Salim-Javed: It was Javed Akhtar who engineered the split from Salim Khan

The split of Salim-Javed has been an enduring mystery of Bollywood.

The hit script writing team developed plots for 25 movies over two decades, 21 of which went on to become huge hits. They were such stars they could even demand a share in the profit of the movies they conceived.

The top movies that defined the '70s -  Seetha Aur Geetha, Deewaar, Sholay, Zanjeer and Don - came from their pens.

They turned Amitabh Bachchan into an angry young man. And he has said on record that after the duo split his career suffered.

So, why did they split? A new book Written by Salim-Javed The Story of Hindi Cinema’s Greatest Screenwriters (Diptakirti Chaudhuri, Penguin Books India) attempts an answer. 

An excerpt of the book published by Scroll seems to give Salim Khan's version of it.

The split occurred on June 21, 1981, a date Salim Khan remembers as his second wife Helen's mother fell seriously ill on that day and passed away shortly.

After they finished a day-long session developing a story, Salim Khan got up to leave for his home.

Javed Akhtar followed him and said it was time to move in different directions. Salim Khan accepted the decision gracefully thinking that Javed Akhtar would have given the issue a serious thought and would not change his mind. 

Javed Akhtar had planned the split in advance and was prepared better to handle it. He carried on without losing a beat. While Salim Khan, who was caught unawares, took five years to make a come back with Naam.

So why did they separate? Javed Akhtar may have thought that his contribution was bigger in the collaboration, given that he had also begun writing lyrics.

There were also an age difference between them- Salim Khan was full 10 years older than Javed Akhtar. They moved in different  social circles, had different hangers on and were nit close friends.

It was not very difficult for them to separate.