Javed Akhtar claimed Rajesh Khanna convinced him to work on his movie

• Javed Akhtar recalled how Rajesh Khanna persuaded them to work.
• The lyricist-writer also gave Rajesh Khanna credit in a recent interview.
• This time Rajesh made sure were paid well.

Javed Akhtar recalled how Rajesh Khanna persuaded them to work on his 1971 movie Andaz so he could purchase his renowned Mumbai mansion, which cost 4.5 lahks. The late actor had told Javed and Salim that despite the film’s lackluster second half, he was unable to back out because the producer had given him a sizable signing bonus of 2.5 lahks, which he required to purchase the home. The lyricist-writer also gave Rajesh Khanna credit in a recent interview for helping him and Salim Khan, who eventually rose to fame as the screenwriting team Salim-Javed, “richer and richer.”

Javed said that he and Salim Khan received 750 apiece for their debut film as writers and that they each received 5000 for the screenplay for Andaz. The movie was partly written by Sachin Bhowmick and Salim-Javed, with direction by Ramesh Sippy.

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In a new interview with Arbaaz Khan and Javed Akhtar spoke about how Salim and him landed Andaz, “Tab yeh bana rahe then Andaz aur ye Andaz ke second half mein fuss gaye. Andaz ka second half hum logon ne banaya hai. Toh humara additional screenplay mein naam aata hai. Ab yeh woh waqt tha jab Rajesh Khanna ki nayi-nayi film hit huyi thi, main baat kar raha hoon 1969-70 beginning ki. Woh roz ata tha wahin, isliye ki inhone break diay tha, toh humse dosti ho gayi. Ek di wo aya Salim Saab ke saath. Rajesh Khanna ne kaha ‘bhai dekho meri bahut badi majburi hai. Majburi yeh hai ki main Carter Road pe ghar khareed raha hoon. Ghar bahut mehenga hai. Wo ghar hai sadhe chaar lakh ka. Aur ye producer ne mujhe itna bada signing amount diya hai ki main wapis toh kar hee nahi sakta hoon. Isne mujhe dhai lak rupay diye. Aur agar main iss script mein kaam karta hoon toh main film industry se nikal jaoonga. Ab choice yeh hai tum dono yaar ise kissi tarah theek kardo ke kam chalao ho jaye (The makers of Anzar were stuck because of the second half. We had become friends with Rajesh Khanna around 1969-70, when he told us he wanted us to work on the film’s script as he needed the film to work. He said he was buying a home worth ₹4.5 lakh in Mumbai’s Carter Road and needed money for the same. The producer had given him ₹2.5 lakh already, which he could not return. He could not leave the film, but was scared that the second half was so bad that he could be kicked out of the film industry)”.

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Javed further said, “Script padhi maine, ki dekhen kya hai yeh. Shart humarai yeh hai ki – hero wahi hai jo rahega, chaar hathi apke hum bacha denge, iske alawa hum sab kuch badal denge. Aapko yeh manzoor ho toh buliye. Hum iske screenplay pe aise kaam karte then jaise mazaak ho. Matlab has has ke hamre pure sceens mein buri haalat ho jati thi… humne unhe sunao aur unhe pasand aya, unhone le liya. Iss baar Rajesh Khanna ne hume bohut paise dilwaye. Dus haazar rupaye. panch hazaar Salim Saab ko, panch hazaar mujhe (After we read the script, we gave the makers two conditions – the hero will remain the same, and we will retain the elephants, but everything else will be changed. They liked what we wrote, even though we were joking most of the time, while working on the script. This time Rajesh made sure were were paid well. We earned ₹10000, with each of us making ₹5000). So, were were becoming richer and richer.”

Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar wrote the screenplays for several well-known Hindi movies, including Sholay, Don, and Deewaar. Javed discussed the reasons why he stopped working with Salim Khan after a few decades in a recent interview with BBC Hindi. Javed also discussed their productive collaboration and how Salim had first pushed him to pursue a career as a screenwriter.

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