‘Salman Has A Really Soft Corner For His Dad’

‘Salman
wanted
to
do
the
interview
properly.
That’s
why
he
was
nervous,
you
know,
that
dad
should
be
happy.’

“I
had
two
ways
of
looking
at

Angry
Young
Men:
Either
make
it
a
Masterclass
in
scriptwriting
or
tell
the
story
of
Salim-Javed.
I
chose
the
latter,”
says

Namrata
Rao.

The
biographical
docu-series
looks
into
the
lives
of
Bollywood’s
famous
writers
Salim
Khan
and
Javed
Akhtar,
the
men
who
wrote
24
films,
out
of
which
22
were
big
hits.

They
were
the
ones
responsible
for
making
Amitabh
Bachchan
a
star.

They
were
the
ones
who
wrote
the
cult
classic

Sholay,
whose
dialogues
are
repeated
till
today
by
a
generation
who
wasn’t
even
born
when
the
film
released
in
1975.

It’s
a
huge
pressure
and
Rao,
44,
did
feel
it.

“I
think
the
bigger
pressure
on
my
head
was,
who
watches
documentaries?
We’re
not
a
culture
where
people
love
to
go
and
see
documentaries
in
their
free
time.
I
felt
that
pressure
more.
And
when
it
came
closer
to
the
release
and
I
started
talking
to
people,
giving
interviews,
the
pressure
returned,”
Namrata
Rao
tells

Ronjita
Kulkarni/Rediff.com
in
a
must-read
conversation.

What
kind
of
reactions
are
you
getting
from

Angry
Young
Men?

It’s
been
great.
It
has
cut
across
ages.

People,
who
did
not
watch
documentaries,
are
watching
it,
so
that
feels
very
gratifying.

While
doing
it,
I
wanted
younger
people
to
watch
it
and
get
introduced
to
Salim-Javed’s
work
and
the
films
of
those
times.

What
did
Salim-Javed
have
to
say
about
the
docu-series?

They
enjoyed
it
thoroughly.

They
watched
it
just
a
day
or
two
before
it
released,
with
their
friends
and
family,
and
were
quite
moved.

Of
course,
they
said
a
few
things
that
we
could
have
added
this
or
that.

Like
what?

They
were
asking
me
why
I
chose
not
to
keep
the
part
after
they
had
split.
But
that
was
a
conscious
decision.

There
were
a
lot
of
moments,
where
we
simply
get
to
watch
Salimsaab
and
Javedsaab,
even
when
they
are
not
talking.
Like
when
they
are
pouring
a
cup
of
tea.
How
many
hours
did
you
shoot
them?

With
each
of
them,
I
shot
around
seven
times.
Or
maybe
eight.

I
shot
the
series
over
three
years.

We
started
in
March
2021
and
the
shooting
started
in
June
2021.
We
shot
till
March
this
year.

How
many
hours
of
footage
did
you
have?

We
shot
with
other
people
as
well.
Then,
there
was
so
much
archive
of
old
footage
and
photographs.

I
think
there
was
close
to
600
hours
of
footage.

How
did
you
bag

Angry
Young
Men?

I
worked
on
this
anthology
called

Lust
Stories
(2018)
with
Zoya
Akhtar.

While
we
were
working
on
it,
we
would
chat
about
films,
documentaries
and
film-makers…
In
one
of
those
conversations,
Zoya
had
told
me
that
she
always
wanted
to
make
this
documentary
on
Salim-Javed
and
she
wanted
to
call
it

Angry
Young
Men.

I
was
really
taken
by
it
even
then.

In
December
2020,
she
asked
me
if
I
would
direct
it
and
I
said
yes
immediately.

Were
Salim-Javed
ever
apprehensive
about
a
series
on
their
lives?

Zoya
and
Alvira
(Agnihotri
Khan)
spoke
to
their
respective
dads
and
got
them
on
board.

I’ve
heard
Zoya
say
in
interviews
that
both
of
them
had
their
apprehensions
at
first.

You
have
interviewed
Salimsaab
and
Javedsaab
separately
in
the
series.
Why
didn’t
you
talk
to
them
together?

When
we
started
shooting,
we
were
in
the
peak
of
the
pandemic,
so
it
was
not
possible.

The
shoot
alone
was
a
big
problem
because
of
the
distancing
and
masks
and
all
that.

Then,
a
couple
of
logistical
issues
happened
when
we
decided
to
shoot
Salim
first
and
then
Javed.
Something
or
the
other
kept
happening
and
eventually,
we
shot
them
together
in
Diwali
2023.

Raj
Thackeray
had
invited
them
to
inaugurate
the
lighting
of
Shivaji
Park
in
October
or
November
2023.

The
photoshoot
that
you
see
in
the
series
happened
at
his
home.

What
was
that
reunion
like?
They
must
have
met
after
years.

They
were
chill
together.

Like
the
moment
when
Javedsaab
walks
in
and
they
hug
each
other
and
just
sit
down.

There
was
no
ice
breaking
required
because
they
knew
this
documentary
was
happening.
Every
time
I
would
go
to
meet
Javedsaab,
I
would
tell
him
what
all
I’ve
shot
with
Salimsaab,
and
vice
versa.

They
knew
this
was
happening
and
that
they
would
meet.

They
were
joking
and
making
fun.

After
that,
they’ve
met
many
times
during
the
trailer
launch
etc,
and
it’s
been
very
easy
whenever
they
meet.
Just
like
old
times.

In
the
series,
Salman
Khan
says
this
is
the
first
interview
he
has
done
where
he
is
actually
nervous.

I
met
him
before
the
shoot
and
told
him
the
essence
of
it,
how
I
would
like
him
to
participate
and
he
was
very
sporting.
I
was
very
happy
after
that
interview.

He
is
the
oldest
of
the
siblings
and
the
one
who
has
seen
Salim-Javed
working
together
the
most.

He
is
also
the
one
who
was
present
when
the
split
happened.
Everyone
else
was
much
younger.

He
has
a
really
soft
corner
for
his
dad
and
wanted
to
do
it
properly.
That’s
why
he
was
nervous,
you
know,
that
dad
should
be
happy.

Why
were
Salim
Khan’s
children
Sohail
Khan
and
Alvira
Agnihotri
not
part
of
it?

Because
of
logistical
reasons.

We
wanted
to
do
it
but
something
or
the
other
would
come
up,
like
they
were
travelling
or
weren’t
around.

Amitabh
Bachchan
was
the
one
who
really
benefitted
from
Salim-Javed’s
partnership
but
he
doesn’t
say
much
in
the
series.

Amitabh’s
bit
was
done
virtually,
I
hadn’t
done
the
interview.
I
wish
I
did,
I
would
have
pushed
him
to
say
more.

The
series
does’t
detail
the
reasons
for
the
Salim-Javed
split.

You
have
to
pick
and
choose,
so
I
thought
I’ll
stick
with
the
story
of
Salim
and
Javed.

There
are
so
many
things
that
they
did
later
but
I
didn’t
think
that
would
have
been
the
right
end
for
this
story.

But
like
they
said
(in
the
series),
the
films
weren’t
working
(after
a
point).

There
are
claims
that
Javed
Akhtar
took
to
the
bottle,
and
that
was
a
reason
for
the
split
as
well.

Javedsaab
did
talk
about
his
alcoholism,
and
that
was
in
the
edits
for
a
long
time.

But
I
decided
not
to
go
into
their
life
post
their
breakup.

 

Their
last
film
was

Mr
India,
which
released
in
1987,
several
years
after
the
split.
Why
didn’t
you
include
such
an
important
film?

Then
why
not

Zamana
(the
1985
film
starring
Rajesh
Khanna,
Rishi
Kapoor,
Poonam
Dhillon
and
Ranjeeta)
as
well?

They
were
not
actively
working
together
on
those,
so
I
thought
that
was
a
whole
different
ball
game.

It
didn’t
feel
like
the
natural
choice.

The
last
film
they
wrote
together
was

Shakti,
which
is
one
of
my
favourite
films.
We
had
done
a
lot
of
in-depth
analysis
and
spoken
to
a
lot
of
people
for
that
film.
But
I
felt
it
was
not
so
engaging
to
go
into
one
film
analysis
after
another,
so
I
decided
to
leave
it
out.

Who
were
the
film
folk
you
really
wanted
to
speak
to,
dead
or
alive?

I
wanted
to
speak
to
all
the
directors
who
worked
with
Salim
and
Javed.
And
most
of
them
were
no
more,
like
Yashji
(Chopra),
Manmohan
Desai,
Prakash
Mehra…
Ravi
Tandon
actually
passed
away
in
the
middle
of
our
shoot.

Why
didn’t
you
speak
to
Gulzar,
who
was
their
contemporary?

I
really
wanted
to
shoot
with
Gulzarsaab.

Initially,
because
of
COVID,
it
didn’t
happen
and
then
there
were
some
logistical
reasons
like
the
timing.
When
we
were
shooting,
he
was
not
available.

It’s
my
loss.

You
have
covered

Sholay
extensively
in
the
series
but
it’s
a
cult
movie
that
everyone
knows
everything
about.
How
difficult
was
it
to
bring
something
new
to
the
table?

While
making
it,
I
was
not
thinking
about
the
film
buffs
or
people
who
know
everything
about
every
movie.

I
was
thinking
more
about
somebody
like
my
parents
who
are
not
very

filmi,
who
watch
a
film
here
and
there,
who
are
not
really
into
trivia…

I
was
also
thinking
about
a
younger
audience.

Sholay
is
something
everybody
relates
to,
everybody
connects
with,
so
it
was
something
I
thought
can
pull
them
in.

And
this
was
not
supposed
to
be
a
Masterclass
in
screenplay
writing.
Neither
was
it
supposed
to
be
a
detailed
film
analysis
of
all
the
films
they’ve
written.
It
was
a
story
about
their
lives
and
that’s
what
I
wanted
to
stick
to.

I
was
not
coming
from
a
place
that,
okay,
I
want
to
tell
people
hidden
trivia
and
information
about
films.
It
was
about
their
lives,
and
these
are
choices
you
make
as
a
director.

How
challenging
was
it
to
offer
something
new
and
engaging?
That
was
honestly
the
biggest
challenge
for
me
and
because
I
know
that
so
much
has
been
said
about
them,
so
many
interviews
have
been
given
by
them
and
honestly,
if
you
Google
any
of
these
films,
you
can
find

hazaar
information.
I
wanted
to
stick
to
them
as
people.

Who
are
they
as
people?
That
was
my
lens.

Did
you
ever
feel
the
pressure
of
making
a
series
on
such
cult
writers,
who
entire
generations
have
grown
up
on?

Of
course,
there
was
pressure.

There
was
this
thing
of
how
do
you
condense
the
story,
which
is
so
huge
and
so
big.
So
I
made
my
choices
about
the
things
I
wanted
to
keep
and
the
things
I
wanted
to
leave
out.

As
a
film-maker,
that
pressure
is
always
there,
so
I
took
it
day
by
day.

I
went
on
shoot.

I
got
the
material.

I
went
through
it.

I
sat
with
my
editor,
and
we
worked
on
it
together.

You
don’t
think
about
the
pressure
on
a
daily
basis.

I
think
the
bigger
pressure
on
my
head
was,
who
watches
documentaries?
We’re
not
a
culture
where
people
love
to
go
and
see
documentaries
in
their
free
time.
I
felt
that
pressure
more.

And
when
it
came
closer
to
the
release
and
I
started
talking
to
people,
giving
interviews,
the
pressure
returned.

What
was
your
favourite
part
in
the
series?

There’s
this
whole
section
where
they
talk
about
how
they
both
lost
their
mothers
at
a
very
young
age,
how
that
affected
them,
and
somehow
spilt
over
into
their
storytelling.

It
kind
of
created
this
whole
angry
young
man
phenomenon
because
both
had
lost
their
mothers
and
were
not
close
to
their
fathers.

How
much
did
Salim-Javed
influence
you
in
your
early
years?

I
had
watched
these
films
as
a
kid
on
Doordarshan
many
times
over
without
really
knowing
that
who
wrote
them.

Those
days,
I
didn’t
have
access
to
theatres,
as
my
family
was
not
into
film
watching.

The
films
I
grew
up
on
were

Seeta
Aur
Geeta,
Sholay…
and
these
were
the
films
that
made
me
want
to
watch
more
films.

When
I
went
to
film
school,
that’s
when
I
figured
out
that
these
guys
had
written
these
films.
But
even
then,
I
didn’t
know
so
much
detail.
That
happened
when
I
started
researching
on
them.

Like
I
knew

Kaala
Patthar,
but
didn’t
know
the
details
of
what
all
went
into
making
it,
writing
it,
all
those
things.

What
inputs
did
Zoya
and
Farhan
give
you?

Zoya
was
not
involved
in
the
shoot
or
edit
as
such
but
I
would
show
her
the
cuts.

When
I
showed
her
the
first
cut
of
the
first
episode,
we
discussed
that
maybe
we
need
a
context
for
the
Angry
Young
Man.
That
is
when
I
thought
of
putting
the
whole
segment
about
the
films
made
in
the
’30s,
’40s
and
’60s
and
how
they
were
different
then
and
then,
in
the
’70s,
when
The
Angry
Young
Man
came,
it
was
different.

So
that
suggestion
came
from
her.

Reema
Kagti
suggested
that
in
the
second
episode,
the
story
of

Sholay
was
a
bit
linear
when
I
had
first
done
it.

Her
suggestion
was
that
why
don’t
we
start
with
the
failure
of

Sholay.

With
Farhan,
he
told
me
that
maybe,
we
should
have
something
before
Amitabh
Bachchan
speaks
for
the
first
time.

So
we
put
a

Zanjeer
scene
before
that,
where
he
comes
to
Teja
and
says,
‘Teja,

main
aa
gaya
hoon
aur
main
peeche
se
vaar
nahin
karta
hoon‘…
that
scene
from

Zanjeer
in
the
restaurant.

I
thought
it
really
worked
well
because
it
cuts
from
Bachchan
to
Bachchan.

They
never
really
told
me,
do
this
or
don’t
do
this
because
they
were
busy
with
their
own
projects.

Reema
was
doing

Superboys
Of
Malegaon,
Zoya
was
doing

Made
in
Heaven
and
then

Archies,
and
so
was
Farhan.

So
it
was
not
like
they
were
there
on
a
day-to-day
basis.

What’s
been
your
biggest
takeaway?

Their
ability
to
dream
big.

I’m
not
from
the
industry;
I
didn’t
know
anyone
in
the
film
business
at
all.

So
for
me,
it
was
really
inspiring
to
see
how
they
dreamed
and
made
it
happen.

And
never
to
give
up.

Like
Javedsaab
says,
you
have
to
keep
at
it,
keep
at
it,
go
through
the
humiliations
and
still
keep
at
it
and
suddenly
a
clearing
will
appear.

How
did
you
become
an
editor?

I’m
a
Konkani
from
Kerala,
my
parents
are
still
in
Cochin.
But
I
grew
up
in
Delhi
because
my
father
was
working
there.

I
went
to
the
Satyajit
Ray
Film
and
Television
Institute
in
Kolkata
where
I
did
a
three-year
course
in
film
editing.

While
studying
there,
I
worked
on
three-four
documentaries.
One
of
them
was,

I
Am
The
Very
Beautiful,
which
travelled
to
quite
a
few
film
festivals.

Dibakar
Banerjee
saw
it
and
really
liked
it.
We
connected
and
that’s
how
I
got
my
first
feature
film,

Oye
Lucky
Lucky
Oye,
in
2008.

One
thing
led
to
another
and
I
worked
on
his
next
film,

Love
Sex
Aur
Dhoka,
where
I
also
had
a
small
acting
role.

Then
I
got

Ishqiya,
Band
Baajaa
Baaraat,
Kahaani,
Shanghai,
Jab
Tak
Hai
Jaan,
2
States,
Dum
Laga
Ke
Haisha,
about
35
films.

You
started
your
career
in
2008.
Why
didn’t
you
direct
earlier?

I’ve
been
trying,
you
know.
I’ve
been
writing
scripts,
pitching
them
but
everything
has
timing.

And
this
timing
can
happen
to
anyone.

Sometimes
you
can
make
a
really
good
first
film
and
then
struggle
to
put
your
second
film
together.

It’s
not
that
if
you
are
from
a
film
family,
you
will
have
it
easy.

What
really
works
is
success.
If
you
are
successful,
people
want
to
work
with
you.

I
have
seen
so
many
people
struggle,
it’s
unbelievable.

Even
in
my
career,
there
was
a
time
when
there
was
a
lull,
when
I
didn’t
do
much
editing
work.

These
are
the
ups
and
downs
of
the
film
business.

Zoya
tells
me
how
difficult
it
was
to
cast
for
her
first
film,

Luck
By
Chance.
It
took
her
seven
years
to
finally
make
the
film.
It
should
have
been
very
easy
for
her
but
it
wasn’t.