Speaking about the same, Javed said that he and Salim were paid Rs 750 each for their first film as writers. Later, they earned Rs 5,000 for writing Haathi Mere Saathi, which was directed by Ramesh Sippy.
“The makers of Anzar were stuck because of the second half. We had become friends with Rajesh Khanna around 1969-70, when he told us he wanted us to work on the film’s script as he needed the film to work. He said he was buying a home worth Rs 4.5 lakh in Mumbai’s Carter Road and needed money for the same. The producer had given him Rs 2.5 lakh already, which he could not return. He could not leave the film, but was scared that the second half was so bad that he could be kicked out of the film industry,” Javed said in a new interview.
He further added, “After we read the script, we gave the makers two conditions – the hero will remain the same, and we will retain the elephants, but everything else will be changed. They liked what we wrote, even though we were joking most of the time, while working on the script. This time Rajesh made sure we were paid well. We earned Rs 10,000, with each of us making Rs 5,000. So, were were becoming richer and richer.”
Javed and Salim have worked together as screenwriters in iconic films such as Sholay, Don and Deewaar, among many others.