Salman Khan’s nephew Ayaan Agnihotri aka Agni recent made a splash with the track, Party Fever, where he took on the role of a rapper and a lyricist. The music video also stars his superstar uncle in a cameo. Ayaan is a third generation member of the Khan-daan and he says that he’s aware of the legacy and lineage he comes from, the foundation of which was built by the legendary writer and his grandfather, Salim Khan.
And since Ayaan is into writing along with composing music, in an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha, he talks about feeling the weight of his grandfather’s stardom. “It’s difficult writing stuff in any genre when your grandfather is Salim Khan. So, you don’t know if your writing is good enough and how people will look at it. So, your family may feel like it’s sub-par and not very good,” Ayaan tells us.
Come August 20 and the much awaited Angry Young Men, a documentary that chronicles the lives of Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar will release on Prime Video. At its trailer launch event, members of the Khan family including Salman, Arbaaz, Sohail, Alvira, Arhaan, Nirvaan and Ayaan were also present. “It was surreal,” Ayaan says, adding, “Angry Young Men captures a side of Salim-Javed in their prime years that a lot of people of my age and younger don’t know. School and college going students don’t know how legendary they were. It’s unlikely they’ve seen all their films and are familiar with their work.”
Talking about the impact that Salim-Javed left, he says, “They were revolutionaries. They unsettled the industry and while everybody was upset about it, they finally accepted it because that’s the kind of vigour and ambition these men came in with. They were hungry and so good and they made sure that they’re consistently good. They came up with the core and crux of the situation in a plot that they wanted and then they clean built it up all the way through till the very end. That’s why their writing hits home so profoundly.”
Ayaan also reveals that his parents Atul Agnihotri and Alvira often discuss the works of his grandfather and that, he thinks, bears a testament to his ‘essence of work’. “They grew up hearing about it, seeing it, experiencing it and listening to what others had to say and feel about it. So, they’ve a very different perspective of it. When you think about Salim-Javed and all the films that they’ve done, there’s a feeling that comes to your heart. There’s a mix of emotions you feel,” he says.
While the iconic duo wrote cult films like Zanjeer, Deewar and Shaan, among many others, Sholay is the most talked about. “Sholay hits right at your heart. Salim-Javed were able to create a wealth of emotions and cook so many flavours in two-three hours and the way they did that was incredible. I don’t think we’ve had as effective storytelling that was consistently a part of our industry since them,” he remarks.
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