“Angry young man” a three episode documentary series on Salim Javed writers has been released in Amazon Prime on 21st Aug 24.
I watched with keen interest the three episodes
docuseries on Salim- Javed the writing duo whose credits used to come on the silver
screen before the hero’s or director’s name. They used to command such importance
during their times.
22 out of 24 movies were hits which will remain
un paralled in the history of Hindi cinema.
The series captures their initial days in Mumbai
(than Bombay) and how they charted a success story which looks like a fairy
tale. Javed Saab explains that he had
only one trouser and that it had got torn, he had not touched a morsel of food
for three days because he had no money.
He explains that if a man suffers from lack of sleep or hunger, it will
live an indelible mark on the conscious of that person, which will have a deep
impact on his later life. The initial life experiences has got reflected
in their scripts.
Javed Saab explain that they had no notion of
creating an angry young man, when they wrote the script of Deewar. What they wrote came from what they
experienced in their real life. Deewar
is supposed to be the best script in the Hindi cinema because every piece in
the story is well connected. It is mentioned that Deewar is used in the film
institute to teach how to write a good script.
The docuseries, interviews a variety of people from
directors, heroes, heroines, writers and ad makers about their impressions on
the famous duo. All of them reiterate the
importance of a very good script for the success of a movie.
At one place Javed Saab mentions that during
his initial struggling days when he was sometimes in the lowest ebb of his life,
he never for a moment felt that he will not succeed in what he wanted to do in film
industry. That speaks about the
confidence in his talent. The hope, burning desire to succeed which arises out
of the baptism by fire will eventually come to fruition. He mentions many
writers would have succeeded, if they persisted a little more by eschewing the
ego and stoically facing the humiliations of failure.
During the seventies when people had to wait for everything, like getting a gas connection after six years, getting a telephone connection after 10 years, unemployment, waiting in the long queue for ration items and those were the times of short supply of many things. The middle class in particular were becoming restless and expected a change to happen in the society. They felt helpless and anger had become embedded in their psyche. This pent up anger of the common man was used by the duo in their scripts and it heralded the birth of Angry young man. They had never tried to create it intentionally. What they showed on the screen resonated with the life of the common man to the hilt. It was a major reason for the success of their movies.
One of the thing that is mentioned is Salim and
Javed complemented each other, one was good at story creation and the other was
good at screen play by fleshing the characters with life.
One of the thing Salim Saab mentions that to
become a good writer, one has to voraciously read lot of books.
Javed Saab mentions in one of his poetry that
if you live one day less it does not matter, but for the days you lived, the
light must burn bright, meaning you live life fully and put your best efforts
at whatever you want to succeed.
It is a good document series to watch for all
the film lovers of the era between 1970’s
to 2000 and particularly for those who have been bred on Amitabh Bacchan’s
movies.
I felt a sense of happiness and connect and calm
after watching Angry young man. If you don’t agree, you can get angry with
me. Nevertheless I am happy with you, since you have
read my full blog.😍
