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The veteran screenwriter Javed Akhtar has often said that the industry celebrated when he and his longtime creative partner, Salim Khan, delivered their first-ever flop film. Released in 1977, Immaan Dharam reunited the iconic Deewaar pair Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor, but tanked both critically and commercially. Salim-Javed’s rivals in the industry, who felt that they were becoming too full of themselves with a string of blockbuster hits, allegedly popped champagne to celebrate the reality check. While Javed Akhtar’s story could seem heightened, as it turns out, it was true. In his autobiography, Rishi Kapoor admitted that he actually went to Javed’s house after Immaan Dharam tanked, only to make fun of him in person.
Rishi Kapoor wrote in his book Khullam Khulla, “I starred in Amar Akbar Anthony, which broke many box office records while a film called Imaan Dharam, written by Salim–Javed and directed by Desh Mukherjee, bit the dust at the box-office. It was such a dud that people started saying, ‘Salim–Javed ki film flop ho gayi.’ It was the first time that a Salim–Javed film had failed so badly, and that too despite boasting a star cast that included Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor and Sanjeev Kumar.”
Rishi said that one of director Manmohan Desai’s ‘fun-loving’ assistants suggested that they pay Javed a visit, and gloat at his failure. “He said to me, ‘Saala, Javed sabki bajaata hai (Javed makes fun of all us), let’s go and needle him over Imaan Dharam.’ Javed had an apartment somewhere in Bandstand and we headed over immediately. Javed sa’ab was welcoming. He brought out glasses and poured us all drinks. After a few rounds, we began taunting him.”
Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar gave Hindi cinema some of its most iconic films under their partnership Salim-Javed. (Photo: Express Archives)
Rishi admitted that Javed took the jibes on the chin. “‘Sarkar, Imaan Dharam toh flop ho gayi,’ we said. I drove the point home by repeating it a few times. I must give credit to Javed sa’ab for handling it well. He turned around and observed, ‘Sarkar, hamari to ek film flop hui hai, tum ne to granth likhi hai flopon ki (We’ve had only one failure while you have a whole saga of setbacks).’”
Rishi had butted heads with both Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan separately before, after he declined to appear in the film Trishul. A ‘drunk to the gills’ Javed had vowed to never write again if his films didn’t outperform Rishi’s debut hit, Bobby. Salim, on the other hand, warned Rishi that he might have destroyed his career by turning them down. Salim-Javed’s dream run, and their subsequent split, was recently revisited in the Prime Video documentary series Angry Young Men.
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