Only Amitabh Bachchan Could Have Stopped Salim-Javed Split, Salman Khan's Father Says 'Agar Main...'

When Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar returned to our screens with ‘Angry Young Men’ last month, it left everyone nostalgic. The docuseries masterfully captures the personal and professional journey of the legendary writer-duo. However, it also made everyone curious to know why did the two, who revolutionized Indian cinema in the 70s, split. Now, in an interview, Salman Khan’s father has revealed that if there was one person who could have stopped that split, then it was Amitabh Bachchan.

Salim Khan recalled the time when Javed Akhtar told him that he wanted to split, the former told NDTV, “Jab unhone mujhse kaha ki mei alag (films) banana chahta huun, maine kaha thik hai, koi dikkat nahi. Kisiko zabardasti rok nahi sakte. Mujhe toh abhi bhi nahi malum kyun alag hue. Ho gaya toh ho gaya. (When he informed me that he wanted to work separately, I said okay, no problem. You can’t force someone to stay. Even now, I don’t know why we separated. It just happened.)”

“Kyun alag hue yeh bhi kisiko pith piche nahi bataye, uska zikar hi nahi kiya. Milna-julna thha, baat karte thhe, unke ghar ke samne se hi nikalta thha mai, roz walk karta thha, hath hilata tha woh bhi haath hilate thhe. Joh rishta hai joh dosti hai woh thha. (Why we separated, we didn’t tell anyone, or spoke behind each other’s backs, or even mentioned it. We used to meet, talk, and I would pass by his house every day. While walking, I would wave, and he would wave back. The friendship is still there),” Salim Khan added.

Salim Khan further claimed that only Amitabh Bachchan could have stopped their split. “Lekin mei agar hota unki (Amitabh Bachchan) jagah… unko (Javed Akhtar) yehi raye deta ‘Maat chodo accha khasa tumhari ek jodi hai, kaam kar raahe ho accha khasa chal raha kahe ke liye isko chodhte ho?’ Mai hota toh yeh karta. (But if I were in his [Amitabh Bachchan’s] place… I would have given him [Javed Akhtar] the advice: ‘Don’t leave, you have a great partnership, you’re doing well, everything’s going fine, why would you want to end this?’ If it were me, I would have done that.)”

Amitabh Bachchan was a part of several Salim-Javed films including Sholay, Don and Deewaar among others.