Mumbai: Born 24 November 1935 in Indore, Salim Khan has worked as an actor in films like Teesri Manzil (1960) and Sarhaadi Lootera (1966), Deewana (1967) and Wafadar (1977), but he gained recognition as a screenwriter.
At the age of 22, Salim came to Mumbai to become an actor but got married and settled down. Salim won six Filmfare Awards as part of Salim-Javed, and was later awarded the Padma Shri in 2014.
Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra’s characters in the film Sholay, Jai and Viru, are inspired by Salim Khan’s college friends Veerandar Singh Bias and Jai Singh Rao Kalevar and Sanjiv Kumar’s character Thakur Baldev Singh after his father-in-law, who was a famous dentist in Mumbai.
Salim-Javed was paid one and a half lakh rupees for writing the script and dialogues of the film Sholay. At one time, the pair was considered a hit but the two split up.
On personal front, Salim married Sushila Charak in 1964 after dating her for about five years. Salim has three sons, Salman, Arbaaz and Sohail Khan and one daughter Alvira from Sushila who later changed her name to Salma.
During the 1960’s, Salim helped the actress Helen bag many dance numbers in films. The man gave wings to her career for sure and shared an excellent camaraderie on the professional front. But things went beyond professionalism and the duo came closer. The screenwriter indulged in an extra-marital affair with Helen.
Salim, despite being married to Salma made Helen her life partner. Despite many objections, both of them got married in 1980. This was also Helen’s second marriage. In 1957, Helen married director Prem Narayan Arora, who was 27 years older than her. They broke up on Helen’s 35th birthday.
After Salim and Helen’s wedding, there was a lot of estrangement in the Khan family. The three brothers, including Salim’s first wife Salma, were completely against Helen. Salman, Arbaaz and Sohail did not even talk to Helen. But with time, every wound healed and Salman and his family became close to Helen.
Today all the children of Salim Khan acknowledge Helen as their mother and give her the due respect.
