When Salim Khan told his wife ‘if she has to go, she has to go’, this is how his relationship with Javed Akhtar ended

Bollywood’s iconic writer duo, Salim-Javed, wrote 24 films together, out of which 22 were blockbusters. So when the news of the breakup of this duo came in 1982, cinema fans were heartbroken. The separation of Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar, who had written films like Sholay, Deewar and Zanjeer, was a shock to the film industry as well.

Now superstar Salman Khan has revealed what his father, Salim Khan, said to his family first after separating from Javed Akhtar. Amazon Prime has come up with a documentary-series named ‘Angry Young Men’ on the film journey of Salim-Javed. Many people who have worked with Salim-Javed and his family are a part of it and in this Salman also talked about the separation of Salim-Javed.

In the documentary, Salman recalled that when Javed Akhtar talked about separation, Salim Khan was very ‘disturbed’ after that. Salman said, ‘I remember when the partnership broke, my dad came home, he was disturbed. So I was sitting at the dining table and he said- ‘Javed and my partnership… they want to separate.’ So I asked- ‘Why? You didn’t say anything?’ He refused. I said that there must be some reason. He said that ‘if he has to go, he has to go.’ That’s all he said, only that much.’

Javed Akhtar’s first wife, Honey Irani, has also told in this series how Javed told her this news. She told, ‘I only knew one thing, Javed came home one day and said that I have a bad news for you. So I asked if he had hit the car again? So he said ‘No, I have separated from Salim sahab.’ So I asked him why? So he said don’t ask me this question again.

Salman called the Salim-Javed partnership as ‘close friends’ but Javed Akhtar’s son, actor-director Farhan said they were more like friends.

Farhan said, ‘I think both of them were more than friends. I don’t know how to describe it exactly. I think they were like brothers, without any emotions. But they were partners in the true sense. I think this is the best way to describe them. I am sure that this (breakup of the pair) affected both of them a lot. I mean, you have done such great work together, but when you separate and start working on your own, you need to create an identity for yourself again. So you start from zero. It is not easy.’

Let us tell you, Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar had decided to separate in 1982. But the last script they wrote was for the film ‘Mr. India’, which was released in 1987. This film of Salim-Javed, which came after the breakup of the duo, was also a solid blockbuster.