सलीम खान ने असल जिंदगी से गढ़ा ‘मौसी वाला सीन’: ‘शोले’ के डायरेक्टर रमेश सिप्पी बोले- सलीम खान ने दोस्त की शादी का अनुभव लिखा था

Veteran Hindi cinema writer Salim Khan has written many superhit films in the 1970s and 1980s like Sholay, Zanjeer and Sita Aur Geeta. Today i.e. on Monday, Salim Khan is celebrating his 90th birthday. On this special occasion, Ramesh Sippy, director of the film Sholay, shared many memories related to him in a conversation with Dainik Bhaskar.

Ramesh Sippy said that the relationship with both Salim and Javed started during the making of my first film Andaz. I was half way through the film when Salim Sahab and Javed Sahab came to my office. Met him and then I placed him in the story department. We started giving them a monthly salary of Rs 750, which means a package of Rs 1500 for both of them together.

Ramesh Sippy further said that later when the journey of all three of us was successful and we did more work together, the amount also went up to Rs 10 lakh. Soon after the success of the film Andaaz in April 1971, work began on the film Sita Aur Geeta in July, leading to their partnership progressing rapidly.

Ramesh Sippy and Salim Khan have worked together in films like Sholay, Sita Aur Geeta and Shaan.

Javed’s influence on Salim Sahab’s screenplay vision and dialogues

Ramesh Sippy said that the contribution of both Salim-Javed as a team was special. Both of them were very good. Salim Sahab paid a lot of attention to discussion and screenplay and his contribution was major. Yes, there were dialogues for some things, but Javed Sahab had more control over the dialogues. Salim Khan’s main USP has always been the screenplay.

Sippy further said that I had given him the credit for joint writing, but whenever we used to sit and listen to dialogues, if any suggestion came here and there, it would be incorporated. Imagine, it was very difficult to get along in those times, but all three of us used to work like a team.

Inspiration and similar thinking from western cinema

Ramesh Sippy told that for all three of us, the films of the West had a lot of contribution in our journey, because they were a part of our upbringing. Of course, even the best work of Hindi cinema, be it Mughal-e-Azam, Mother India, or any other great work, we have always been fond of good cinema. All three of us had the same thinking. That’s why it was fun working together. When we got success, it became an even bigger incentive for us to move forward. I and Salim-Javed worked together on a total of four-five films, after which the pair parted ways.

The birth of ‘Akela’ from the rise of the underworld

Ramesh Sippy told that after the separation of Salim-Javed, I did the film ‘Sagar’ with Javed Sahab and ‘Akela’ with Salim Sahab. In the story discussion of the film Akela, there was talk about the tough story. We sat, discussed and the script was made as it is. At that time the underworld was very active, especially in Bombay. When there is a strong underworld, the need for a strong cop is felt to stand against it. This need gave strength to the strong character of Amitabh Bachchan, who gave life to the film.

Regarding Salim Khan’s nature, Ramesh Sippy said that when we used to work during the day, there was no talk of any jam-waam. After the discussion, if the meeting was extended into the night or we sat for discussion at night, then there would be some conversation after that. We never mixed drinks with work, neither with Javed Saheb nor with him.

Salim Khan is the father of Bollywood actor Salman Khan.

Less constructive conflict, more mutual agreement

While talking about creative conflict with Salim Saheb, Ramesh Sippy said that there used to be discussions, but there was very little conflict. We agreed on most things. If one person’s point of view was strong, the other two would discuss and either he would agree or we would agree. The final decision was always based on the fact that this is the right thing because I have to make the film. As long as Salim-Javed were together, they used to write alone at that time and did not have any big writing team like nowadays.

Ramesh Sippy told that in the film Deewar, ‘What do you have? The famous line ‘I have a mother’ was written by Salim Saheb.

Aunty Scene: A Real-Life Incident

Talking about Salim Khan’s writing style, Ramesh Sippy said that he had a habit of including real life incidents in his writing style, as happened in the aunty scene of ‘Sholay’. The scene of that aunt was such that Salim Sahab had gone to meet the mother of the girl for the relationship of one of his friends, who was against the relationship. When I went to explain to them, while explaining, such things were said as ‘Yes, we drink alcohol’ and ‘There is one and that’… this type of scene took place there. This is a real-life thing.

Talking about Salim Khan’s personal life, Sippy told what kind of celebration he liked on his birthday. He told that his celebrations were usually very closed. Mostly just once in a while there was a big event, but mostly there were 8-10 or 12 people, nothing very big.

Films were made quickly, ‘Shaan’ took a little more time

Ramesh Sippy told that the script of Sholay was written by Salim-Javed together in 15 days. Apart from this, Sita and Geeta also died immediately. However, the film Shaan took a little more time. Shaan must have taken about two-three months because they were episodes, sequences. The ‘one liner’ (gist of the story) was clear, but there was a truck scene and action in it, so it took some time to work accordingly.

Ramesh Sippy further said that everyone used to work together on Shaan. The atmosphere was such that no one was centralized, they used to talk together, together they decided that ‘yes, this will look good’. It was then developed and if corrections were needed, they were done, otherwise it was like first class.