When Salim Khan said he wanted to travel and drink in old age but kids and their ‘notices’ keep him busy

In 2014, veteran screenwriter Salim Khan sat down for an interview, in which he spoke about his career, his kids and even what he hoped his days would be like in old age.

Speaking with journalist Indu Mirani, Salim talked about how he had hoped to travel and booze-up but life and his kids had other plans. Salim began by joking that he is so idle these days that he speaks to people who dial him up by mistake for almost half-an-hour each time. However, he soon clarified that that was not the truth.

“The truth is that I used to think that when my kids would grow up, will start working, when I would be economically self-sufficient, toh main ghumuga, daru piyuga, araam karuga (I’d travel, drink booze and rest) and party karuga (will party). But these five kids meant five times the work for me. For everything, they go to daddy. They come to me when their cars run out of fuel…what have I got to do with it? They come to be when their car breaks down. They get any notice, they come to me… for income tax. I just don’t get any free time. I get calls at 11 in the night, that this or that person wants to meet me,” he said. Salim said that that was also the reason he had to stop writing as he could not stay focussed on a script as he could before.

Salim has been married twice–to Salma Khan and Helen– and has five children–Salman Khan, Arbaaz Khan, Sohail Khan, Alvira Agnihotri and Arpita Khan Sharma.

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Salim used to work with Javed Akhtar and together, they have delivered some of the biggest hits of Hindi cinema, such as Sholay, Zanjeer, Deewar and Seeta Aur Geeta. They, however, split up in 1982.

In an old interview with Etc, Salim Khan recalled how it happened. “Every box has an expiry date– this also had one. We were near Javed’s house one evening when Javed told me he wanted to split, that he’d been thinking about it for some time now. I got up, shook hands with him and started walking towards my car. He also started to walk with me, but I held him, turned him towards his house and said, ‘I can look after myself.’ I came back home and didn’t tell anyone about it. The next evening, calls started coming in asking about the split. I asked Javed whether he told anyone, he said only a few friends knew. It was only after a few days that I announced the split.”