Five times Bollywood went the Salim-Salman way
Salim Khan may well have been one half of the duo that wrote the famous “Mere Paas Ma Hain” dialogue, but in reality, he is son Salman Khan's ultimate weapon. Whenever Salman is in trouble, despite being an-about-to-be-50 year old, it's his father who comes to his rescue. Much like what Sunil Dutt did for troubled son Sanjay, until his death, Salim is the long-suffering father, standing by his son every time he goes to jail, tweets inappropriate things, and is caught seemingly on tape boasting about his connections with the underworld.
Salman may worship the ground his father walks on, tweeting pictures of him when young, tagged Prince Salim, but he has given him enough trouble to rival even one of his greatest scripts.
Call him Father India.
So can he seek some movie inspiration?
Here are some fictional father-son duos in Bollywood who have had equally troubled relationships.
#1. Judge Raghunath and Raj, Awara, 1951
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| Prithviraj Kapoor and Raj Kapoor in Awara. |
It’s all about nature versus nature in this classic as Judge Raghunath's son Raj turns out to be a petty criminal. Prithviraj Kapoor and Raj Kapoor played out their dynamic onscreen which was equally memorable for Raj Kapoor's chemistry with Nargis. “Sharifon ki aulad hamesha sharif hoti hai ... aur chor daaku ki aulad hamesha chor daaku hoti hai.” Awara shows it is not quite so.
#2. Akbar and Prince Salim, Mughal e Azam, 1960
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| Prithviraj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar in Mughal e Azam. |
Prithiviraj Kapoor's quivering moustache and stentorian voice as Emperor Akbar, Dilip Kumar's soaked-in-passion Salim. He yearned for Anarkali. Akbar yearned for his son. “Salim tujhe marne nahi dega ... aur hum Anarkali tujhe jeene nahi denge.” The twain never met. Beta Salim could never see eye to eye with the emperor.
#3. Ashwini Kumar and Vijay, Shakti, 1982
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| Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan in Shakti. |
It was Dilip Kumar's turn to play the strict father, Commissioner Ashwini Kumar. An honest police officer, his son, Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) was kidnapped but he didn't budge causing the son to resent him for life. It made for great drama in Ramesh Sippy's underrated film, written, ironically, by Salim-Javed. The other father-son conflict film, they wrote in 1978, Trishul, was equally powerful. Raj Kumar Gupta (Sanjeev Kumar) didn't know why Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) was bent upon destroying his life in this very contemporary Yash Chopra movie. He should have checked who his mother was.
#4. Yashvardhan and Rahul, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, 2001
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| Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan in Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham. |
All the gham was because Yashvardhan Raichand (Amitabh Bachchan) did not accept the gorgeous but poor Anjali (Kajol) as daughter-in-law for his beloved adopted son, Rahul (Shah Rukh Khan). All the khushi came when the two finally embraced. Cue the violins and dhol in Karan Johar's brocade border and sangeet song studded extravaganza, which culminates in London.
#5. Imraan and Salman, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, 2011
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| Naseeruddin Shah talks about Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara. |
Farhan Akhtar played Imraan, an adman, who was secretly a poet. Naseeruddin Shah played his father, Salman, an artist who was secretly a pot smoker. Farhan went all the way to Spain to meet him and confront him. His demons laid to rest, he spent the remaining hour of the movie being chased by bulls and helping Katrina Kaif chase Hrithik Roshan. It all looked beautiful, and it came as no surprise to us later to read Shah's biography, which told us in detail about his experiments with drugs.