Javed Akhtar rubbishes rumours that his films 'Sholay' and 'Zanjeer' were inspired by western films

In the recently released book called Talking Life: Javed Akthar in Conversation with Nasreen Munni Kabir, veteran lyricist and writer Javed Akhtar finally addressed the allegations that two of his classics, Zanjeer and Sholay, both starring Amitabh Bachchan, were inspired by western films. The latter, directed by Ramesh Sippy, according to numerous reports, was inspired by the western classic Once Upon A Time In The West. Akhtar, in the book, has been quoted saying, “As I have said, we ( Salim and Javed) were influenced by Sergio Leone. But Sholay was not based on his epic film. Critics also said Zanjeer was based on Dirty Harry.” He argued Dirty Harry was released in December 1971 and Zanjeer in May 1973, so they couldn’t have ripped off the screenplay in those days. “It is all rubbish. No film was a remake or based on any other film,” he added. He continued, “I think the Zanjeer hero has more layers. Whenever some Indian film critics saw a film of ours, they assumed it had to be a copy and couldn’t believe we (Salim and Javed) could think up ideas ourselves.” “Think of the twist in ‘Don’. Vijay is planted in a gang by a police officer to expose the bad guys, then the police officer gets killed in the line of duty,” Akhtar said. “Without the police officer to back up his story, Vijay has a hard time convincing the police that he is an undercover agent, even as the gang guesses he’s a plant.” Javed Akhtar has also penned films like Meri Jung, Arjun, Mr. India, Trishul, and Deewar. The last three were in collaboration with Salim Khan. Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.