Salim-Javed were a scriptwriter duo who wrote a number of commercially and critically successful Hindi films in the 1970s and early 1980s. The duo, composed of Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar, made the writer's role popular with their names appearing in the posters of the films, and in some films they shared up to 25% of the profit. Their association lasted until 1982, following which Javed moved into writing lyrics for films. During their time working together, the duo won six Filmfare Awards. Though these movies are considered to be in Hindi but they mostly include vocabulary from Urdu, a register of the Hindustani language.

Salim started his friendship with Javed during the making of the film Sarhadi Lootera. Salim was a small-time actor, and Sarhadi Lootera was one of the last films he acted in before he turned his attention to writing. Javed was a clapper boy for the film and was later made the dialogue writer as director S.M. Sagar was unable to find a dialogue writer.

They lived in Bandra and would write stories together. Since their individual work was flopping, they decided to team up.

Rajeev Masand is an Indian film critic and entertainment reporter for CNN-IBN. Masand started his career as an entertainment correspondent. Masand has made himself popular for his in-depth analysis of Hollywood and Bollywood movie releases. Generally his scale of 5 rarely crosses 3 for moderately good films. Yet his rating has been considered one of the best in India.

Salim Khan (born 24 November 1935) is an Indian actor and screenwriter. In Hindi cinema, Khan is best known for his prolific work in the latter area.

Khan was born in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. Khan's father was a police officer, while his mother had died when he was still young. In 1964, he married Salma Khan (birth name Sushila Charak), a Maharashtrian Dogra Rajput from Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Salim and Salma have four children together: Salman Khan, Arbaaz Khan, Sohail Khan and Alvira Khan. In 1981, Salim married the entertainer Helen, who lives in a separate house. Relations between his two families were rumored to have been tense at first, but Salim's children are now said to be fond of his second wife. They have also adopted a daughter named Arpita Khan.^{[citation needed]}

Khan debuted after director K. Amarnath saw him at a wedding and was impressed by his good looks. He asked him to come to Mumbai, where he hired him as an actor for Rs. 400 a month. Khan acted in various movies, in large and small parts, for seven years. He was unable to capture the public's interest, and, as a result, his career had stalled. Khan appeared in such films as Teesri Manzil (1966), Sarhaadi Lootera (1966) and Diwaana (1967). He met Javed Akhtar on the sets of Sarhaadi Lootera. Javed used to write dialogues and then became a film script writer, now a well known lyricist. The duo hit it off and formed a scriptwriting team that came to be known as Salim-Javed. Their first big success was the script for Seeta Aur Geeta (1972). They also had hits in Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973), Zanjeer (1973), Deewaar (1975), Sholay (1975), Trishul (1978), Kranti (1981), Zamaana (1985) and Mr India (1987). Salim-Javed, described by some as "the most successful scripwriters of all-time",^[who?] are also noted to be the first scriptwriters in Indian cinema to achieve star status.

Javed Akhtar (born 17 January 1945) is a poet, lyricist and scriptwriter from India. Akhtar is a main stream writer and some of his most successful work was carried out in the late 1970s and 1980s with Salim Khan as half of the script-writing duo credited as Salim-Javed. Akhtar continues to be a prominent figure in Bollywood and is one of the most popular and sought-after lyricists.^{[citation needed]}

He was born as Jadoo Akhtar in Gwalior, (Madhya Pradesh) to Jan Nisar Akhtar, a Bollywood film songwriter and Urdu poet, and singer Safia Akhtar, a teacher and writer. His original name was Jadoo, taken from a line in a poem written by his father: "Lamba, lamba kisi jadoo ka fasana hoga". He was given the official name of Javed since it was the closest to the word jadoo. Amongst his family members who are poets are the Urdu poet Majaz (maternal uncle), and his grandfather, Muztar Khairabadi, and Maulana Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi, a noted philosopher, poet and religious scholar of the nineteenth century. Akhtar's younger brother, Salman Akhtar, is a psychoanalyst practicing in the United States.