For the Pakistani pop singer, see Saleem Javed

Saleem Javed

Mohammad Saleem better known as Saleem Javed is a Pakistani pop singer born in Hyderabad, Pakistan. He emerged to fame in the 1980s, though, he was already known in some quarters before that, as a semi-classical singer due to his work in the classical industry...

.

Salim-Javed were a scriptwriter duo who wrote a number of commercially and critically successful Hindi films

Bollywood

Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...

 in the 1970s and early 1980s. The duo, composed of Salim Khan

Salim Khan

Salim Khan is an Indian Scriptwriter and Actor. He wrote numerous screenplays for Bollywood films. He frequently collaborated with writer Javed Akhtar; the duo is credited as Salim-Javed.-Personal life:...

 and Javed Akhtar

Javed Akhtar

Javed Akhtar is a poet, lyricist and scriptwriter from India. Some of his most successful work was done in the late 1970s and 1980s with Salim Khan as half of the script-writing duo credited as Salim-Javed...

, made the writer's role popular with their names appearing in the posters of the films, and in some films they shared up to 25% of the profit. Their association lasted until 1982, following which Javed moved into writing lyrics for films. During their time working together, the duo won six Filmfare Awards

Filmfare Awards

The Filmfare Awards are presented annually by The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Hindi language film industry of India. The Filmfare ceremony is one of the oldest and most prominent film events given for Hindi films in India. The awards were...

. Though these movies are considered to be in Hindi but they mostly include vocabulary from Urdu, a register

Register (sociolinguistics)

In linguistics, a register is a variety of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. For example, when speaking in a formal setting an English speaker may be more likely to adhere more closely to prescribed grammar, pronounce words ending in -ing with a velar nasal...

 of the Hindustani language

Hindustani language

Hindi-Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language and the lingua franca of North India and Pakistan. It is also known as Hindustani , and historically, as Hindavi or Rekhta...

.

Salim started his friendship with Javed during the making of the film Sarhadi Lootera. Salim was a small-time actor, and Sarhadi Lootera was one of the last films he acted in before he turned his attention to writing. Javed was a clapper boy for the film and was later made the dialogue writer as director S.M. Sagar was unable to find a dialogue writer.

They lived in Bandra and would write stories together. Since their individual work was flopping, they decided to team up.

Contribution

They are credited with the creation of the "angry young man

Angry young men

The "angry young men" were a group of mostly working and middle class British playwrights and novelists who became prominent in the 1950s. The group's leading members included John Osborne and Kingsley Amis.The phrase was originally coined by the Royal Court Theatre's press officer to promote John...

" image of Amitabh Bachchan

Amitabh Bachchan

Amitabh Bachchan is an Indian film actor. He first gained popularity in the early 1970s as the "angry young man" of Hindi cinema, and has since appeared in over 180 Indian films in a career spanning more than four decades...

. For a significant number of his major hits, they wrote the screenplay, story and dialogue. They brought credibility to a profession which had previously been relegated to the background. It is due to their efforts and work that screenplay/story/dialogue writers are seeing the limelight. They fought for and achieved the mentioning of screenplay/story/dialogue writer's names on the movie posters.

Beyond their influence on Hindi films

Bollywood

Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...

, their work has also recently begun influencing Western films. According to Loveleen Tandan

Loveleen Tandan

Loveleen Tandan is an Indian film director and casting director. She is known as the "co-director: India" of the four time Golden Globe, seven time BAFTA Award and eight Academy Award winning Slumdog Millionaire , for which she shared a New York Film Critics Online Award for Best Director with...

, the screenwriter Simon Beaufoy

Simon Beaufoy

Simon Beaufoy is a British screenwriter. Born in Keighley, he was educated at Malsis School in Cross Hills, Ermysted's Grammar School and Sedbergh School, he read English at St Peter's College, Oxford and graduated from The Arts Institute at Bournemouth...

, who wrote the screenplay for the Academy Award winning Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British epic romantic drama adventure film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan. It is an adaptation of the novel Q & A by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup...

(2008), "studied Salim-Javed's kind of cinema minutely." In particular, Deewaar (1975) was described by the director Danny Boyle

Danny Boyle

Daniel "Danny" Boyle is an English filmmaker and producer. He is best known for his work on films such as Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Trainspotting. For Slumdog Millionaire, Boyle won numerous awards in 2008, including the Academy Award for Best Director...

 as being "absolutely key to Indian cinema

Cinema of India

The cinema of India consists of films produced across India, which includes the cinematic culture of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. Indian films came to be followed throughout South Asia and...

" and influenced the making of Slumdog Millionaire. Actor Anil Kapoor

Anil Kapoor

Anil Kapoor is an Indian actor and producer who mainly appears in Bollywood films. He won a Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for his role in Yash Chopra's film Mashaal ....

 noted that some scenes of Slumdog Millionaire "are like Deewaar, the story of two brothers of whom one is completely after money while the younger one is honest and not interested in money."

According to Javed Akhtar, in their early periods, on the cinema posters, there were no names of script writer, story and screenplay. Realizing that the hard work is done by these duo, and not getting the appropriate recognization, Salim and Javed decided to paint their names on all the posters pasted in the city. They hired a rikshaw and put the paint bucket on that and did all the work themselves the entire night. After that, the directors also started to put their name on the posters.

One of the techniques often used by Salim-Javed was their use of a montage sequence to represent a child growing into an adult, a technique that dates back to Raj Kapoor

Raj Kapoor

Known as Ranbir Raj Kapoor Rāj Kapūr, 14 December 1924 – 2 June 1988), also known as The Show-Man, was an Indian film actor, producer and director of Hindi cinema. He was the winner of nine Filmfare Awards, while his films Awaara and Boot Polish were nominated for the Palme d'Or at the...

's Awaara

Awaara

Awaara is a 1951 Hindi film directed and produced by Raj Kapoor who also plays the leading role. His real-life father Prithviraj Kapoor stars as his on-screen father Judge Raghunath. Kapoor's youngest real-life brother Shashi Kapoor plays the younger version of his character...

(1951). For example, Deewaar showed a character entering a temple as a child and then leaving the temple as an adult. Slumdog Millionaire paid homage to Salim-Javed by showing a montage sequence where two "brothers jump off a train and suddenly they are seven years older".

Filmography

• Mr. India (1987)
• Shakti
  Shakti (1982 film)
  Shakti is a 1982 Bollywood film directed by Ramesh Sippy and starring Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Raakhee, Smita Patil and Amrish Puri. It was written by the writing duo Salim-Javed...
  
   (1982)
• Shaan
  Shaan (film)
  Shaan is a 1980 Indian Hindi film. It is director Ramesh Sippy's 2nd film with Amitabh Bachchan after Sholay. The story was written by Salim-Javed....
  
   (1980)
• Dostana
  Dostana
  Dostana is a 1980 Hindi movie, produced by Yash Johar and directed by Raj Khosla. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Shatrughan Sinha, Zeenat Aman, Prem Chopra, Amrish Puri, Helen, Pran and Paintal. The film was the top grossing hit of 1980...
  
   (1980)
• Kaala Patthar
  Kaala Patthar
  Kaala Patthar is a 1979 Indian Bollywood action/drama film. It was produced and directed by Yash Chopra. The story was written by Salim-Javed. This film is the fourth collaboration between Amitabh Bachchan and director Yash Chopra after the hugely successful Deewaar , Kabhie Kabhie and Trishul...
  
   (1979)
• Trishul (1978)
• Don
  Don (1978 film)
  Don is a 1978 Indian action film, produced by Nariman Irani and directed by Chandra Barot, with music by Kalyanji Anandji and lyrics by Anjaan. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman, Pran, Iftekhar, Helen and Om Shivpuri, Satyen Kappu and Pinchoo Kapoor. It was the third-highest grossing...
  
   (1978)
• Manushulu Chesina Dongalu (Telugu) (1977)
• Immaan Dharam
  Immaan Dharam
  Immaan Dharam is a 1977 Hindi film. Written by Javed Akhtar, produced by Premji, it is directed by Desh Mukherjee. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor, Sanjeev Kumar and Rekha...
  
  (1977)
• Chacha Bhatija
  Chacha Bhatija
  Chacha Bhatija is a 1977 Indian Hindi film directed by Manmohan Desai. It was the year's fourth hit for Manmohan Desai . It was his second film with Dharmendra...
  
   (1977)
• Premada Kanike (Kannada) (ಪ್ರೇಮದ ಕಾಣಿಕೆ) (1976)
• Sholay
  Sholay
  Sholay is a 1975 Indian action-adventure film produced by G.P. Sippy and directed by his son Ramesh Sippy. It is considered among the greatest films in the history of Indian cinema. Released on 15 August 1975, it stars Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Sanjeev Kumar, Jaya Bhaduri and...
  
   (1975)
• Deewaar
  Deewaar
  -Films:*Deewaar , directed by Yash Chopra and starring Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor*Deewaar , directed by Milan Luthria and starring Sanjay Dutt, Akshaye Khanna, and Amrita Rao-Television:...
  
   (1975)
• Majboor
  Majboor
  Majboor is a 1974 Indian Hindi film directed by Ravi Tandon. Music is by Laxmikant Pyarelal and lyrics by Anand Bakshi. The film was written by Salim-Javed. The movie stars Amitabh Bachchan, Parveen Babi, Pran, Madan Puri, Rehman and Farida Jalal....
  
   (1974)
• Zanjeer
  Zanjeer
  Zanjeer , is a 1973 Hindi film directed and produced by Prakash Mehra; starring Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Pran, Ajit and Bindu. The movie changed the trend from romantic films to action films and pioneered Amitabh's new image of a brooding but explosive person who fights back when cornered...
  
   (1973)
• Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973)
• Seeta Aur Geeta
  Seeta Aur Geeta
  Seeta aur Geeta is a 1972 Hindi film directed by Ramesh Sippy. The story is by Salim-Javed and the music by R.D. Burman.The story is about identical twins who are separated at birth and grow up with different temperaments. The twins then swap places...
  
   (1972)
• Haathi Mere Saathi
  Haathi Mere Saathi
  Haathi Mere Saathi is an Indian film and a favourite with children in the early 1970s. The movie has a Disneyesque appeal with an Indian twist...
  
   (1971)

Filmfare Awards

	Filmfare Awards Won
Year	Category	Film
1983	Best Screenplay	Shakti Shakti (1982 film) Shakti is a 1982 Bollywood film directed by Ramesh Sippy and starring Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Raakhee, Smita Patil and Amrish Puri. It was written by the writing duo Salim-Javed... (1982)
1976	Best Dialogue	Deewar Deewar Deewaar, or Deewar , is a 1975 Indian drama directed by Yash Chopra, written by Salim-Javed, and starring Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor... (1975)
1976	Best Screenplay	Deewar Deewar Deewaar, or Deewar , is a 1975 Indian drama directed by Yash Chopra, written by Salim-Javed, and starring Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor... (1975)
1976	Best Story	Deewar Deewar Deewaar, or Deewar , is a 1975 Indian drama directed by Yash Chopra, written by Salim-Javed, and starring Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor... (1975)
1974	Best Screenplay	Zanjeer Zanjeer Zanjeer , is a 1973 Hindi film directed and produced by Prakash Mehra; starring Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Pran, Ajit and Bindu. The movie changed the trend from romantic films to action films and pioneered Amitabh's new image of a brooding but explosive person who fights back when cornered... (1973)
1974	Best Story	Zanjeer Zanjeer Zanjeer , is a 1973 Hindi film directed and produced by Prakash Mehra; starring Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Pran, Ajit and Bindu. The movie changed the trend from romantic films to action films and pioneered Amitabh's new image of a brooding but explosive person who fights back when cornered... (1973)

External links