According to Javed Akhtar, the legendary movie “Sholay” was not inspired by the classic western “Once Upon a Time in the West,” as had been speculated.
Javed Akhtar, a seasoned screenwriter and lyricist, has denied rumours that the legendary Bollywood movie “Sholay” was inspired on Sergio Leone’s classic western “Once Upon a Time in the West.”
“As I’ve already mentioned, Sergio Leone had an influence on Sami and Javed. However, ‘Sholay’ wasn’t based on his sweeping movie. In the recently published book, “Talking Life: Javed Akthar in Conversation with Nasreen Munni Kabir,” Akhtar says that critics also claimed that “Zanjeer” was based on “Dirty Harry.”
‘Dirty Harry’ and ‘Zanjeer’ were both released in December 1971 and May 1973, respectively, he notes. Before Google, it would not have been possible for them to write the screenplay, which was based on “Dirty Harry,” and then have the movie shot, edited, and distributed in such a short period of time.
It is all rubbish. No film was a remake or based on any other film,” Javed Akhtar writes.
He claims that Salim Khan came up with the core plot of “Zanjeer.” Later, we collaborated to write the screenplay. ‘Dirty Harry’ was indeed recreated in Hindi, but not by Salim and Javed. It was titled “Khoon Khoon” and was a huge failure, in Akhtar’s memory.
He claims that the two films’ heros, two irate police officers, were the only thing that connected “Zanjeer” and “Dirty Harry.”
“I believe the hero of ‘Zanjeer’ has additional facets. When some Indian critics watched one of our films, they felt it was a copy and couldn’t believe that Salam and Javed came up with the concepts on our own. Javed Akhtar explains
Consider the twist in “Don.” To expose the evil guys, a police officer plants Vijay in a gang, but the police officer is killed while performing his duty, Akhtar continues. “Even though the gang suspects he’s a plant, Vijay finds it difficult to persuade the police that he is an undercover agent without the police officer to support his tale.
As a result, both the police and the gang are seeking Vijay’s blood. What a clever turn. In the book, Javed Akhtar claims, “All Salim Sahib
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