2 fast 2 furious

I watched SalimJavedrsquos Angry Young Men last evening a threepart documentary drama series about the magical screenwriting duo who from 1971 to 1987 yielded 24 jubilee hitsmdashvery early on in their careers incensed that theyrsquod not been included on the film posters the two men hired a stencil guy to walk through the streets of Bombay stamping on their names boldlymdashwritten by SalimJaved The threeepisode biopic was fascinating to me both for the nostalgia and for some new learningsHere are some random thoughts gtgt Screenwriters are the angriest men and womenmdashalso the most unappreciatedmdashas Salim Khan said ldquoNo script no filmrdquomdash still film writers go unnoticed lowest in the pecking order usually underpaid The fact that these two men had the chutzpah the gumption to pull off this stencil stunt and demand the same price as the stars was unprecedented That it hasnrsquot been replicated ever since were those different easier times or were SalimJaved just arrogant Napoleans conquering that 70 mm of real estate lodged in the viewers mindgtgt Their formulaeic ldquodishoomdishoomrdquo revenge sagas kept me inside the ImperialAlankarApsaraNaaz Minerva movie houses through my teensmdashan array of DeewarZanjeerSholayDonKaala PatharShakti wolfing down dodgy chicken rolls and oily chicken samosashellip standing outside cinema halls negotiating with black market touts to watch Amitabh Bachchan aka Vijay taking on eight to ten baddies singlehanded either as a cop a coolie or a Dongtgt I was 13 when Sholay opened in 1975 a school matersquos dad was manager at the Minerva Theatremdashhe snuck us in first day first show front row JaiVeeruBasantiGabbarThakur and that mad dialogue something wersquod never heard before Five years later we turned 18 the blockbuster was still running to packed houses we snuck in againmdashthis time we were unable to hear the actors the audience loudly mouthing in unison every single one of Salim Javedrsquos dialoguesgtgt Salim Khan was quite candid talking about originality ldquoseeking inspiration from other sources is fine so long as you use it in a totally unique wayrdquomdashin truth Sholay had been loosely adapted from The Magnificent Seven and Seven Samurai before that but the two men spun the story and the multi cast characters gave the movie a whole new dimensiongtgt My friend Bugs Bhargava Krishna and I have written a film together and for me one plus one equals three in the way that two minds make a film far richer than oneA collaboration can go many ways as both writers can dive in bat ideas around devoid of egoI missed deeply the two men being interviewed together to understand how their collective creative energy worked unfortunately for their own reasons the two have been interviewed separatelymdashI missed a darker edgier recounting of the darker days the blacker moments I realised wersquore good with nostalgia fabulous with cinematic confrontation not so good with candid confession Irsquod love to have known what did happen that morning when Javed walked out on Salim and whygtgt What we do know is their careers fell apart as single screenwriters post the split Screenwriting is the loneliest job in the world but itrsquos also the most layered If yoursquove got used to a 16year jugalbandi yoursquove been dispossessed of the tools to work solomdash that blank white page seems emptier One man coming up with the story characters scenes dialogue as Javed said ldquois very hardrdquogtgt They wrote when there was no Final Draft That they still gave their directors bound scripts was amazinggtgt How did SalimJaved get so famous in a cinema star crazy country Were they an exception an aberration in a world where writers and by and large stay in the background that they could maintain their prima donnadiva status with producers lining up to hire them That they could and were held responsible for the success and failure of a filmAs Gabbar Singh asked his henchman Kaalia ldquoKitne aadmi thherdquoAnd Kaalia would famously answer ldquoDo sarkarrdquoThere were indeed two men Salim Khan and Javed AkhtarRahul daCunha is an adman theatre directorplaywright photographer and traveller Reach him at rahuldacunhamiddaycom