Skip to main content

Bond of Brotherhood



By Jaideep Sen


Undoubtedly two of the most significant films in Salim Saab’s glorious career both as a writing duo and as a solo writer are Deewaar and Naam. The common thread that runs between both films is the Bond of Brotherhood.

As I sat down to write this piece, two interviews came to my mind very vividly. The first was an interview with Salim Saab’s eldest son, Salman Khan, who had mentioned that during the days of his father’s collaboration with Javed Saab, “Dad was never the front-man, he was always behind, much like an older brother to Javed Saab”. The second was a recent interview in which Javed Saab mentioned that their partnership was not of equals as Salim Saab was an elder whom he looked up to almost as a parent.

I guess the pure and unadulterated love that emitted from Salim Saab as an elder stemmed from his deep understanding of human relationships.

A still from Deewaar
In Deewaar a young Vijay telling his Mother that you don’t earn enough to educate the two of us but the two of us can earn enough to educate Ravi laid the foundations of a selfless elder brother who gives up on his dreams to support his Mother.  This brilliantly played out in the latter part of the film when the relationship between the two brothers is tested as they find themselves on opposite sides of the law.  

The dilemma that Ravi faces on discovering that his elder brother has gone illegal is so palpable when he says that his brother had played a huge role in his life and  taking him down in the name of duty is an impossible task for him.

How the impossible becomes possible is perhaps one of the most emotionally impactful scenes ever written featuring Shashi Ji and A.K Hangal Saab which culminates with Shashi Ji saying one of the most enlightening dialogues I’ve ever heard in Indian cinema: “Itni badi shiksha kisi teacher ke ghar se hi mil sakti thi”.

A still from Naam
How uncanny it is that Naam, the first film Salim Saab wrote as a solo writer was also a story of two brothers. And, how fitting that it should also be about a relationship and emotion that he was so aware of. Salim Saab struck gold with this tale of two half-brothers who have tremendous love for each other which only gains strength even after they come to know that they are not real brothers.

The scene in which Vicky reveals to Ravi that they are not real brothers has a huge impact on him. For till then, whatever Ravi had done for him, he had accepted as his “right” but now it all feels like a favour. This is such an emotionally overwhelming scene that even today on watching it your eyes well up.

Later when Vicky goes astray Ravi leaves no stone unturned to get his brother out of trouble, and that too in a foreign land, but alas…

Both the films leave a lump in your throat but they also leave you with reverence for Salim Saab’s soul-stirring writing in creating such wonderful characters of both the Ravis – one for not compromising on his ideals even if it means firing that fatal shot and the other for going all out to take the real son back to their mother against all odds.  Even in their loss there is a sense of victory since they give their all to sanctify the Bond of Brotherhood.


Jaideep Sen is a filmmaker and a connoisseur of the art of storytelling.
Read his previous posts in this series:

#1 Salaam, Salim Saab   

#2 Silence that Speaks

#3 The Invaluable Value of the Pen

#4 The Guru of Screenwriting

#5 The Forever Burning Flame of Sholay

#6 The Strength of Characterisation


 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Facing my fear - one Pitch at a time

Pitching makes me freeze up. In fact, the very thought of it makes me wanna run away.  For a screenwriter that's simply bad news. Because no matter what, if you want to get your stories out of your computer and hit the big screens, then you need to get comfortable with selling your story to potential producers and studios. And the first step in that journey is pitching.  My fear of pitching has prodded me to find different ways of overcoming the hurdle. So, for a few years I tried to work with agents in the hope that they would read my book and be able to handle the job of pitching. But soon I realized that agents were not into reading. So, I was just another name in their long list of clients. How that helps them grow their business is a different story, and one that I will perhaps share at a later point when I get around to solving that mystery! But the turning point (life does imitate screenplays!) came when I was called to pitch my book to a prominent OTT channel. This was...
1 comment
Read more

Basu Chatterji's "Balcony Class" Films

Basu Chatterji's Rajnigandha was like a breath of fresh air in the 1970s film universe of Bombay. At a time when the Angry Young Man was beginning to dominate celluloid screens, Amol Palekar was as un-hero-like as you could get. He was the Common Man who traveled in buses, did not have hero-like mannerisms and did not breathe fire and brimstone at his opponents. Basu Chatterji's Middle of the Road Cinema burst on to the scene and surprised the movie-going audience with its everyday situations and storylines that had an undercurrent of humour. Chatterji catered to an audience that he liked to call the "Balcony Class".  Anirudha Bhattacharjee, author of Basu Chatterji and Middle-of-the-Road Cinema writes an entertaining and heartwarming account of the life and work of Basu Chatterji, one of the most under-rated directors of Indian cinema. Recall of Chatterji's brand of feel-good, slice-of-life movies is perhaps highest for his Rajnigandha, Chotisi Baat, Baaton Baa...
4 comments
Read more

'Pure Evil' has been my biggest and most complex project - Author Balaji Vittal

Love them or hate them, you simply can't ignore them. That cliche is perhaps most apt when it comes to the bad men of Bollywood. In fact, some of the most memorable lines of dialogue have been mouthed not by the heroes but by the villains of Hindi cinema. So it is only fitting that these shining stars of the dark world (after all, antagonists are the protagonists of their own stories!) deserve to be spotlighted. Balaji Vittal , the author of Pure Evil: the Bad Men of Bollywood undertakes this onerous task of highlighting the world of these evil characters and how they have come to occupy a special place in the hearts and minds of movie goers.  I spoke to Mr. Balaji Vittal, a National Award winning and MAMI Award winning author of Bollywood books, a columnist for News18, Outlook India, The New Indian Express , a Bollywood commentator and a public speaker, about his journey of venturing into the world of Pure Evil .   Here are some excerpts:   Your book "Pure Evil: the Bad...
Post a Comment
Read more