‘I’m Not Who I Was When I Wrote Deewaar’

‘We
didn’t
create
the
Angry
Young
Man
persona
for
Amitabh
Bachchan.’
‘We
created
the
Vijay
persona
and
then
Amitabh
Bachchan
fitted
into
it.’

Yash
Chopra’s
iconic
film

Deewaar,
starring
Amitabh
Bachchan,
Shashi
Kapoor,
Parveen
Babi,
Neetu
Singh
and
Nirupa
Roy,
turns
50
this
month.

To
celebrate
this
important
landmark,
a
special
screening
of
the
film
will
be
held
at
Mumbai’s
Regal
Cinema
on
February
1.

Deewaar‘s
script-writer

Javed
Akhtar
(along
with
Salim
Khan),
looks
back
at
the
film
and
tells

Subhash
K
Jha,
“If

Deewaar
and

Sholay
worked
better
than

Aaakhri
Dao
in
1975,
it
is
not
necessarily
because
they
deserved
to.
Many
factors
went
into
making

Deewaar
the
film
it
was.”

Where
do
you
place

Deewaar
in
your
dazzling
repertoire?

Dazzling
repertoire
is
not
for
me
to
judge.

Yeh
sab
retro-tareef
beqar
ki
baatein
hai.

We
(Salim-Javed)
did
what
we
did
back
when
we
were
younger,
different
people.

To
praise
ourselves
for
the
impact
that

Deewaar
made
in
1975,
and
to
take
credit
for
it
would
be
very
unfair
and
embarrassing.
It
is
like
parents
praising
their
own
children.
We’ve
now…

Evolved?

Again,
a
self-congratulatory
word.
It
suggests
that
I
have
become
a
better
person
over
the
years,
and
I
am
not
sure
of
that.

No,
I
have
moved
on.
I
am
not
the
person
I
was
when
I
wrote

Deewaar
with
Salim
Khan.

Most
of
your
fans
consider
it
to
be
your
finest
work.

Mehnat
toh
humne
apne
saare
scripts

pe
kiye,
even
the
ones
that
didn’t
work
like

Imaan
Dharam,
Aakhri
Dao
and

Shaan.

If

Deewaar
and

Sholay
worked
better
than

Aaakhri
Dao
in
1975,
it
is
not
necessarily
because
they
deserved
to.
Many
factors
went
into
making

Deewaar
the
film
it
was.

What
about
the
‘Vijay’
factor?

What
about
it?

Would
you
say
the
Angry
Young
Man
persona
that
Salimsaab
and
you
created
for
Amitabh
Bachchan,
went
a
long
way
in
making
him
the
mega-star
that
he
was?

I
would
like
to
correct
you.
We
didn’t
create
the
Angry
Young
Man
persona
for
Amitabh
Bachchan.

We
created
the
Vijay
persona
and
then
Amitabh
Bachchan
fitted
into
it.

Was
Rajesh
Khanna
the
first
choice
for

Deewaar?

No.
He
was
signed
up
with
Gulshan
Rai,
the
producer
of

Deewaar,
for
a
film.

At
that
time,
there
was
no

Deewaar
in
the
picture.

When
the
producer
offered
to
have
Rajesh
Khanna
in

Deewaar,
we
(Salim
Khan
and
Javed
Akhtar)
refused
pointblank.

By
then,

Zanjeer
was
almost
complete
and
we
knew
Amitabh
Bachchan’s
potential.
We
wanted
no
other
actor
except
Amitabh
Bachchan
for

Deewaar.

Rajesh
Khanna
with
a
romantic
musical
image
would
not
have
been
right.

You
fought
to
have
Mr
Bachchan
in

Deewaar?

Nothing
so
dramatic.
Gulshan
Raiji
saw
our
point
of
view
and
immediately
agreed.

Javedsaab,
be
as
modest
as
you
like,
but
in
1975,
Salimsaab
and
you
created
history
twice
over
with

Deewaar
and

Sholay.

I
admit
1975
was
a
turning
point
for
us.

Deewaar
and

Sholay
released
within
seven
months
of
each
another.

In
1978,
we
had

Don
and

Trishul
on
two
consecutive
Fridays.