Salim-Javed, Lee-Hesh, & Raam-Laxman | #220
+ the journalists named after a Bollywood song ->>
Hello
Last week, the always-feuding Gallagher siblings of the band Oasis decided to stop looking back in anger and announced a reunion tour. This got us thinking about famous duos who’ve split up, balked at mentions of reconciliation, and then finally reunited to a mixed reception. This week’s newsletter put the spotlight on interesting reunions with an India context.
Before that, here’s a fun little coincidence: Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny announced his international retirement on the same day as the Oasis news. His kids are named Liam and Noella.
Things we learnt this week 🤓
If you haven’t tuned into "Angry Young Men" on Amazon Prime yet, go ahead and queue it up. It’s a deep dive into the fascinating world of Salim-Javed, the legendary scriptwriting duo who owned the 70s Bollywood scene. These were the guys who gave us the burning intensity of Zanjeer, the epic drama of Deewar, and the multi-starrer blockbuster Sholay. By the time Mr. India hit the screens in 1987, the magic was over. The jodi had split up. Apparently, Javed Akhtar wanted to pen more poetry for songs while Salim Khan was not in the mood to sing along. And so they went their separate ways.
Fast forward to 2003, to a movie that could make a stone weep — Baghban. In this film, Bachchan Sr’s character is separated from his wife (played by Hema Malini) because of their ungrateful children. He decides to pour his pain into a book called Baghban, and at the book's success party, his adopted son (played by Salman Khan) is asked to speak. Salman's speech was written by Salim Khan and Amitabh Bachchan's speech written by Javed Akhtar. The last collaboration between the 2 legends, even if indirectly. "Dosti bhi ek nasha hai... aur dushmani bhi!"
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi — the original Indian Express, first teamed up in 1996 but really hit full stride in 1999 when they made it to the finals of all four Grand Slams, and won both the French Open and Wimbledon. But by the year 2000, love was no longer in the air. The partnership broke down faster than a second serve under pressure. They gave it a shot for the Sydney Olympics, hoping the spirit of the Games might patch things up but unfortunately bowed out in the second round to hometown heroes - The Woodies. There were glimmers of hope though — they reunited to win the 2001 French Open and later took home tennis gold for India at the 2002 Asian Games. But the spark just wasn't there. By 2004, they tried once more, this time at the Athens Olympics. It was tantalizingly close as they lost the bronze medal playoff match to the Croats, 16-14 in the deciding set. Don’t want to end this on a sad note so here’s a photo of Lee-Hesh topless and having a great time:
Love all Vijay Patil kicked things off in the 70s with his buddy Surendra by forming an orchestra that quickly caught the attention of Marathi comedian Dada Kondke. Impressed by their talent, Kondke gave them their first big break to compose music for his film Paandu Havaldar in 1975. The duo chose the screen name Raam-Laxman and began making waves in the Marathi film industry. But then, in 1976, fate played its cruel hand: Surendra passed away, leaving Vijay Patil to carry the torch alone. And carry it he did — but not without a nod to his fallen friend. Vijay continued to compose under the moniker ‘RaamLaxman', <without the hyphen> producing some of Bollywood’s biggest hits, such as the romantic anthems of Maine Pyaar Kiya and Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! In the desert of the music field, Vijay was the oasis in it who continued to honour his friend. Yes, that’s a callback.
From IWTK, with love 💌
Can you guess which 2 journalists have been named after this song?
For which ad campaign did this song form the inspiration?
Only In India 🇮🇳
Olympics fever is still on and we have Yamaraja conducting the Long Jump competition.
<3 IWTK