Short read: Angry Young Men Review: Salim-Javed Documentary Coasts on Full-Blown Nostalgia and a Dizzying Array of Stars

Did you know that the of the 24 Bollywood movies that the duo of Salim Khan & Javed Akhtar (screen name “Salim-Javed”) scripted, 22 were blockbuster hits eg. Deewar, Don, Sholay, Zanjeer, etc. No scriptwriter before or since has managed a strike rate remotely close to this.

And did you know that they were the first scriptwriters to get paid more than Amitabh Bachchan in the movies which they scripted for the dominant superhero of 1970s Bollywood.

And finally, did you know that until Salim-Javed made it a practice, the scriptwriter’s names did not feature in in the movie publicity posters and hoarding.

These and other fascinating factoids are part of the 3 part Amazon Prime series “Angry Young Men”. Featuring what feels like everybody who is part of the Bollywood A-list, the documentary is a story of determination, guts and take-no-prisoners type raw aggression to rise to the top in the rough-and-tumble world of filmmaking. For those of us who saw the 70s as a decade wasted by the Emergency, the frisson and ferment of that decade – as captured by Salim-Javed’s attitude comes as a surprise. As Shubhra Gupta writes for the Indian Express:

“No one actually uses the phrase ‘too big for their boots’, but Honey Irani, Javed’s ex-wife and still very much part of the extended family from all accounts, comes closest. As does Jaya Bachchan, who smilingly labels them ‘brats’, but stops there. Honey, who met Javed on the sets of the rollicking ‘Seeta Aur Geeta’, has the right mix of residual affection and bracing honesty, as she speaks about their relationship.”

This mixture of anger & hunger, bravado and irreverence is a lot of fun to watch for immigrants like us who come to the Maximum City with stars in our eyes.

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