On his 80th birthday, I asked Salim Khan how he looks back at his life and he said, “ I have no regrets. It’s been a fulfilling life, I have got more than I had expected.”
Born to a police officer on 24th November 1935 in Indore, Salim Khan moved to Mumbai to become an actor. After doing some small time roles, he switched to scriptwriting and assisting filmmakers. Khan assisted director Abrar Alvi, and met Javed Akhtar for the first time during the making of Sarhad Lootera, which was the last film he acted in. Akhtar, a clapper boy and Khan, the writer and assistant director hit it off.
The two started working on film scripts, Akhtar wrote stories while Khan did the dialogues. Rest as they say is history. From Andaz in 1971 to Mr India in 1987 with gems like Seeta Aur Geeta, Zanjeer, Deewar, Sholay and Trishul in between the duo became the most celebrated screenwriting jodi in Bollywood.
In 1982 the two split (they only got together for two films later, one of which was Mr India) and went their separate ways. Post the break-up, Khan wasn’t very active, he wrote only ten films in a span of 13 years from 1983 to 1996.
His son Salman Khan made his acting debut in 1988 in Biwi Ho To Aisi, which was not received well but Sooraj Barjataya’s Maine Pyar Kiya, made him an overnight star. It was Salim’s son Salman’s success that breathed new life into Salim Khan’s credentials in Bollywood.
Salim Khan has candidly admitted to me at several occasions, “I wasn’t doing very well financially and I also had a family to manage but soon Salman became a star and since then we have never looked back.”
Salman acted in his father’s film Pathar Ke Phool in 1991 and in his brother Sohail’s films Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya (1998) and Auzaar (1997). Over the decades, Salman has acted in several films produced by his brothers Arbaaz and Sohail.
Coming back to my conversation with the veteran writer, Khan added that there is something that he wishes for on this birthday, “There is too much violence around. Communalism should end and everyone should live in harmony. I always say this – love each other or perish!”
For those willing to listen, Khan does have a mantra that he has followed all his life, “I never stopped learning. However successful I have been, I’ve always wanted grow as a human being. I wanted to improve myself every day! There is no point growing only financially or just becoming successful, that’s a one-track growth. There is something called personal growth, which people ignore. They become stars but they stop growing personally.”
And on his birthday, Khan has one important message for all budding writers and directors, “Lot of people come to me and I ask them what’s your one reason to make a film? And I get bizarre answers like, I have a producer, so I want to make a film, one actress has agreed so I want to make a film, my father was a filmmaker so I want to make a film but no one tells me that they have a good story so we want to make a film. That should be your only reason to make a film! Rest of the things will fall into place if you have a good story to tell.”
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