Angry Young Men (2024) s01e01 Episode Script

1
Roll cameras, guys.
Sound rolling.
Quiet, please.
After they watch this series,
Hollywood should call to say:
"We're short of stars!"
I used to think of myself
as James Dean.
Then Devdas was released
and my confusion began.
Sometimes I thought I was Devdas
and sometimes James Dean.
[Interviewer] Sir, please wipe your forehead.
That's my destiny!
It shouldn't get wiped out.
If my destiny is erased,
that'll be the end of me.
Shut the door, please.
You'll have to hide this too.
Put up a board with
an arrow pointing
to a list of my evil deeds.
- Okay then, shall we start?
- Yes.
- Are you ready?
- Yes.
Is the camera on?
All this was recorded?
You'll get me into trouble!
Without the camera rolling,
I can't be intimate!
How many men were there?
Master, there were two.
See, I've done lots
of interviews.
This is the first one that
I'm actually nervous on.
If I tell you something that
rubs them both the wrong way,
Dad and Javed saab.
I'll get beaten up at leisure!
So the first time when
I started getting importance,
I realised my father was
a celebrated writer.
When Salim Uncle and Dad were
working in the study at home,
like the kids were told:
"keep it down."
There's going to be a "sitting."
You're wondering what's a "sitting"?
Salim,
Javed
this incredible duo, brought
about a revolution
in the writing of screenplays
and dialogue.
They turned everything upside down
in the Hindi film industry.
They just gate-crashed into
the citadel of Bollywood,
which is like a fortress,
it doesn't allow new
people to come in.
They introduced
the age of the writer.
They did about
24 films together.
Out of which 22 were blockbusters.
That's a crazy strike rate!
It hasn't happened before,
I don't think it's gonna happen again.
One after one, superhit films.
The common factor- Salim-Javed.
The producers and
actors kept changing.
It could be Dharmendra, Jitendra
or Amitabh Bachchan.
Obviously, it got underlined that
these writers are special.
We were looking for you.
You were looking for me,
and I've been waiting here for you.
Give these arms to me, Thakur!
No!
Actors used to clamour and yearn
for a Salim-Javed script.
Through their short, crisp dialogue,
they imbued life
into the narrative,
into the characters
and the stories.
Amazing!
People could connect very strongly
with their characters.
They were very bold
in their approach.
They had mass appeal.
People wanted to consume
what they were writing.
Whoever has grown up
watching their films
carries a little bit of
Salim-Javed in their blood.
That writing - it was just
so powerful.
There definitely was a time
when I was in college when
I said: "Oh, this is a Salim-Javed film.
We have to go and watch it."
I admired their ability
to draw audiences,
and maybe to some extent even
envied them.
"The police of eleven countries
are looking for Don.
"It's not just difficult
to catch Don - it's impossible!"
"Till I tell you to sit,
keep standing.
"This is a police station,
not your father's house!"
I am like, yes!
"Don't dance for these dogs, Basanti."
"A scared man is a dead man."
"Today I have a building, property,
bank balance, a bungalow, cars
"What do you have?"
"I have my mother" which means:
I have nothing but I have a mother.
So, my mother's here.
A.R. Rahman can stand
at the Oscars' stage
and say: "I have my mother".
I mean one line
and it resonates across decades
and people and geographies.
They were stars.
They were writer-stars.
Once they got the success,
they were very irreverent.
And I remember still sometimes
when they would all
be praising themselves,
you know, they used to love
praising themselves.
To put it
in a very
not in a very nice way,
but they were the brats.
At a time when it was unheard of
that a writer's name
would be on a film poster
they had the gall
to hire someone to go
and just put their names
on those posters.
You want to call it confidence,
you want to call it arrogance,
whatever you want to call it.
Then they used to rub people
the wrong way.
It wasn't that they were
very humble.
They were not at all humble.
Like big stars - they refused
film offers.
"We won't write like that.
We'll do it like this!"
They had so much attitude!
Writers typically used to get
5,000 or 10,000 rupees.
Suddenly one day
we heard these writers
who are taking 250,000
to write a script!
And people wanted them.
People wanted their scripts
at any cost.
They knew it
and they took advantage
of the situation.
Dharma Productions was actually
we started with Dostana.
I remember my father coming home
and having this chat with my mom
that Salim saab and Javed saab
want 100,000 more than Bachchan.
Whatever his fees,
they'll take 100,000 more.
Can you imagine today?
And I'm giving you a parallel,
if a writer today said: "I want
a crore more than Salman Khan."
It's unheard of.
You must understand that was
the power of Salim-Javed.
In my experience,
things never go as planned.
I had so many other plans,
but nothing materialised.
My first writing experience was
writing love letters for friends.
That was the first writing experience.
I had no idea I could write.
So when I left Indore, those guys
who I wrote for were crushed!
They told me how I had
messed things up for them.
My career took off at a wedding in Indore.
Tarachand Barjatya's son
was getting married.
Many producers came
from Bombay.
I frequented a hotel where
they were all staying,
including the producer K. Amarnath
who had made many films.
He saw me and asked someone:
"Who is this boy?"
He then asked me:
"Do you want to act in films?"
I said: "I've never acted before."
He replied: "There was a first time
even for Dilip Kumar!"
No one knows acting before they start.
There's always a first time.
Then I came to Bombay
for the screen test.
Amarnath was producing Baraat.
He cast me in the role
of Ajit's younger brother.
Ajit saab was a leading actor.
His house was unoccupied,
so I stayed there initially.
He said I could stay there
till his house got sold.
It was my bad luck that
it sold very quickly.
Then I had to move to
Marina Guest House.
There were two beds in one room.
The rent was 55 rupees per month.
My first ambition was
to be able to rent the entire room
for 110. But that ambition
was never fulfilled.
A lady used to run the
Marina Guest House.
She was very strict.
I once stayed there too.
There was a small room,
Suresh Puri was his roommate.
On one side was his bed,
with his suitcase under it.
It had a common toilet.
I had no choice.
When I was leaving home
for Bombay,
my eldest brother said:
"What's the point of going there?
"You'll come running back."
You see we had a very comfortable
lifestyle at home.
We even had a servant
who poured water for us
when we were washing our faces.
I struggled so hard in Bombay
because I did not ask
my family for any money.
I could've asked them for money,
they would've given it easily.
But I never asked.
Hello?
[Shabana Azmi]
I want you to be lit properly.
Tell them my wife is saying
you better light me properly.
Speak louder so they can hear you.
Make sure that you make
my husband look very nice.
Yeah, yeah, he's looking very good.
Also, his right profile is
better than his left profile.
Excuse me, but my left profile
isn't that bad.
When you are a teenager, life is
very simple and easy, you know
and you can do anything.
That's what I believed.
I decided, after my graduation,
that I'd move to Bombay.
I'd work as an
assistant director,
hopefully, either with
Guru Dutt or Raj Kapoor.
They were the directors
I admired at that time.
And
I was sure I'd become a director myself
in a short time.
This is Natraj Studio.
When I had moved to Bombay,
it was called Kamal Studios.
This was Kamal Amrohi saab's studio.
Over there was his office.
Mahal Pictures.
I started working there
as an apprentice,
earning 50 rupees a month.
The first day I was on set
as an assistant,
a young actor was giving
a screen test.
That actor's name was
Sanjeev Kumar.
The room is now a make-up room.
Earlier it was Kamal Amrohi's
costume room.
I used to sleep there sometimes.
There was a canteen here.
I was working on Yakeen.
I met a thin modest-looking guy,
kind of cute!
It was Javed. He came to give me
the dialogue for the shoot.
The pages were all jumbled up.
I threw them away
and scolded him:
"Put them in the right order!"
Later I wondered
why had I ticked him off.
He was just an assistant. I knew
working in films was a struggle.
I was in my father's house
for exactly 5 days
and then I went on my own.
And I lived with some friends
and
I slept at railway stations,
parks, studio compounds,
in corridors, on benches
and so on.
Sometimes I'd have to walk miles,
say from Dadar to Bandra, because
I didn't have money for the bus fare.
Sometimes I realised
I hadn't eaten for two days.
I used to always think the day
I write my autobiography,
or if someone else does,
this day would make
for an amazing moment.
This thought never crossed my mind
that I wouldn't make it.
I used to visit
the studios to meet people,
hoping to be noticed,
just like I was in Indore.
They'd make false promises saying:
"I'm starting a film in July,
"come and meet me then."
But nothing was working out.
So Salim uncle and my mother, Menaka
- Irani - at that time
unfortunately had done
a movie together,
where she was being
launched as a heroine.
This skinny Parsi girl and Salim uncle,
who my grandmother called
"The thug from Mahim",
were being launched together
in a film called Bachpan.
My granny was
a very ferocious old lady,
who was the producer of Bachpan.
She used to take a cane
and hit Salim uncle,
if he did not act well.
And of course that movie
ran all of one show, I think.
Farah's mother was the heroine
and I was the hero!
The film was doomed
from the first shot.
But in those days,
everything was overly done.
If you had to say 'No',
it was a "Nooo"!
So he couldn't do that.
That's why he was known
as a bad actor.
But if you see one or two
of his films,
he was good.
- May I go now?
- So soon?
Soon?
It's been two hours.
He's cruel.
- Who?
- The creator of time.
There's someone more cruel.
- Who?
- The creator of duty.
- There's someone crueller still.
- Who?
The creator of hearts.
In the days when
Salim saab was struggling,
the place below our building
was where he would hang out.
That's Regi House over there.
On the first floor
Salman Khan's mother,
Salma, used to live there.
I could see her from my balcony.
It started with us
exchanging glances.
She was about 17 years old
at that time
and I was 24.
We used to meet in the evenings
in the nearby lanes.
Then her family pressurised
Salma to either marry me,
or someone of their choice.
Under those circumstances,
I got married in 1964.
In 1965, Salman was born.
We didn't have much money
and I was worried about work.
So how would we manage?
Since I needed money,
I accepted anything.
I did cigarette ads,
clothing, shirts
I did everything.
We all wanted him to get
good roles and become a star.
The actor Johnny Walker
once told me to tell Salim
that the film business was bad
and tough to get into.
My brother struggled for 15 years.
I had a talent for
conceiving characters.
I could explain a character to actors
like Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan.
But I couldn't perform it myself.
I had the art of narration
and conceiving,
but I lacked the art
of projection.
I decided to stop pursuing
acting as a career,
because I realised, I'll not
be able to reach the top.
Should I tell you about an incident?
One day when I was 18, I realised
I have nothing to wear.
Now how's that possible?
Obviously, I'd been wearing
clothes for 18 years.
So how could I have
nothing to wear?
But that's how it was.
My last trousers, and the
only trousers I had,
was torn to the extent that
it couldn't be worn anymore.
And I had no other trousers.
[Interviewer] But you didn't ask for
money from your family or?
Family? Which family?
Where you grew up
with your relatives.
I had left from there long ago.
I never looked back.
Never asked them for anything.
I grew up with my aunt
and I left her for good
when I was 15.
I never asked them for help.
There was a time
he hadn't eaten a single morsel
of food for three days.
And it was raining heavily.
And from an apartment
in a nearby building,
he saw a faint light shining.
He saw that light
and said to himself:
"I wasn't born to die like this.
This time shall pass."
Sleep and hunger.
If you've been deprived
of food or sleep in your life,
it leaves a deep mark on you
that you'll never forget.
When I go to a five-star hotel,
with their large sprawling
double beds,
and sometimes when
I'm lying there
I remember coming to Bombay
in a third-class train compartment.
It used to take two days.
There was no place to sit
in the compartment.
Not even a place to lean against.
And how I was deprived of sleep
and how tired I was.
If only I had a little stretch
of that double bed then.
Sometimes I'm served
breakfast on a trolley.
Breakfast with butter, jam, half-
fried eggs, coffee.
I think do I deserve this?
Even now I think
this breakfast can't be for me.
It must be someone else's.
I can't get over that.
Prophet Muhammad once said:
"A worker must be paid his wages
before his sweat dries."
I told you about someone who once
made me wait for 8 hours,
and asked me to come back again.
When I was walking away,
the thought that crossed my mind
was not how to get back at him,
I didn't think that.
I thought I'd never do this
to anyone.
I will not do it.
They didn't blame anyone.
They thought: "This is our journey,
and we need to do this properly."
And they did that.
If you want to get back at someone,
let your work do the talking.
They lived like that.
Their work did all the talking.
- Don't you guys drink tea?- We've had tea.
I drink tea in the morning.
Two cups,
and coffee in the evening.
There are many things which come
together and make a story.
Pradeep, take all this away.
Strange coincidences, circumstances - they
are not in your control.
That's exactly how I met Salim saab.
You didn't go to steal,
you went to rape a girl.
Murad! Robbery is our profession.
There was a very small stunt
film called Sarhadi Lutera.
In that film, Salim saab was
playing the romantic lead.
In those days the dialogue
was delivered on set.
So the dialogue came
straight-from-the-oven,
but the director
was not happy with it.
In order to secure my job,
I offered to rewrite some lines.
The director agreed.
So, everyone then said to me:
"You should become a writer.
"Focus on writing."
Even Salim saab would say:
"You should become a writer."
He used to write stories too.
He told me a few of his stories.
They were amazing.
My first film as a writer
was released in 1969.
I wrote the Do Bhai script.
Mr Ashok Kumar bought it.
It did make some money
but wasn't a big hit
So the news spread that:
"Oh! A new writer has come"
Nothing like that happened.
As luck would have it,
I moved to Bandra,
to a room close to
Salim saab's house.
I often used to go to his house
in the evenings.
We would sit on the parapet
by the sea on Carter Road,
and discuss possible plots
and stories.
One day, S.M. Sagar,
the producer-director of Sarhadi Lutera,
came to Salim saab's house
and I happened to be there.
He told us about a story
he had bought,
but was unable to make
a full-fledged screenplay out of it.
He offered us 5000 rupees
to write it.
This was a ghost-writing job.
We weren't credited on screen.
Today's party
will decide the course of our lives.
If you're in love
with someone else,
just tell me.
I'll refuse to marry you
and you'll be free.
An assistant called Sudhir Wahi
was working on the film.
He was a wonderful man and has
contributed hugely to our lives.
He said: "You guys write very
good screenplays.
"Go and meet Sippy Films
in their new offices in Khar.
"They want to set up
a writing department
"and they're looking for new writers."
We narrated something to them.
They were convinced.
They offered us 750 rupees per month
for a trial period of 3 months,
and if things worked out: "We'll
increase your wages to a thousand."
We ended up working there for
7-8 years at 750 a month!
I was tense about playing
the widow's role. Could I do it?
Then director Ramesh Sippy
explained the role to me.
And then I was introduced
to Salim and Javed
that they were writers.
I was like okay.
There used to be a lot
of loud noise on set.
They'd call us
when the shot was ready.
But they kept discussing
the shots.
I'd ask: "What's happening?"
You know.
So they used to say
they were refining
the dialogue a little more,
to make the lines even better.
We can start a life together.
No, Ravi.
I've had to face the world
judging me.
I don't want you
to go through it too.
I am not scared
of the world, Sheetal.
One cannot stop living
for fear of being judged.
If we have the right
to cry in bad times,
it's only fair that we smile
in good times.
While working together,
we eventually became partners.
We never consciously
decided to be partners,
nor did we discuss how
we'd split the money, etc.
We were gradually
credited for our work.
So you two became friends
- while working together?
- Yes.
I had a feeling that
he was talented.
He knew the work.
And if we wrote together, it would
speed up the work, improve it.
During that time I had met Javed saab
when I was doing Seeta Aur Geeta.
Mummy!
- Mummy!
- Oh, God!
Javed was playing rummy
with all the actors on the set.
So he says: "I'm losing such a lot."
He had lost 100 or 200 rupees.
It was a lot at that time,
of course.
So he says: "You pick a card for me."
So I pulled a card for him
and it was a run in rummy card
or whatever, and he declared.
So he says: "You've pulled
such a great card for me,
"I think we are meant
for each other.
"I'm going to propose to you,
let's get married."
That's how it happened.
It's all because of the card.
But I should've realised
gambling never pays!
The quintessential
masala Hindi movie
can be traced back to Salim-Javed.
Sholay, Deewaar, Janjeer
I mean these are films, Shaan
they defined my childhood.
They defined what cinema was.
I think they'd freak out
that you called it "Janjeer"!
- Well, it's Zanjeer.
- "Zanzeer!"
- How do you say it?
- "Zanjeer."
Zanjeer!
I think they came in
at a time when
socially there was
a lot of stuff going on,
politically, socially in
the country at that point.
I think there was a lot
of discontent amongst,
you know, middle-classes,
lower classes
and they reflected that.
There was a certain artistry
in the 40s and the 30s,
the golden era
of entertainment.
It went on into the 50s.
Then post-independence, where we
actually took a holiday in cinema
was in the 60s.
All of the 60s were
these simplistic plots.
Full of songs and music
in hill stations.
If you just go into the archives,
you'll find about
500 movies like that.
Salim-Javed made a difference
to the 70s like nobody else had.
Like, they literally
created that era.
They came from outside
the movie industry.
They came with
the sentiments of that time.
They were anti-establishment
in their ethos,
they were angry
and they were angsty.
And they created an angry,
angsty, anti-establishment lead.
1970s
this was the period, you know,
when you needed somebody
to create heroes for you
who'd get things done.
Some we need some hero.
Somebody who would
clean up the system.
Salim-Javed found in the
"Angry Young Man",
the perfect representation
of dissent.
Dissent came on the streets
probably in '74 onwards.
On screen, it came probably
before that, say Zanjeer.
Sher Khan.
I am not wearing my police uniform now,
nor am I on duty.
I'm in your neighbourhood.
And I'm alone.
A new hero stormed
into the film industry
after Zanjeer.
This is a new hero.
A hero who doesn't sing songs,
doesn't romance,
doesn't break into comedy
or doesn't bullshit.
The other characters were
doing all that. But not the hero.
You be honest to the character,
without pushing the character
according to the need of your plot.
Then you can give
the character an individuality,
an authenticity and
a third dimension.
Had we got Amitabh Bachchan
to sing a few songs in Zanjeer,
you would not remember the
"Angry Young Man" today.
You might remember, in that film,
the hero Vijay sang no songs.
This was why Dev Anand
refused to act in it.
Dev Anand said:
"The audience is not going
to accept Dev without songs!"
Many lead actors refused the film.
The director Prakash Mehra
was also the producer.
It was his first production,
yet he didn't change the script.
Even though we weren't
big-shot writers then.
We only became
known after Zanjeer.
He remained loyal to the script.
It is very easy to talk
but you need guts to do it.
Prakash Mehra's anger was:
"How dare anybody do this?"
"I know this is a good story.
I know that it would make a difference."
He was angry that he got
rejected by so many people.
He had to prove a point.
Mr. Bachchan didn't have
too many choices at that time.
All his films were flopping.
Heroines didn't want to
work with him.
And, he was at his lowest ebb.
It was his luck that
Salim-Javed saw him -
they were passing by
Chandan theatre
and they said: "Let's go in and
watch Mehmood's new film."
In Bombay to Goa, he's chewing gum
and fighting.
I think he topples the guy
and he gets up
and he's still chewing gum.
And I think that confidence is
what they liked about him
and they gave himZanjeer. I mean
Hats off to everybody who took
that decision and of course, Amit-ji
who then went onto
become Vijay forever.
At a stage when you have failed
in many of the attempts that
you've made in the profession,
you actually enjoy the fact
that somebody is actually coming
to narrate something to you.
To narrate a script to you,
rather than
be a little obtuse about what kind of film
it's going to be.
Or what the story is going to be,
or who am I going to be working with.
And therefore,
just the fact that Salim saab
and Javed saab
wished to come
and see me for a narration
was in itself a huge moment.
I didn't want to do Zanjeer.
I basically never wanted to be a part
of a male-centric cinema.
It was a male-centric film.
Salim saab and Javed saab -
they were very straight-forward.
They had tried a lot of
other women actors.
Of course they all had refused.
And they said: "You can't say no,
we need you."
Of course another temptation
was my co-star.
So I thought at least we'd get
to spend time together.
We had written the complete script
of Zanjeer.
But when the posters were put up,
our names were nowhere
to be seen.
A script is the most important
thing in filmmaking.
Yet writers were not valued,
and sometimes not even credited.
There were many other good writers,
but I hadn't seen their names
on any banner.
They would receive their money,
but due respect or credit
wasn't even given to senior
writers, except for one or two.
This was another common practice
that we wanted to break.
So we caught hold of a painter,
gave him paint, a brush
and a stencil with our names.
Now this painter went
on the job a bit tipsy!
So he painted our names on the
heroine's nose, the hero's forehead,
even across Pran's mouth!
He painted in large letters:
"Written by Salim-Javed"
The next morning people saw
our names on posters all over Bombay.
How did you get the idea of
adding your own names?
You should ask
Salim saab about that.
All these acts of bravery were his!
He used to instigate me,
and I'd ask: "Are you sure?"
"Sure, I'm sure! We wrote it.
Why fear anyone?
"We'll see later."
Everyone saw those posters.
What could be greater
publicity than that?
Has anyone ever managed that?
Until the film was released,
people said:
"These are foolish fellows!
"Stamping on the posters:
'Written by Salim-Javed.'
"Who has heard of them?"
We worked so hard
and you won't give us credit?
A songwriter who writes a single page
has his name on the poster.
While the writer of the entire script
isn't mentioned.
A lot of people didn't take it well.
"You're just a writer
and you want everyone to know you?"
We said: "That's just how it is".
What's the name of
a strange man like you?
Vijay.
"I don't pick up money
thrown at me,"
is something they would've said
to a producer.
That kind of Vijay, I think,
embodied both of them together.
Be it Vijay of Zanjeer,
Vijay of Deewaar,
Vijay of Trishul,
or Vijay of Shakti -
These characters were called
"Angry Young Men".
Where was this anger from?
Maybe we had anger
and hurt within us.
Anger is a very strong emotion,
if used in the proper way.
It can be a very potent emotion.
"Next week another coolie
will refuse to pay protection money."
Will you sign or not?
My name is Vijay, sir.
What has not happened in
25 years will happen now.