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Writing the Angry Young Man: Salim-Javed's screenplays for Amitabh
Bachchan
7th Annual Conference Screenwriting Research Network, Filmuniversität Konrad Wolf
Babelsberg, Potsdam
17.-19.10.2014
Claus Tieber
Introduction
In this paper I want to give a glimpse into an important era of Indian screenwriting
and into the work of two of the most important Indian screenwriters, but also to look
after the circumstances in society, culture and film production that are influencing the
way a film tells its story – not only in India.
The Indian film industry: a heterogeneous manufactory
The way Bollywood organizes film production and therefore the screenwriting
process differs significantly from western modes. With regard to Karl Marx M.
Madhava Prasad calls the mode of production of Hindi cinema a ‘heterogeneous
manufactory’ (as opposed to the serial manufactory of Hollywood). (Prasad, 42)
The most significant trait of Hindi Cinema is not only the way it tells its stories, but the
status of the story itself. Whereas in Classical Hollywood Cinema everything is
submitted to the narrative, in Hindi cinema the story is only one of many elements of
the film.
The elements of a Hindi film therefore are not integrated as tightly as in Classical
Hollywood Cinema, because they are developed more or less separately and are not
organised and coordinated by the screenplay alone.
Oral communication is way more important than paper work, film productions start
with narrations of the story, the screenplay is not even written at this point. The
screenwriter narrates the story to the producer, director and star. The parts of the
screenplay are developed more or less separately: one writes the plot (in English),
another one the dialogue (first in English, then translated into Hindi), a third person
will write the obligatory song lyrics. The composer does not necessarily know the
accurate plot when he writes the music scenes. The lyricist may not know the exact
situation in which his song is heard. A music number may be inserted into the film
after general shooting just to have enough songs for the CD, the music rights having
been sold in advance to finance the film. These writers do not work as closely
together as we would expect it from our western experience and knowledge. It is not
surprising that this mode of production is reflected in the way a Hindi film tells its
story.
The first screenwriters who wrote plot AND dialogue were Salim Khan and Javed
Akthar, better known as Salim-Javed. The integration of these tasks resulted in an
emphasis in dialogue, on dialogic situations. Salim-Javed wrote their most famous
and successful screenplays in the 1970s for India's greatest film star: Amitabh
Bachchan. The character they wrote for Bachchan, mostly called Vijay (Victory)
represents the emotions and feelings in India at this time. Bachchan's "angry young
man" as he was called became one of the iconic characters of world cinema.
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Goal-oriented protagonist/active agent: the manual's mode of storytelling
Just to remind you: a Hindi film is as a rule about three hours long, has an
intermission and a couple of song-and-dance scenes. These basic circumstances as
well as the above mentioned specificities of the production process result in a mode
of storytelling that differs significantly from western mainstream cinema.
First of all there is no goal-oriented protagonist, no active agent in Hindi cinema. This
finding is often misunderstood, so I have to elaborate a little on it: characters in Hindi
cinema are not psychologically motivated as in western cinema. They are
embodiments of ideas and ideals, they often refer to characters in the two famous
Indian epics: the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. There are of course characters in
Hindi cinema that are active; there are also ones who are achieving goals. But these
characters are not the majority, and more important: a goal-oriented protagonist is
not the standard mode of storytelling. To put it in another way: there is a big
difference between active characters, even goal-oriented ones in films, and goal-
orientation as a mode of storytelling.
Universal principles
Some scholars argue that a goal-oriented protagonist is a universal principal of
storytelling. (Hogan, 15) One has to bear in mind that the notion of an individual
character, who is able to determine his/her own destiny simply by his/her actions is a
very specific one, which comes with the European enlightenment and the
advancement of the bourgeoisie. A goal-oriented protagonist is thus the
representation of a specific approach to the subject and its abilities. Such an
approach contrasts (among others) a more religious one, in which one's destiny
depends on the will of god or the gods. If one considers that the philosophical,
political and ideological ideas about a subject concept and human individuality
depends on time, place and a social group with economic and political power to
transport and communicate it, then a mode of storytelling that is based upon a
bourgeois, enlightened view of an active agent cannot be a universal principle. To the
contrary such a way of storytelling depends strongly on the circumstances in which it
is developed.
Back to India: In Hindi films of the so-called Golden Age, from Independence until the
early 1960s, there are seldom active agents to be found, and even if a character has
a goal, this endeavour is in general not structuring the plot.
The first characters in Hindi cinema that do have a clearly defined goal to be
achieved by any means are those played by Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s.
Bachchan’s ‘angry young man’ was a successful mixture of gangster-film, social
critique and personal charisma. Most of the characters Bachchan played were
proletarians: coolies, mine workers and so on. Although public morals forbade that
the Bachchan character wins at the end, he was the perfect active agent of the plot.
His actions were propelling the narration forward; he was the driving force.
The arrival of the active agent in Hindi cinema happens in the shape of a proletarian
hero, instead of a bourgeois protagonist. This can be explained by India’s social
development of the 1970s. The industrialization plans of Jawaharlal Nehru produced
a growing working class (see Guha), whereas the Indian middle class achieved an
economically relevant size only in the 1990s. Classical Hindi Cinema always tried to
find the biggest possible audience for its films. Therefore it had an integrating
function in Indian society. The Bachchan films of the 1970s were clearly aimed at a
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male urban proletarian audience, but they also reached other classes. People who
believed in Indian independence were frustrated when the government got itself
involved in corruption scandals and their former hopes faded away. In this situation –
especially before the background of the Emergency from 1975 to 1977 – an active
protagonist on the screen could fulfil at least a few hopes and dreams of this kind of
audience, while political activities like strikes or rallies were forbidden during the
Emergency.
Case Study: Deewar
In order to shed light on the innovations and specificities of Salim-Javed's
screenplays for the Amitabh Bachchan films of the 1970s I will use Deewar (1975) as
a case study and sum up its significant traits.
Overall Structure
Lalitha Gopalan calls Hindi cinema a "Cinema of Interruption". (Gopalan) The
intermission in the middle of a film is the most obvious, (but not the only) evidence for
this interruption. The overall structure is thus two-part, there is no three act structure
in Hindi films, partly due to this 'three hours with an intermission' structure. In general
the notion of three acts is one of the most overrated ones in screenwriting research,
distracting from the fact that screenplays are written in sequences and films are
made in segments. Salim-Javed reduced the number of song-and-dance scenes in
their films, which led to a new narrative structure.
In Deewar the Bachchan character is the one who follows the wrong path, whereas
his brother represents the state, the law and religious righteousness. Salim-Javed
are keeping the tradition of using characters to illustrate ideas and ideals, but they
give their main protagonist, the angry young man played by Bachchan, enough
individual treats and emotions to root for him.
Dialogic situations
Salim-Javed reduced the number of songs and the effect this change had on tradition
was a more effective, streamlined storytelling (in the context of Hindi cinema) as well
as the creating of "dialogic situations" as Vijay Mishra calls it (Mishra), in which
Bachchan's star persona is developed to full effect. Bachchan is the only star in Hindi
cinema, which is not related to a (signature) song. His star persona is the first in
Hindi film that is based on dialogic situations. Albums of the films with the complete
soundtrack were a bestseller in India; fans learned the dialogues by heart. The
circumstance that Salim-Javed write their own dialogues obviously helped to
integrate this element and give it a greater importance than before. It is hard to
understand that dialogue as one of the major tasks of screenwriting had such a low
esteem in Hindi cinema, but besides some famous lines from films like Devdas
(1933, remakes 1955 and 2002) (based on a novel), rhetoric, metaphors, and other
literary devices seem to be reserved for lyrics, not for dialogue.
In the most famous scene Salim-Javed wrote, the dialogue between the two brothers
in Deewar, the protagonist loses this rhetorical battle. Essential scenes are played
out in dialogue, not in action or song and dance. In the 1970s this was a novelty,
closely connected to the construction of Amitabh Bachchan's star image.
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Religion: deus ex machina
One of the greatest mistakes a screenwriter could do – at least when s/he would
follow western manuals – is the use of coincidences as a mean to propel the plot. In
Hindi films, coincidences are a legitimate device, when motivated by religion. The
literary deus ex machina is a common device in Hindi cinema. On the other hand,
religion is often combined with coincidences. In Deewar, Salim-Javed demonstrate
the power of faith like any other Hindi film, in a scene, where Vijay is going to the
temple for the first time in his life to pray for his mother, who is in hospital. The prayer
does its effect, she becomes healthy again. This scene is not used as a coincidence
in terms of plot development only. Salim-Javed wrote a "dialogue" between Vijay and
Shiva, that represents the character's emotions, his anger, his life-long suffering. In
short: the screenwriters still use a traditional device of Hindi cinema, but they
integrate it into a more "western" mode of storytelling. The device loses one of its
original functions and is used to create a dialogic situation. Vijay's monologue in the
temple is of course not a dialogue in the strict sense of the term, but the visual break-
down of the scene into shot-reverse shot, as well as the character's belief that Shiva
is indeed a person one could talk to, can be seen in a tradition of similar scenes in
Hindi films, most notably the dialogue between Radha and Lakshmi in Mother India.
The difference is significant for the innovations in screenwriting that are associated
with Salim-Javed. In Mother India (1957) the scene and what follows immediately
functions as a major plot point, in Deewar the scene is used to show more depth in
the protagonist.
Patchwork of minorities
The angry young man persona is always connected to characters, which represent
the diverse minorities and marginalized groups in Indian society. These characters –
Muslims, Christians, widows, prostitutes, etc – function as "donors" in Propp's
definition of the term. (Propp, 39ff) Vijay's fight against the system is thus also
representing a broader struggle against a corrupt system.
The ideological subtext of these character constellations may also have something to
do with the background of the screenwriters: Salim Khan and Javed Akthar are both
Muslims, working in an industry that is dominated by Hindus, but in which Muslim
elements as well as Muslim workers (directors, actors, screenwriters, lyricists,
composers etc) play a more important role than outside of Bollywood.
Conclusion: Which factors are influencing screenwriting?
Salim-Javed modernized screenwriting for Hindi films in the aspects I have
mentioned. Their screenplays are deeply rooted within the tradition of Hindi cinema,
and their innovations can therefore be seen as a major evolution, not as a revolution.
In analysing the levels on which they changed screenwriting, one can also detect
which factors are influencing the way screenplays are written.
First of all Salim-Javed changed the organization of screenwriting. What was
separated before became integrated: the two screenwriters wrote plot and dialogue.
They also worked closely with the actor of many of their screenplays, whose star
image was constructed mostly by their 1970s screenplays. The way screenwriting is
organized influences the mode of screenwriting heavily. Integration of formerly
separated tasks leads almost automatically to a more integrated form of storytelling.
Screenwriters cannot ignore the culture and the filmic tradition they work in. Salim-
Javed's screenplays are deeply informed by a great knowledge of film history,
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including the Muslim social, a subgenre of films within a Muslim setting, targeted at a
Muslim audience.
The 1970s films of Salim-Javed react to the political events in India at the time, to the
19 months of the Emergency, the abduction of democracy by Indira Gandhi. These
films can only be read properly before their political and historical background.
Screenwriting cannot neglect the basic philosophical and ideological beliefs of a
society. Storytelling is connected to these beliefs, which made specific ways of
narration possible and successful whereas others remain marginal. A goal oriented
protagonist or a melodramatic mode of narration does not fit into any worldview.
Last but not least, the individual creativity, courage, strengths and the skills of the
screenwriters are of course essential for the creative and economic success, but they
are limited within the contexts I have mentioned.
Looking at the screenplays of Salim-Javed for Amitabh Bachchan, who became
South Asia's biggest star because of their screenplays, helps one to get an idea of
the factors that are influencing screenwriting. Two points play no role in this
complicated web: universal principal of storytelling – because there is no such thing.
And manuals: screenwriting manuals for Hindi films just don't exist (until recently)
which may be one more argument for the richness and variety of storytelling in India.
Literature
Gopalan, Lalitha: Cinema of Interruptions. Action Genres on Contemporary Indian
Cinema. London: BFI Publishing 2002
Guha, Ramachandra: India after Gandhi. The History of the World's Largest
Democracy. London: Macmillan 2007
Hogan, Patrick Colm: Understanding Indian Movies, Culture, Cognition, and
Cinematic Imagination. Austin: University of Texas Press 2008
Mishra, Vijay: Bollywood Cinema. Temples of Desire. New York: Routledge 2002
Prasad, M. Madhava: Ideology of the Hindi Film. A Historical Construction. New
Dehli: Oxford University Press 2002 (rev. ed.)
Propp, Vladimir: Morphology of the Folk Tale. Austin: University of Texas Press 1968
