay, Deewar, Zanjeer, Trishul, Don, Shaan, and Shakti make the most appearances. It helps that the author, like the subject of the book, is an unabashed fan of Big B, and S-J and Big B wouldn't be what they are without each other.

Now for the 'critical' part of the review. If this was a movie I think he's made a 3.5 hours biopic which could have been easily wrapped up in 2 hours flat. The entire chapter (4) felt like the author took a hammer and was ensuring that nothing from Part (2) left our heads, ever. Too many lines were repeated almost verbatim, also some of the recaps. It felt like how many scriptwriters treat their audiences - babies that need to be fed with a large spoon, lest things fall off! The other bone I have to pick with Diptakirti is that while the previous two books were an edge of your seat thriller in a fact based, trivia filled way, this could have been a more leisurely, relaxed read. However, his style remained almost the same in both, more journalistic and narrative, and very little flair. Which would be fine for most authors writing non-fiction, but I have read his blogs for many years now and he can definitely add much more to the stories than telling the facts, absolutey mind-blowing ones, in a linear, almost dry approach. It is disappointing that S-J refused to share any real information about the split, which obviously will be a big reason for many to read the book, but can't fault the author for that.


While the family shops...
In spite of the previous paragraph I am certain I will be going back to this book every now and then as I do to KAT and Bollybook. Some smaller things that stand out are, a separate section for all the translated dialogues, rather than next to the italicized ones in Hindi, as that could be very distracting. Attention to detail throughout. Sticking to the premise of Salim-Javed for the majority of the book, and not spending too much time on the rest of their and their families careers. This would have been very tempting to do as they split almost 30 years back and Javed Akhtar in particular has attained as much, if not more, success as a lyricist as the pair did during their heydays as Salim-Javed.

Final rating: 4/5 (caveat: You MUST be a Bollywood fan to even pick this up)

Top 10 Trivia:

1. Salim Khan's father was in the police, and while growing up he heard stories of various criminals. Many of the more interesting ones stuck. There was a particularly cruel story about a legendary dacoit who cut off the ears and noses of all the policemen he caught. What was his name?

2. Salim was quite the writer in college, and earned a name for himself by writing love letters for his less articulate friends. Two of his close friends _____ Singh Rao Kalevar and ______ Singh were later immortalized by him. Fill in the blanks.

3. When Javed Akhtar was born, his father - Poet Jan Nisar Akhtar - a member of the Communist Party, went to the hospital with some friends. Instead of the tradition of reading the Azaan in the newborn's ears, what book, that he was carrying with him, did he read from?

4. Javed Akhtar during his struggling days would stay in a storeroom at Kamlistan, Amrohi's studio, and one night found three Filmfare Award trophies in a cabinet. He recalls holding the trophies reverently every night and pretending that he was receiving the award himself, rehearsing speeches even. Which legendary actress' trophies were these?

5. One of Javed Akhtar's drinking buddies offered to share a flat with him but Javed turned him down as he was not sure he would be able to pay the monthly rent. S-J later went on write some memorable roles for him, particularly one where he was pitted against Amitabh Bachchan. Who?

6. In Shakti, as well as the lesser known Akhri Daao (starring Jeetendra), the hero displays exemplary confidence during a job interview by replying to the same question - 'aap is kaam ko nahin jaante' - with the same words - what?

7. In a 1977 movie, Maha Badmash, a mysterious kingpin remained hidden in the shadows and instructed his minions in a booming voice. What was the name of this villain, later immortalized by S-J in a different movie?

8. In Yaadon Ki Baraat, a painter sees the killer Shakaal (Ajit) fleeing from the scene of the murder. He is seen wearing short kurtas and dark framed spectacles. This is much like a real-life legend of Bollywood, and the painter's name was also the same as this wordsmith. Who/what?

9. In which movie did they put their foot down against Amitabh Bachchan changing costumes throughout the second half as they said it would take away from the continuity and the thrill of the long scene?

10. What was Javed Akhtar's first outing as the script and story writer, after a long hiatus, in 2003 for his ex-wife Honey Irani's directorial debut?

Answers to Trivia:
1. Gabbar Singh
2. Jai and Virender
3. Communist Manifesto
4. Meena Kumari
5. Shatrughan Sinha (Kala Pathar)
6. 'Aur aap hume nahin jante'
7. Mogambo
8. Gulzar
9. Don
10. Armaan

[Madhulika Liddle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sholay, Zanjeer, Don, Shaan, Kaala Patthar, Trishul, Shakti are among the defining films of Hindi cinema in the 1970s. These, along with Chacha-Bhatija, Seeta aur Geeta, Andaz and Haathi Mere Saathi, are also some of the biggest films written by the two men who together formed the most visible screenwriters of Hindi cinema in the 70s and 80s: Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar. Salim-Javed were responsible for the creation of the Angry Young Man motif; closely related to this was also the fact that they were ultimately responsible (through Zanjeer, where they insisted on having the hitherto relatively unknown Amitabh Bachchan being cast in the lead) for the rise to stardom of one of India’s most iconic actors.

Diptakirti Chaudhuri’s Written by Salim-Javed: The Story of Hindi Cinema’s Greatest Screenwriters tells the story of these two men, the films they wrote, their triumphs and occasional failures, across five parts. The first 180 pages or so, covering three parts, consist of a chronological ‘biography’ of Salim and Javed and the films they worked on: brief biographies of their lives before they met, their meeting (on the sets of the stunt film Sarhadi Lootera, where Salim Khan was the second male lead while Javed Akhtar was clapper boy and assistant director), and their collaboration. Beginning with Andaz in 1971 to Shakti eleven years later, Chaudhuri provides a brief synopsis of each film, and proceeds to discuss various aspects of it: inspirations, trivia, themes, dialogues—with, of course, a focus on Salim-Javed’s scripting of the film.

After the third part (which narrates the splitting up of the Salim-Javed team), Chaudhuri devotes the rest of the book to a discussion of Salim-Javed’s work: the messages and themes that recur in their work; the villains; the Angry Young Men; the women portrayed. The dialoguebaazi, the somewhat offbeat and understated romance, the characterizations, the humour. Importantly, too, the niche Salim-Javed carved for themselves, the way they marketed their scripts, the legacy they have left behind.

I liked the overall compactness and completeness of this book: even though the 70s and 80s (the 80s to a greater extent) are not my preferred time period for Hindi film-watching, this was a well-written, informative, very readable book. The trivia (for instance, that the dialogues of Sholay comprised the first instance of records only with dialogues being produced—and selling like hot cakes) is fun, the analysis of contemporary sociopolitical and economic affairs, themes, and dialogues incisive. Also, importantly, Chaudhuri steers clear of the need to idolize the people whose biographies he’s writing: he points out their flaws, the rehashing of plots, the occasional sexism, the arrogance that set into the men themselves.

If there’s one thing I thought this book lacked, it was a solid grounding in what Hindi cinema was really like in the 50s and 60s. For instance, mentioning the lost-and-found formula and talking only of Waqt or Yaadon ki Baaraat and not of Nasir Husain’s many variations on the theme—Tumsa Nahin Dekha, Dil Deke Dekho, Phir Wohi Dil Laaya Hoon and Pyaar ka Mausam—smacks of incomplete research. So do claims that “The Hindi film villain has always been a snarling buffoon” (remember Rehman in Waqt or Inteqaam? Pran in Do Badan? Tarun Bose in Anokhi Raat and Benazir? And many other characters, other roles that were definitely villainous but portrayed with a coldly suave dignity?) or that “In the 1950s, Hindi cinema was largely about social causes and subdued romance that often ended in tragedy” (romances ending in tragedy may have been true for some films, but even Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa, a tragic film if one ever saw one, has more than a hint of a happy ending to the romance).

Still, perhaps that’s just the 1950s-60s Hindi film buff in me speaking. Despite that, this is a good book, and one I enjoyed.

[Mayur Sarda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Book should be named as copy and pasted by Salim Javed. Most of their stories were copied from Hollywood.

[E.T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5 The book starts with a brief background and coming together of Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar, and like a Bollywood movie, plunges into the heart of d matter - Their films - almost immediately. It is followed by tracking their careers post d split, an analysis of their work, and their legacy. There was never a dull moment and he kept each chapter interesting enough while avoiding being shallow or too long.
The 0.5 rating had been deducted bcoz some themes - importance of writers as articulated by Salim-Javed was overused.

[Deepanjali B Sarkar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a pretty decent library of books on Hindi cinema and it is very rarely that I come across a book that is not only thoroughly researched, but also entertaining, informative and well written. Some books are just film trivia strung together. Some are plain boring. For me, the classic book on Hindi cinema is Anupama Chopra's "Sholay". This comes pretty close!

The book traces the writers' journey right from their childhood to their blockbuster years and later. Coincidentally both writers lost their mothers at a very early age and had absentee fathers. Could this have influenced their writing? For some of their most iconic screenplays are about a son being unable to forgive his father for deserting him (Deewar, Shakti). Even some of their immortal characters, such as Gabbar are memories from childhood (Salim Khan's father was in Madhya Pradesh police at a time when dacoits were rampant in the state). Javed Akhtar's father, the famous leftist poet, even though largely absent during his growing up years, shaped his son's own leftist ideologies - evident in the fiery speeches in their movies against factory owners ("saathiyon humain yeh shikayat nahin hai ke guldan phoolon se kyun sajein hain. Humain shikayat yeh hai ki humaare aate ke canastar khaali kyun hai..."), corrupt establishments and cronyism in business.

While it is well known that Salim Javed had recommended Amitabh Bacchan to GP Sippy for "Sholay", the extent of their conviction in this rank newcomer is startling! They booked Blaze preview theatre on their own for the princely amount of Rs 1000 and showcased who they felt was the only choice for Jai, by holding a special preview of "Zanjeer", which they had written and which starred the as yet unknown actor, Amitabh Bacchan.

Incidentally, the book mentions the promotional ad for Zanjeer as "zanjeer main lipta hua inteqam ka shola"! Is it a coincidence that their next mangum opus was Sholay!

"Zanjeer" was conceptualised by Salim Khan even before he teamed up with Javed Akhtar. The inspiration came from his father's stories of honest police officers. The story was first bought by Dharmendra for Rs 25,000. It then went to Dilip Kumar who turned it down because he felt the hero's character was too one dimensional! After Dilip Kumar turned it down it went to Dev Anand (much to the writer-duo's consternation!) Dev Anand asked for a couple of songs to be woven into the film and that is when the writers put their foot down.

A great insight by the author is how in "Deewar" we recall the film as being violent but it has only one violent scene - where Vijay bashes up the goons in the warehouse after locking the door, The scene that concludes with him staggering out and bending his head under a roadside tap. The intensity of the violence is actually psychological, not physical. The scars left on the young children when their father deserted him; the tattoo forcibly inked on Vijay's hand, having to grow up on the footpath - which crescendoes to the warehouse fight scene. The fire in their dialogues does the rest.

A book I would strongly recommend to all Hindi movie cinephiles.

[M. Nur · Rating 3 out of 5]

More informative than insightful — it's too much of a hagiography for that — and more or less made for the casual reader, perhaps someone who doesn't think too deeply about films but still wants to learn about some of their favorite movies.

Many things in this will probably annoy more serious and well-read cinephiles, especially those with a keen interest in and deeper knowledge of Hindi film history. This is undoubtedly a blinkered account, with Salim-Javed often being presented as originating things they didn't quite originate and with their sensibilities elevated above other (pointedly "un-macho") sensibilities. Attempts to scale their actual persona to their larger-than-life films often reach ludicrous levels (in one very ill thought out passage, Chaudhari likens the professional hierarchy of the Bombay film industry to a 'caste system' that the aristocratic Salim and Javed, who hails from a prominent family tracing descent back to an advisor to the Mughal empire, challenge).

This is also not a particularly well-edited book. Its structure is quite lackluster, sort of like a tourist guide, and there are stretches in the latter sections of the book where the author essentially repeats details they have already gone over — many, many times.

Egregiously, there are typos (one that made me chuckle was "Haathi Ki Safai"), grammatical errors and obsolete words and sentence fragments left in, though any half-competent editor could've spotted and removed them easily.

A better editor could've fixed some of the issues with this book. The writing itself isn't the worst but it's also not the best. There's a touch of immaturity and a serious lack of finesse in Chaudhuri's writing style, which becomes all the more apparent when he quotes Jai Arjun Singh, an impeccable writer.

Can you sink time into worse books? Absolutely, and this one is not completely without its merits. Chaudhari has obvious love for the films he's writing about and if you share that love, then this book will be worth the money and the time. But there's also better, more nuanced, more rigorous books and articles on cinema out there and if you've read those, then you'll find yourself wishing that Written by Salim-Javed was of that standard.

[Anal Ghosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

With this, I have now read all of Diptakirti's books on Bollywood, and like the rest, this one too was an engaging read - the research done is extensive, its peppered with trivia, and his inimitable writing style. He chronicles the journey of the blockbuster duo and how they not only revolutionized screenwriting, but changed the course of Bollywood movies with an indelible legacy. There are fascinating accounts of both their initial lives, and how they inadvertently came together as script writers and gained footholds in the industry. All their movies are covered in detail with a short refresher on the story (lest you have forgotten), their making, inspirations, commercial success and insights from the protagonists themselves & experts like Sriram Raghavan, Khalid Mohammad, etc. And through these accounts, you get to see the ascent of the brand Salim-Javed, and how they became the movers and shakers of the industry for over a decade.

What bothered me was the length of the book, and it could have been edited better. A lot of insights (angry young man, Gabbar Singh, marketing genius, etc.) are repeated multiple times in different sections. The duo have refused to divulge the exact reasons for the split, but Diptakirti does good justice of piecing together whatever info is available. If you are a Bollywood fan, and have savored the classics from 70s/80s, here's another must-read from the best writer on the industry.

P.S. - Disclaimer that I am privileged to know the author, but that has no bearings on the review :)

[Priyank Aggarwal · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly complete entertainer in itself. Marvelously written.

This book begins with the journey of the writer duo separately, although I knew much of the childhood of Javed Akhtar as the same description is the stating point of his book, Tarkash. But again, reading about the childhood of Salim Khan was pleasant too. It was worth noting the influence of their real life characters and situations they faced in their movies.

The next section explains their hits, misses, industry relationships, movie by movie. This section has, by far, been my most favorite section as I could relate to the stories of those movies with a new vigor. This section also delves deeper into their arrogance at that time, how they reached the pinnacle of success in the film industry and when they parted their ways.

Then, the last section throws light on some of the interesting personas they created, the most famous of which is the persona of the "Angry Young Man".

In the end, this book has as many twists and turns as their movies and is equally exhilarating.

[Ishan Mahajan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read if you are someone who loves (likes?) Indian hindi cinema. While the book is well researched & thought through in terms of documenting the life and times of Salim & Javed, it could have been structured differently.

With its movie by movie chapters, leading into themes, it follows a rather pedagogical style which leads to repetition of themes.

Since the author has used secondary research & interviews, rather than in-depth chats with Salim and Javed themselves, it fails at offering a sneak peak at the internal workings of their minds. There is a fair analysis of their outcomes but details on the actual process of script writing are lacking - do scripts come in sparks of brilliance? or do they maintain hundreds of half baked ideas and then polish one by one?

Would love it if someone brings out that aspect for scriptwriters, lyricists and musicians alike.

[Nishant Bhagat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a first-of-its-kind on the creators of what now could be called the pop culture of 70s & 80s. Now I know that all my staple diet of Bollywood films while growing up were written by this duo.

Considering this book has been written by a rank outsider and not someone from the industry, the passion, effort and sincerity shows up in the writing. This book gives a brilliant overview of how things were in the film industry as well as the country, back then.

I don't remember much of my growing up years but this book rekindled some beautiful memories. I reconnected briefly with the child in me.

Though I never knew Salim-Javed personally, I have heard some lovely stories about these gentlemen from near and dear ones. And the book reiterates the fact that they are extremely well read, cultured and nuanced human beings.

This book is a must read for all Bollywood buffs!

[Pushkar Sohony · Rating 5 out of 5]

After watching *Angry Young Men* (review on https://thefilmiangle.blogspot.com/20...), I craved more about Salim-Javed’s genius. Enter Diptakirti Chaudhuri's *Written by Salim-Javed*, which not only quenched my thirst but transported me into their world of cinema. Through few pages only, “yeh kitaab mujhe de de Thakur” kept echoing in my mind. As the book unveiled the grit behind the iconic dialogues, the nuances of their process, and their chemistry that birthed unforgettable scripts, I realised that “unki imagination ko pakadna mushkil hi nahi, namumkin hai”. This book captures the essence of their writing, leaving you awestruck. Truly, “kitne aadmi the” who can match their brilliance? And really “Sardaar do aadmi The”. A must-read for Bollywood lovers seeking more than just surface-level stories and say “Mere pass yeh kitaab hai”.

[Raghu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Breezy read for fans of this epic-making duo, recounted in the style of a Salim-Javed script with chapter-ending twist/foreshadowing. Interesting analysis of their plotting methods, ethos, key innovations, and impact on mainstream Hindi cinema. However, as often happens with reporting on Indian popular culture, there isn't much counterpoint to the largely one-sided (favorable) perspective on their career, especially given how this duo conquered a hidebound industry with their sheer creative force and "insolent" demands for respect and renumeration for writers of films. In that sense, the villain of this story is a bit one-dimensional.

[Rahul Keswani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by Salim-Javed was excellent in the first half but became a drag to read in the second half (much like most Bollywood movies). The chapters kept parroting the same themes around how the two famous film-writers got their names on the movie posters and managed to get well-paid for their work. I have enjoyed many Salim-Javed movies knowing well that their writing was extremely derivative - something I didn't mind especially since they were writing masala Bollywood films (and also agreed to by the two of them). However, Diptakirti (and the editorial team) could have done a better job in organizing the content of this book and perhaps even shortened it by a third.

[Pratik · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Written by Salim Javed” is the story of two of India’s most prolific screenwriters and storytellers- Salim khan and Javed Akhtar. Through this book, Diptakirti Chaudhari presents some behind-the-scenes stories and the processes that were followed by them to dish put some of Bollywood’s famous films. The writer spends little time getting into films and ignores their pasts a bit. He also tries to analyse the trends bought on by them and explain how their stories reflected the mood of the society. Overall a decent read if you are a filmy buff…

[Maganraj Bafna · Rating 4 out of 5]

First half of the book is excellent..the fourth chapter should have been avoided as it repeats all that is written in the previous chapters. Definitely recommended for it brings you nostalgic memories of the seventies.

[Aashish Garg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, the script could've been tighter.

[Mandar Rasaikar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth reading!

[Tapan Desai · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read if you’re a fan of Hindi cinema or looking to learn about it. It kinda gets repetitive in the 2nd half.

[Parth Pandya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer: The author is a good friend of mine

As a self-professed Hindi film fanatic, I was salivating at the prospect of reading a book on the two most influential screenwriters in the industry's century old history. The book does a great job of unraveling the work of Salim Javed movie after movie with one chapter ending on a note where the second begins. From Deewar to Sholay, the work of these two gentlemen have granted them immortality and the author takes pains to highlight the work that enables that.

My fundamental problem with the book is its length, which becomes apparent as being clearly longer than it needs to be as it loses steam towards the second half. Many points, for eg., about how they wrote scripts uncomprosingly and how they gained better credit for the writers are belabored.

This is a tough topic no doubt to write about and a fascinating one and I would still recommend reading it. The result however, is a bit like their partnership - great at the start and less impact as time wore on.

[Sandeep · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having been weaned heavily on "Indian Cinema", specially on cult classics which was written by the two legends of the Indian film industry, it was a great pleasure reading this engaging book.
Growing up in the 80's and 90's and listening to the films which lend so much context to Hindi cinema, the books helped me relive my childhood days.

The work of Dipakriti is detail oriented and holds your attention, pretty much like the "Salim-Javed" script. Special mention must be made for the way basic story-lines and the formula of the writer duo is deciphered. It's is certainly a great read for cine enthusiasts. Loved the research and the overall flow of the book. Though, I found some parts specially in the second half to be a little repetitive. Overall its an impact book which should be given a leisurely read.

[Harper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't imagine a better narrative on this subject. It was mostly a pleasure to read, and brought out many interesting anecdotes about the film industry. Great and interesting balance of sources, including interviews, contemporary film reviews and newspaper articles, trade magazines, and also more modern quotes from enthusiasts as well as the writers & actors themselves. I liked the organization, which was divided into: early lives of the writers; chronological narrative of their films; thematic analysis; and legacy. However, there was a fair amount of repetition in the later analyses chapters. It would have been nice to have a little more biographical information about Salim Khan & Javed Akhtar.

[Rahul Phatak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seeta Aur Geeta, Deewaar, Sholay, Kaala Patthar , Shaan and last but not the least Don. These were the main movies of my childhood, seeing them on TV (Shanivar ki Raat Amitabh ke Saath) was fun!

This book is the story of the writer duo behind these movies. It delves into the stories behind all the above movies (and many more) and has quite a lot of trivia and anecdotes about the movies.I think this book would have been more enjoyable if I had seen some of their other films like Shakti,etc but overall this book was fun to read and filled with trivia. (Though if you want more trivia, I suggest Bollybook by the same author)

[Aniruddh Sudharshan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yo! Awesomatic me, started and finished on the same day. Quite readable but if only you like reading back stories of Bolly films, Salim-Javed are the most influential film writers, our own Wilder-Diamond types. Book later falls into format mode, quoting one past review here, giving out plot points etc but very little insight on their craft itself. Quite disappointing, but a long list of movies to be watched. All the best.

[Conrad Barwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A real labour of love by an amateur Bollywood fan of the Salim-Javed genre of movies that transformed Bollywood cinema in the 1970s with the introduction of the Angry Young Man trope and the new action blockbuster based on stars like Amitabh Bachchan who the writer duo can said to have launched on his career. Great insight into a key epoch of Hindi cinema and the influence it has to the current day.

[Rahul Bhole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book doesn't merely portray the life sketches, screenwriting craft, Recurring Patterns in the characters written by Salim-Javed, but it creates before your eyes the entire Era. Era of mediocrity and Cliches in which Game-Changers Salim Javed entered and Created History.

An Awesome Read. Thanks Diptakirti Chaudhuri for taking all the pain in writing this book.