When Salim Khan Threatened To 'Destroy' Rishi Kapoor's Career Like Rajesh Khanna: 'Created Amitabh Bachchan...'

Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar were the most prolific writing duo of their time. They delivered several hits like Don, Sholay, Zanjeer and Seeta Aur Geeta among others. Back then, no one had the audacity to refuse their films. However, when a new actor, Rishi Kapoor, rejected Trishul, he was subjected to Salim Khan’s ire.

In his autobiography, Khullam Khulla, Rishi Kapoor recalled how Salim-Javed were furious at him for rejecting Trishul. When Salim Khan saw Rishi Kapoor at a hotel after the rejection, the writer even walked up to him and threatened to destroy his career.

Rishi Kapoor wrote, “I was playing a game of snooker when Salim sa’ab walked over and asked me, ‘How did you have the guts to refuse Salim–Javed?’ Not one to be intimidated, I shot back, ‘I didn’t like the role.’” Rishi continued, “Salim sa’ab boasted to me, ‘Do you know that to this day nobody has said no to us? We can destroy your career.’”

Rishi wrote, “He said, ‘Who will work with you? You know, we had offered Zanjeer to Rajesh Khanna and he turned us down. We didn’t do anything to him but we created an alternative to him, a hero called Amitabh Bachchan, who destroyed Rajesh Khanna. We will do the same to you.’” However, Rishi mentioned that this feud died down soon.

Trishul eventually starred Amitabh Bachchan as the lead. Salim-Javed collaborated with Amitabh Bachchan for several films, including superhits like Sholay, Don and Agneepath. The writers contributed significantly to Amitabh’s success and even established his ‘angry young man’ image.

Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan wrote 24 films together and of those, 22 were hits. They were the most in-demand writing duo and even charged more fees than the leading actor. Their films include Haathi Mere Saathi, Andaz, Seeta aur Geeta and Kranti among others. They revolutionised the industry by demanding fees on par with the top actors, proving that a powerful script could draw in audiences just as much as a star could. They became the only writing duo to achieve star status, with their names often billed alongside leading actors.