Dharmendra is still guilty about snapping at a young Javed Akhtar, tossing his pages to the floor: ‘Why did I do it?’

Dharmendra expressed guilt at having snapped at a young Javed Akhtar, and said that he understands the struggles that young film industry aspirants go through.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | Updated: August 20, 2024 04:25 PM IST

2 min read

Javed Akhtar worked as an assistant on the film Yakeen.

Veteran actor Dharmendra reflected on a moment of anger many years ago, when he lashed out at a young Javed Akhtar and grew to regret it. The incident seemingly left a mark on him, as he recalled it decades after it happened in the new Prime Video documentary series Angry Young Men. A celebration of the lives and careers of Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan, the three-part show debuted on Tuesday.

In the show, Javed Akhtar looked back on his career beginnings, and said that he left his family and moved to Mumbai as a teenager, with the intention of becoming an assistant director first, and then graduating to filmmaking himself. It was during his time as an assistant on the 1969 film Yakeen, directed by Brij Sadanah, that he first encountered Dharmendra.

Also read – Angry Young Men review: Salim-Javed documentary coasts on full-blown nostalgia and interesting trivia

Recalling his first interaction with Javed, Dharmendra recalled in the show, “When I was doing the film Yakeen, a thin boy came to give me the dialogues. He seemed lovely, very innocent. But the pages were out of order, and I threw them aside in annoyance. I snapped at him, and told him to bring the pages to me properly. I wonder why I did it. I felt very guilty about what I had done, because I understand the struggle that goes into working in the film industry.”

In the show, both Javed and Salim Khan both reflected on the same struggles that Dharmendra was referring to. While Javed said that he went hungry and sleepless on the streets of Mumbai, Salim said that he would live in a half-room after walking away from a life of privilege in Indore.

Javed and Dharmendra would famously go on to collaborate with each other on the iconic film Sholay, which also starred Amitabh Bachchan. Salim-Javed are responsible for having changed the face of Indian cinema, with the introduction of the Angry Young Man archetype that was popularised in their films starring Amitabh.

From the homepage