Salim Abdul Rashid Khan (born 24 November 1935) is an Indian actor, film producer and screenwriter.

[8] Salim Khan was also one of the responsible person for creating the "angry young man" character archetype of Amitabh Bachchan.

[14] In 2024, Amazon Prime released a three-part documentary series about the Salim-Javed screenwriting duo, Angry Young Men.

Khan's grandparents, are believed to be Alakozai Pashtuns who migrated from Afghanistan to India in the mid-1800s and served in the cavalry of the British Indian Army.

His elder brothers supported him with funds drawn from the family's substantial wealth, to the extent that he was given a car of his own while he was a college student.

Javed, who served as a clapper boy when shooting began, was later made the dialogue writer for the film by director S.M.

[21] Javed Akhtar accepted in an interview that "One day, he (Rajesh Khanna) went to Salimsaab and said that Mr. Devar had given him a huge signing amount with which he could complete the payment for his bungalow Aashirwad.

Their first big success was the script for Andaz, followed by Adhikar (1971), Haathi Mere Saathi and Seeta Aur Geeta (1972).

The scripts they wrote but which were not successful at box office include Aakhri Dao (1975), Immaan Dharam (1977), Kaala Patthar (1979) and Shaan (1980).

Though they split in 1982, due to ego issues, some of the scripts they wrote were made into films later like Zamana and Mr. India which became successful.

[2] The Salim-Javed duo were also notable for causing several changes to be made in the way scriptwriters were perceived and treated within the Hindi film industry.

They not only insisted on being paid much more than what had been the norm until then, but also ensured that their name was on the film credits, and also that they were involved at many stages of the process, including screenplay and dialogues.

[9] Salim Khan was also instrumental in launching the career of Amitabh Bachchan,[9] who was a struggling actor before being discovered by Salim-Javed, who were impressed by his acting abilities and insisted on casting him in the lead roles for their films.

[24][25] Salim Khan was also personally responsible for introducing Bachchan to directors such as Prakash Mehra and Manmohan Desai.

[9] Salim Khan, after splitting, from Javed wrote script and dialogues for successful movies like Angaaray (1986), Naam (1986), Kabzaa (1988) and Jurm (1990).

These included Majdhaar and the hit film Patthar Ke Phool which starred his son Salman Khan.

Other notable hits were the scripts for Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya and Auzaar, both of which were produced by his youngest son Sohail Khan and starred Salman.

Some years later, they adopted a girl named Arpita, daughter of a homeless woman who died on a Mumbai footpath.

[30] His son, Salman Khan, describes him as a big fan of Kazi Nazrul Islam and is said to have read most of his poems.