Salman's dad comes to the rescues for John's film

By Subhash K Jha

In an industry where creative minds are forced to work in tight-fisted isolation here's a story of shared generosity that melts the heart.

Just weeks before Abbas Tyrewala is to start shooting his second feature film 1:800 Love he was stuck in a crucial pre-climax sequence.

It was then that Abbas though of the screen-writing phenomenon Salim Khan.

Says Abbas, "The situation could've been potentially destructive for me. I needed a second opinion on my script. It's easy to sit within your own creative circle and feel smug and sure."

That's when Abbas remembered Salim Khan. "Salim Khan had sent me message after seeing Jaane Tu….Ya Jaane Na that he wanted to meet me.

I had dropped in out of a sense of courtesy for a man who along with Javed Akhtar Saab had changed the way we look at screenplays in Hindi cinema. I spent almost the entire day with him discussing cinema and life.I came away enriched.

He had said my Jaane Tu… was one of those very few films where after watching no change seems possible. And now when I needed a second opinion on my second film I naturally thought of Salim Saab."

The celebrated scriptwriter immediately invited Abbas over. But because of his pre-production work Abbas was unable to go personally. "He wanted to me to narrate my script to him. I'd have loved to. That didn't happen. So I offered to send him the script of 1: 800 Love. He got back in no time at all. And suggested some changes here and there."

But the most radical change that Salim Khan suggested took Abbas completely by surprise. "He wanted me to make changes in the tone and dialogues of the pre-climax sequence.

At the very moment when Salim Saab told me to make the change I was doing exactly that! At that very minute I was sitting down to change that scene. It's amazing that he could ferret out that very weak spot in my screenplay that troubled me and suggest how to alter it."

Salim Khan has also suggested several changes in the dialogues that Abbas and his wife Pakhi (who also plays the female lead in the film) have gladly incorporated.

"Now when I start my workshops with John and Pakhi I feel so much more confident about my characters and what they've to say and do."

Now Abbas has no problems billing Salim Khan in the credits of 1:800 Love. "In fact my wife Pakhi and I welcome Salim Saab's name in the credits. What an honour!"

It could be recalled that Ratna Pathak Shah was the ghost-consultant on the script of Abbas' Jaane Tu….Ya Jaane Na.

"I guess I'm just Lucky to have so many creative minds helping me out, " sighs Abbas.