On Mid-day’s Sit With Hitlist series, Javed Akhtar pointed out Bollywood icon Rekha’s connection to the film Deewar that starred Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor
Javed Akhtar on Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha's Deewar connection
Veteran screenwriter Javed Akhtar, who co-wrote the screenplay for the 1975 film Deewar, recalled an interesting detail from one of the scenes in the crime drama. On Mid-day’s Sit With Hitlist series, the multi-hyphenate pointed out Bollywood icon Rekha’s connection to the film that starred Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor.
Rekha’s connection to Amitabh Bachchan in Deewar
Javed Akhtar shared that in Deewar, Amitabh Bachchan seals the deal for a building where his mother used to pick up bricks. Interestingly, Rekha, who was linked up with Big B quite often, used to live on the first floor of the same 11-storey building.
Directed by Yash Chopra, Deewar saw the duel between Amitabh Bachchan's Vijay and Shashi Kapoor's Ravi. Fate brought two brothers to the two ends of a spectrum: a cop and a criminal. The movie is still talked about for its powerful dialogues.
Salim-Javed wrote the script of Deewar in 18 days
In the Angry Young Men docu-series, Javed shared that people keep saying how Deewar was a perfect screenplay, but not many know that he and Salim wrote it in 18 days from a small storyline.
Salim said, “Once the script was completed, we hadn’t cracked the climax, so Javed and I completed it sitting on the parapet nearby. Then we went straight to Yash Chopra’s house and narrated it. For almost 5 minutes, there was complete silence.
“If you narrate the story of ‘Deewar’ to someone, there is a 90% chance they will kick you out,” he added.
Big B’s interesting anecdote
Who could forget the powerful line, "Aaj khush to bahut hoge tum..." by Amitabh’s character Vijay as he prayed at the temple for his ailing mother. While it is widely known as an emotional scene today, Big B revealed how the audience laughed at it during the premiere.
Amitabh said in the same series, “Vijay, who has no belief in God, finds himself climbing up the steps of the temple to pray for his ailing mother, and his opening line is ‘Aaj khush to bahut hoge tum’ (You must be very happy today). I do remember the premiere of Deewar, and there was this snigger and laughter in the audience. And that conveyed that it was so unexpected, and they thought it was some kind of a joke, but within a couple of seconds after that, they just froze.”
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