Angry Young Men, a three-part series directed by Namrata Rao, is crafted like the many Bollywood blockbusters that its protagonists — Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar — wrote together.
Starring their wives, children, colleagues, friends and fans, the series is devoted to not just telling the story of a very successful and almost epochal collaboration, but also to cast them as the best writers Indian cinema has ever had.
That Salim-Javed were a formidable, talented pair who demanded and ensured that writers are treated with respect and given their due credit is undeniable. That their films gave at least two generations of Indians a role model, a hero to worship and emulate — even if he was angry and problematic with severe mummy-daddy issues — is a fact.
But, to say that they were and still are the best writers Indian cinema has ever had is a bogus claim. Or to say that the films made on their stories were box-office hits only because of their writing is the sort of tall tales kids tell to establish, "My daddy is the greatest".
This is not what adult, seasoned writers and filmmakers do. Angry Young Men, produced by Khan and Akhtar’s children, rightly celebrates two exceptional writers. The series is entertaining, gives us interesting details and peeks into the personal and professional lives of the duo. It takes us back to the world where a character’s swag was conveyed with a simple line: “Main aaj bhi phenke hue paise nahin uthata.” (from 1975 film Deewaar).
But it doesn't cast a critical eye on the collected works of Salim and Javed, making it more a hagiography than a biography.
Namrata Rao’s series begins with a stylish bang — with quirky editing that is to be expected of one of Bollywood’s top editors. It opens as Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar are settling down for their interviews. Then Rao throws in the most appropriate, and obvious, dialogue from Sholay to establish what her series is about before breaking into animation for the opening credits inspired by how films looked and sounded in late 70s and 80s -- a breathless chase choreographed to match R.D. Burman’s sexy background score.
This leads to talking heads where the Khan and Akhtar children recall what life was like at home when the two worked together, and then hand over the baton to other directors, critics, analysts to establish the impact Salim-Javed had on the film industry.
Salim-Javed’s collaboration began with Ramesh Sippy’s Andaz. Then they wrote Seeta Aur Geeta (1972), the series says, without mentioning the Telugu original - writer D.V. Narasaraju’s Ramudu Bheemudu, starring N.T. Rama Rao, or its legit Bollywood remake, Ram Aur Shyam, starring Dilip Kumar.
The series skirts these uncomfortable details because, well, Salim-Javed next wrote Zanjeer (1973) and ushered in the age of the writer.
In one fell swoop, they disrupted the golden era of romance. Their angry young man, Vijay, played by Amitabh Bachchan, ended Rajesh Khanna’s long, almost uninterrupted streak of hits, and gave India a new superstar.
The first episode focuses on how the partnership between Salim and Javed - two brats with massive egos - was formed and how they created a space for themselves with a lot of talent, but also arrogance, chutzpah and audacity. On the release of Zanjeer, they hired a man and made him go around Mumbai stamping “Written by Salim-Javed” on the film’s posters.
The episode dwells in detail on how these “arrogant, angsty, outsiders” created an “angry, angsty” hero who didn't smile or sing songs. Instead, he snapped at everyone, brooded and took on daunting villains with such delicious insults that we freely use those one-liners even today.
The series suggests that their angry young man Vijay, who appeared in five films — Zanjeer, Deewaar, Trishul, Kaala Patthar and Shakti — carried shades of their own personalities (and not fantasy) and that through their films they subconsciously captured the disenchantment and changing mood of the nation.
There is no mention of the many men and women writers, films and directors they may have grown up watching and learnt from. And though Shyam Benegal gets a line or two, there is no mention of the other angsty, angry and supremely talented writers — Vijay Tendulkar, Satyadev Dubey, Girish Karnad, Dilip Chitre, Vasant Dev, Shama Zaidi, Ismat Chugtai, Kaifi Azmi and Sagar Sarhadi among others — who were also collaborating with each other and running parallel to Salim-Javed.
Instead we get their shenanigans, personal stories — Javed marrying Honey Irani, and Salim Khan marrying Salma — and back stories about how Amitabh Bachchan got cast in Zanjeer, how they wrote the screenplay of Deewaar in 18 days and demanded that they be paid more than the hero.
The series’ second episode is a deeper psychoanalysis session as it focuses on the two films that were released in 1975 (Yash Chopra’s Deewaar and Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay) and changed not just the film industry, but also how India consumed films.
Here, we get bits about Salim and Javed’s early childhood, their relationship with their fathers and longing for their mothers, leading to why Vijay often had daddy issues and was obsessive about Ma.
In between sharing fascinating details around the making and release of these films — including ideas they stole from other films, how Gabbar Singh was created — Rao uses their immortal dialogue and scenes to create peppy montages that break the monotony but also recall their genius and impact.
There’s a fleeting mention of the fact that most Salim-Javed stories were male-centric, but the series is quick to add that their female characters were strong, working women.
Their chronology of hits is interrupted briefly by a flop, but then there's Don, Dostana, Trishul, second marriages — to Helen and Shabana — and, finally, the sudden, shocking announcement that they have split.
Like a three-act play, Angry Young Men is pacy and thrilling in the beginning. Its middle sags a bit and the end is sad.
This emotional trajectory is in sync with the story of Bollywood’s most famous writing partnership that ended abruptly, inexplicably after 16 years and 24 films. Strangely, the series breaks into long silences and truisms after it announces the split.
Though Angry Young Men had unprecedented access and a long line-up of actors, directors, wives, children, critics and trade experts, none of them shed any light on the reason. Instead they share banalities - "all things and relationships have an expiry date" - and their own overwhelming feelings about this tragic split. They create a mood, and though the series attempts a happy reunion in the end, the sadness and the unanswered question linger.
The strength of Namrata Rao's Angry Young Men is that it gives us portraits of two very distinct personalities who came together to create some of India’s most iconic and loved films and characters.
Salim Khan is a very handsome, sharp man who is an excellent judge of character but is reticent. He reclines while talking, observing more than he shares. There is no insecurity about him, and he feels no need to explain himself.
Javed is a flirt, a player. He wants to entertain and be entertained. But he also wants to share, explain. He leans forward even when talking to the camera.
He talks a little bit about what life was like after he decided to end the partnership, but we get nothing from Salim saab.
Salim Khan, 88, and Javed Akhtar, 79, are the stars of this multi-starrer, but the series mollycoddles them and treats them with way too much reverence.
Quite deliberately, it focuses a lot on their frailty, fragility and seems to suggest that we should respect their decision not to speak about the split and let bygones be bygones. Except that the series is a celebration of a bygone era.
The fact that the most significant piece of the puzzle is still missing is tantalising. It keeps the mystery and myth of Salim-Javed alive. But it left me feeling cheated.
In this and some other aspects, Angry Young Men has the ambition and texture of those homely collaborations we mount on a large screen as we celebrate milestone anniversaries and birthdays of our parents and grandparents. Like those videos, the series has a lot of love for the two men, and a strong, urgent sense of mortality - that time is passing and we must celebrate them before all gets lost.
Though Karan Johar, Jaya Bachchan and Honey Irani, with their candid commentary and illuminating insight, stand out amongst all the talking heads in Angry Young Men, the show in the end feels like a well-made, entertaining home video and dilutes the significance of the very men it wants to mythologise.
Angry Young Men: The Salim-Javed Story
Director: Namrata Rao
Rating: 3/5
Platform: Amazon Prime
