He Struggled as an Actor but Became a Screenwriting Legend — The Man Who Launched Amitabh Bachchan’s Stardom and Fathered a Bollywood Superstar wit...

Salim Khan's cinematic journey is one that overcame odds a feat that few others can claim. Decades before his son, superstar Salman Khan, joined the league of Bollywood’s richest "Khans" with an estimated net worth of ₹2,900 crore, Salim was navigating a life marked by personal tragedy, setbacks and hardship.Indore is where it all began for Salim. His father, Abdul Rashid Khan, served in the Holkar State Police. For those unfamiliar, the Holkar dynasty ruled the Indore region from the 18th century. Abdul Rashid joined the force in 1916 and eventually rose to become the DIG of Indore State.It is well known that Salman carries Pashtun heritage from his grandparents. Salim’s maternal grandfather, Anwar Khan, was an Alakozai Pashtun who migrated

from Afghanistan in the mid-1800s and served in the cavalry of the British Indian Army.Salim lost his mother to tuberculosis when he was just nine. In those days, TB was rarely treatable with any dependable cure and was often a death sentence. Patients were kept apart from their families. Speaking to Neelesh Misra for Gaon Connection, Salim recalled his mother with tenderness: "She had TB and it was very contagious. I could see her from a distance. She was kept in a small cottage and food would be sent to her. Her vessels were different. She would go to the hills in Nainital for four or five months in the summer. In the monsoon and winter she would be with us."He also told Misra that he grew close to his father after his mother’s death, only to lose him as well two years later. It was then that Salim resolved that if he ever had children, they would never be afraid of him, a promise that deeply shaped the way he later raised his family.But how did a boy from a small city find his way into the film industry? In Indore, Salim often rode around on a motorbike with his friends, and it was his striking looks and light-coloured eyes that caught the attention of filmmaker K. Amarnath at the Lantern Hotel.This encounter led him to the so-called City of Dreams, where he landed a supporting role in the 1960 film Baraat. Yet destiny had different plans. To survive in Bombay, now Mumbai, he took on various odd jobs, including delivering vintage cars, once owned by rulers of princely states, for film shoots and celebrities.A natural storyteller grounded in his roots, Salim soon found himself drawn to writing. But he saw meteoric stardom, when he teamed up with Javed Akhtar, as the duo bonded over their shared love for Indore. Akhtar’s ancestors had lived there, and his grandfather, Muztar Khairabadi, also served at the Holkar court.Together, they became the legendary duo Salim-Javed. Their partnership went on to create some of Indian cinema’s most iconic films, including Sholay, Zanjeer, Don and Yaadon Ki Baaraat, among many others. It was also the duo who were known to have launched the career of Amitabh Bachchan. The veteran screenwriter turned 90 this month.