Rishi Kapoor went to Javed Akhtar’s house only to mock him in person for the failure of Immaan Dharam: ‘After drinks, we began to taunt him’

Rishi Kapoor had commended Javed Akhtar for being a sport when he delivered his first flop with Salim Khan, the film Immaan Dharam, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor.

The veteran screenwriter Javed Akhtar has often said that the industry celebrated when he and his longtime creative partner, Salim Khan, delivered their first-ever flop film. Released in 1977, Immaan Dharam reunited the iconic Deewaar pair Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor, but tanked both critically and commercially. Salim-Javed’s rivals in the industry, who felt that they were becoming too full of themselves with a string of blockbuster hits, allegedly popped champagne to celebrate the reality check. While Javed Akhtar’s story could seem heightened, as it turns out, it was true. In his autobiography,...