Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti Discuss Their Comparison with Iconic Screenwriting Duo Salim-Javed

Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti, who have co-written The Archies, are busy promoting the film that marks the Bollywood debut of star kids Suhana Khan, Khushi Kapoor and Agastya Nanda. In an interview with Siddharth Kannan, Zoya and Reema weighed in on where they stand in comparison to legendary screenwriters Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar, who were known as Salim-Javed. Zoya said she could not be compared to her father, lyricist-writer Javed.

When asked if they were the ‘new-age Salim-Javed’, Zoya Akhtar said, "Nahi (no). I don't think we are in any way close to what they did. They were very special. Unke pehle koi nahi aya, unke baad koi nahi ayega (There was no one before them and there will be no one after them). I don't think we are any way close."

Reema Kagti chimed in, saying, "I agree with Zoya. The impact they (Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar) had and they still have. They are still out there, they have permeated popular culture, popular imagination, they have given exponentially more hits than anybody else." To this, Zoya added they gave hits 'in a pan-Indian way'.