Salim-Javed scripted Deewaar clocks 50 Years of its release
Salim-Javed scripted Deewaar clocks 50 Years of its release
Discernibly, Salim-Javed gave Hindi cinema some of its collosal hits but the Yash Chopra-directed “Deewaar”, featuring Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor,Niru holds a distinctive
place.
It’s been for many years, that the screenplay of “Deewaar” was tutored as the perfect screenplay at Pune’s Film and Television Institute of India.
Lyricist-scriptwriter Javed Akhtar fondly recounted as he looked back at “Deewaar”, his blockbuster with Salim Khan that released 50 years ago this day.
Salim-Javed, as the two were acknowledged at the time, gave Hindi cinema some of its collosal hits but the Yash Chopra-directed “Deewaar”, featuring Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor, holds a special place. In the same year in August, the duo delivered another blockbuster in “Sholay”.
Javed who turned 80 wrote that “‘Deewaar’ hit the theatres on January 21, 1975, exactly 50 years back. Time passes by so fast. And It is happening all the time but remains a wonder.
The film, also featuring Nirupa Roy, Neetu Singh and Parveen Babi, has stayed in public consciousness through the decades and its dialogues like “Mere paas maa hai” and “Davar sahab, main aaj bhi phenke hue paise nahi uthata” are still oft remembered punch lines.
In the Prime Video documentary series “Angry Young Men”, released last year, Javed Akhtar articulated on how they struggled to crack the climax of the film though they had the perfect script.
Adding further that People say ‘Deewaar’ has a perfect screenplay.They wrote it in 18 days from a small storyline. Then he. wrote the dialogue in about 20 days,.
But they were yet to nail ‘the end’, said Salim Khan.
Salim Khan recalled in the docu series that no sooner the script got completed, the duo writers knew they hadn’t cracked the climax. Javed and Salim completed it, sitting on the parapet nearby (his Bandra house).
Then they headed
straight to Yash Chopra’s house for the narration. For almost five minutes there was complete silence.
In the docu series, the senior Bachchan recounted watching the epic temple scene at the premiere night of “Deewaar” in which his character Vijay, who. grows up to become an atheist, finds himself in front of god to pray for his ailing mother.
And the opening line goes: “Aaj khush toh bohot honge tum.”
The senior Bachchan mentioned that he does remember the premiere of ‘Deewaar’ There was actually a snigger and a gentle laughter in the audience. That was so unexpected and they thought it was some kind of a joke. But within a couple of seconds after that, they just frozen.
For many years, the screenplay of “Deewaar” was taught as the perfect screenplay at Pune’s Film and Television Institute of India.
Notedly, in 1976, Salim-Javed bagged all Filmfare Awards in the writing categories — best story, best dialogue and best screenplay — for “Deewaar”.
News Edit KV Raman
