‘Salim and Javed together are Vijay’: Namrata Rao on ‘Angry Young Men’

National Award winning editor Namrata Rao makes her directorial debut with the docuseries Angry Young Men, releasing on Amazon Prime Video on August 20. The show is about iconic screenwriters Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar, writers of Sholay, Zanjeer, Deewaar and Don — films that shaped Amitabh Bachchan’s ‘Angry Young Man’ persona. Here’s what Rao said about exploring their lives and films:

Salim and Javed are two writers everyone knows. How do you go beyond the obvious to really tell us their story?

There's so much available about them on the internet. Thousands of stories, trivia. So I thought what is my take going to be? And for me, it was that, okay, what I can do is make it more personal, make it more like portraits of artists. Rather than just they have achieved this, or they've done this. So, I think I went that route, like, what really made them tick? What made them upset? And, you know, how did they handle success and failure? So, hopefully, you'll see that.

Do you think being a woman telling this story gives you a different take than, say, some aspirationally ‘angry young’ male filmmaker?

You know, I would like to believe so. As a woman, of course, I've seen the world with a different view. And to deal with two really male writers… I mean, they created the angry young man.

They were the parents of the alpha.

(Laughs) Yes. So, to see them through the lens of, I won't say female gaze only, but just through the human lens, you know, with all their, the goods, the bads and the uglies. So yeah, I think that gaze has been good.

Was one of them easier to talk to than the other?

No, no, they were both very good. They're both master storytellers. And I struck different chords with both of them, I think. After the first formal meeting, once we broke the ice, I think I was super friendly with both of them. They also wanted me to know them, and understand where their work was coming from.

Were they like a Lennon-McCartney partnership? In the sense was one of them the ideas person and one primarily the dialogue person, so to speak? Or do they even remember who did what?

I mean, in a lot of cases, they don't. But when I pushed them, they have said that the story was usually Salim sir’s, the screenplay they did together, and Javed saab did the dialogues after that. But they both had a way in on everything. But yeah, these were the strong suits.

As a viewer, what Salim-Javed scene, maybe as a child probably, screamed to you first? What do you remember?

I saw all their films on Doordarshan, right? And for me, it was always the films. I didn't even know they had written them. Like Kaala Pathar, I got affected by that. Or even a Seeta Aur Geeta… When I was growing up, I was a little more like Seeta, but wanted to be like Geeta.

I’m sure people want to talk about them, but do you go beyond that reverence when interviewing people? To look not just at ‘Salim sir’ and ‘Javed sahab’ but the men themselves?

I believe so. You have to see the series to see what I mean. We have talked a lot about their failures, about their fallings. And thankfully, there were people who were willing to talk about it. So I lucked out there, especially the women. They've been quite candid about it.

What do you think made them so unique? No one could really walk through that door even after they blasted it open. We’ve never had another screenwriter since whom the audience knows. Why do you think that is?

Because they were very successful and nothing speaks like success. You know, if you've written 24 films and 22 of them are hits, you certainly have a voice, right?

And also, maybe because they came from outside of the movie industry. So they had this jazba of karenge, dikhaenge, because they had nothing, they knew nobody in the city, and they made their way. It's actually a story of great manifestation, I think, for believers.

Like Javed saab says, ‘I used to think, okay, this is all masala for my biography. But of course, my success is just around the corner.’ And Salim sir, he struggled for 15 years as an actor. That can really demoralise anybody. Then he discovered writing and he met with success. I found them very inspiring.

Do you think, given the highly filmi swagger of both your subjects, that a documentary is the best way to tell their story? Could this have been a feature film?

No, I think documentary is a better medium. I think people have tried to make a fiction film on their life. I've not gone into the details of it. But given a choice, I would never opt for it. Because they're very interesting and intriguing characters. They really hold the screen well. They have so many stories to tell. So I would rather hear it from them. It really makes a difference.

Are the two of them close now?

No.

They're very fond of each other. And whenever they meet, like even yesterday [at the launch of the Angry Young Men trailer] they met, they were very happy. They were very excited to see each other. But of course, I won't say that they hang out.

You’ve had to look at their filmography, their process, so closely while making this series. What has it made you appreciate more about their work?

It made me consider what is the theme of my life, how it informs my work, and the theme of my work. That is something I really experienced through them. Though they were not conscious of it, and they didn't even know why they were doing what they were doing.

Like when we talk about the Emergency and all, both of them talk about it. Similarly, how they both lost their mothers, and I believe that this phenomenon of the angry young man, somewhere comes from that, from their core wound of missing their mothers, or not having a mother while they were growing up. That informs the whole theme.

Is there something to be said about them being such larger-than-life dreamers that it allowed them to create these iconic characters?

They were very connected to the street. They lived there, you know, for a majority of their life. And they really told stories from there. So I think that made a huge difference. And they were, of course, big dreamers. And they believed that we are meant for great things. [They were] definitely characters. Together, they are Vijay. I am convinced. Salim and Javed together are Vijay.

That’s a good line. I daresay they would approve. Tell me, once they called it quits, were they ever tempted to get back and try something together again?

No, I don't think so. I think they just took two different paths after they parted ways. And somewhere, I also think that it was inevitable. And I think they peaked. Like Shakti, as they say, was our swan-song together. What a film to end things on.