Yeh ZANJEER hum nahin chhorenge!! Rightly so?!

"There is nothing more important in making movies than the screenplay", said Richard Attenborough.

For the uninitiated the "screenplay" is the primary skeleton around which the body of a film takes shape.

If the 'story idea' is the drop of sperm that conceives a film then the screenplay gives it the character it possesses. After that, it is the dialogues, the direction, the songs, the performances, editing, sound design etc etc etc etc etc that give it the personality making it look and feel the way it finally does!

The writer thus is where it all begins. For they say- The film is first complete on paper (Ideally most of it should!)

All those involved in the madness of movie making shall agree unanimously. They have consistently agreed to this notion for over the past 100 years that the Hindi Film Industry has been in existence….and yet the Hindi Film Writer languishes at the bottom of the fame and fortune chain!!

Thus names like Wajahat Mirza, Khwaja Ahmed Abbas, Sachin Bhowmick or Prayag Raj mean nothing to the patronizing movie buff. However, we do sit up and take note when these names are placed beside the work each of these prolific writers have penned-

Wajahat Mirza (Mother India, Mughal-E-Azam and more...)

Khwaja Ahmed Abbas (Shri 420, Awara, Saat Hindustaani, Jaagte Raho, Bobby and more...)

Sachin Bhowmick (An Evening in Paris, Golmaal, Do aur Do Paanch, Koi Mil Gaya, Krish and more...)

Prayag Raj (Amar Akhbar Anthony, Parvarish, Suhaag, Naseeb and more...)

This is precisely the reason why the writer duo that exploded on the scene of Hindi cinema in the early 70's-  and flourished together until their split in the early 80's- is so special. At a time when there were no corporate etiquette's or social media platforms, at a time when the clout of the producers and the influence of the 'stars' thoroughly dictated dues and at a time when credit was the norm instead of advance; Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar- together  as Salim-Javed- revolutionized the way script writers are looked at in the Hindi film industry!

Albiet, it is matter of shame- for the industry- that until Salim-Javed put their foot down, such terms as they asked for were not voluntarily provided to the writers! And mind you, they too did not have it easy despite their craft and flare. For instance, it was only when Salim Khan booked an auto and went about all night painting their names on posters all over the city, that their demand for credits on the posters began to be met!

Thus with a craft that boasted of a potential to deliver scripts like Zanjeer, Yaadon ki Baraat, Deewar, Sholay, Haathi Mere Saathi,Trishul and Shakti to name a few and a flare to demand what was rightfully theirs; they made their presence felt and brought credibility to a profession previously relegated to the back ground.

As such, today, it only seems like a twist from one of their very own screenplays when after all these years, the duo is back demanding their due as one of their cult works- Zanjeer- is being re-made!

Zanjeer- written by Salim Javed-was released in 1973. It was not just a film but a landmark that acquired cult status as it unleashed on screen, the force called- Amitabh Bachchan- and gave vent to a phase that was to reflect from there on- 'the mood of the nation'. Zanjeer thus is a masterpiece by the writers and cannot be tampered with, without their consent.

Mind you, this is not at all a case of legal rights. As the amendments to the Copyright Act 1957 are yet to be passed in the parliament, Amit Mehra, son of Prakash Mehra who produced and directed the original could well be within his right to remake his father's film.

It is, instead, as Javed saab rightly pointed out a case of- 'moral rights.'

“You cannot buy a M. F. Hussain painting and then make changes to it just because you own it. This is violating the moral right of the artist”, he explained.

As such, for all disgruntled writers and artists who often lament the lack of recognition and respect the industry offers to artists behind the scenes (esp. writers), this could well be an opportunity to stand up and take notice. For although the intricacies of what happens between Salim-Javed and Mehra's over the remake of Zanjeer may or may not be known, the principle that seems to have triggered the unrest, is by all means worth defending.

As of now Javed Akhtar seems like the lone crusader for a cause from which the present generation of writers is to benefit. It is thus only wise to be aware if not involved at all times regarding the above, else Jaaved saab might just turn to us and say... "Ilaaqa tumhara hai, aur main akela hoon!"