Amitabh Bachchan, who got the ‘angry youngman’ tag after starring in Prakash Mehra’s ‘Zanjeer’, says he is grateful to writer-duo Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar for believing in him. “40 years anniversary of film ‘Zanjeer’ today … an entire lifetime gone by .. what a moment … Salim-Javed for thinking of me, thank you …have always wondered how they did … a failed newcomer … so much connected to the film … what a time in the life of a life !!” he posted on Twitter. The film, which changed the trend of romantic films to action films. It gave Amitabh Bachchan the angry young man image that reflected the anger of the masses against the political system. Zanjeer remains an important film in the history of Indian Cinema and is regarded as a classic today. The film, which had changed the trend from romantic films to action films in that era, translated the story of a common man to fight against the wrong and maintaining moral values at the same time. Zanjeer also changed the lives of Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar. In an interview to TOI in 2011, Salim Khan of Deewar and Zanjeer fame had said, “Although I had done good films like ‘Seeta Aur Geeta’, Do Bhai, Haathi Mere Saathi, Andaaz but it was Zanjeer that changed our lives as writers. We started getting credit too. Can you imagine where that credit featured on the posters?” The duo hired a person to put their names on the posters of the film. “Since it was done in the night, our names ended up getting printed on Amitabh Bachchan’s hands, at some places it got printed on the face. The producers were furious with us for asking for billing. No writer has ever dared to do it in the past. The only writer that I can recall getting his place in the credit is Mukhram Sharma,” adds Khan. Salim-Javed got Rs 55,000 for Zanjeer when most writers earned between Rs 750 and Rs 1,000.
