Sajid, 46, and Farhad, 40, are real brothers, who got their break in the film industry due to Salman Khan and have become directors, thanks to Akshay Kumar. They are proud Aga Khani Ismailis, who have written dialogues for all the hit films of Rohit Shetty and are now debuting with Akshay's Entertainment.
Over an hour-long conversation, we spoke to the inseparable jodi. (Note: It was impossible to say which of the two said what, as they complete each other's sentence and thus, we have reported it as one voice). Excerpts.

How did you get your break in the film industry?
We are Bandra boys, who had a filmi keeda right from childhood. Our father, who died seven years back, was a wholesale trader and we were reasonably comfortable financially. Watching a film was always a big family outing every Friday. Our father was suffering from pneumonia and had a severe lung infection and so, we moved out to Bangalore as the weather was nice there. We lived there for 12 years and ran a multi-cuisine restaurant in Koramangala there, named after the famous English film The Party. Our dad had retired by then and Farhad went to college there. The restaurant was doing very well, but every now and then Farhad, from the age of 18, would come home writing songs for different family members and they would praise him. One day, the whole family was sitting when dad said we should go to Mumbai and try. He said to Farhad, 'You have so much talent, who can stop you?' So, we both decided to come to Mumbai. This was 1999. We packed our bags and were leaving, when, in full filmi style, we turned and saw our whole family (my wife, one year-old daughter and our parents) standing, packed to go with us. We said, 'Kya, kyun?' But they were clear that they were coming with us, even though we were all well-settled in Bangalore that time, but they didn't care. We were under extra pressure now. We rented out a place on top of Lucky restaurant in Bandra and the whole family shifted there. We stayed there during our struggling period for eight months. Every day, we would come rejected and dejected in the evening, but our these people - our family - were always there, waiting for us with our favourite food, each time we came back home. Maybe if we were just the two of us, we would have broken down as a lot of people give you hopes in the film line, but no one gives you a break and you land up doubting yourself. By now, Farhad had written about 800 songs, he would bounce them off me and we would go and present the song along with the tune, which we did not realise offended music directors. We would play the beats on a plastic tub that we would carry with us and everyone would be looking at us thinking, 'Kaun madari aa gaye hai?' This would happen daily till on March 6, 2000, we entered Kamalistan studio. We were stopped by the watchman, but bribed our way in and saw Salman Khan's driver Ashok, who is still with him. We told him we wanted to present to bhai and he said, 'Laakhon aate hai bhai ko milne.' But Salman saw us and pointed towards our direction, signalling him to let us come in. We looked back wondering whether he was calling us or someone else. We said, 'Hum dono bhai hain. Kuch songs sunane hain aapko.' He said, 'Dikhte toh nahi ho.' And we said, 'Yes, we look different, but we have confirmed with our parents separately .' He said, 'Superb superb. I give you 5 minutes. If I get up in between and go, don't feel insulted, just think that I didn't like it.' His shot was on, but in between that, we could not believe that we had Salman hearing us. We took out our tub and started singing. We started singing tapori songs one after the other. He cancelled his shot and heard 18 songs. He got up and said, 'In chaar gaanon mein, S mardo. Yeh mere gaane hain' and called us to meet him along with David Dhawan at Andheri Sports Complex. We could not believe it. We ran back home and were too excited to tell our family. We went to Andheri Sports Complex, where Salman bhai was shooting. On one side of the stadium, the shoot was on so he pulled up chairs on the side in the dark and we sat down to present. I was holding the book for Farhad to refer to, but it was so dark that he could hardly see anything. Can you imagine we suddenly see Salman bhai holding a lighter for the next 10 minutes till Farhad presented? We can never forget that touching gesture. Our song was selected and David Dhawan took us to meet the music director. Just before entering Anu Malik's place, he asked us, 'Registered hain na sab gaane?' And our song was selected. Salman bhai was to initially do that film, but even though he chose to finally not do the film, he ensured that our song remained.

How did direction happen?
We developed a great relationship with Anu Malik, who later called us to write a song for Munna Bhai and we wrote our first hit song M Bole To. Ram Gopal Varma called us and told us that, 'If you can write M Bole To, then you can write stories also,' and we started writing for him. We then started working with Rohit Shetty on dialogues and worked with him on all his hit films. We also wrote Ready for Salman and Housefull 2 for Akshay. Once while Akshay was shooting, he called us to his van, closed the door and turned mischievously towards us, sat next to us and said, 'You write so well, narrate so well, why don't you direct?' Entertainment happened only because of him.

Talk about Akshay Kumar?
As an actor, we have always been crazy about him, but while doing this film, we also saw him as a great human being. He called us on the last day of shooting in Bangkok and said, 'We spent 50 days shooting together in this city. Next two days are holidays and the whole crew is in Bangkok. Let them freak out.' He gave me 20 lakhs and said, 'Please share it with all 60 people and don't tell them who gave it.' And he went back to India. We, of course, not only gave each one the money, but also told them how Akshay had given it for them. While flying back, we were all on the plane and everyone was so excited, telling us how they had shopped for their families. One of them just said, 'I didn't shop. I just took massages.' And we knew in our hearts that all those duas Akshay got, would work for the film.

Talk about Salman Khan?
He likes straight, honest people. When you lagao maska, he avoids you. He not only gave us our break but three months after that, he was concerned and called us to ask, 'You get your payment in time, no? Mumbai mein ghar var barabar ho gaya na?'

Talk about your father?
We lost him in 2006, just after we signed our first Rohit Shetty film Sunday. When we wrote M Bole To, we got paid only Rs 5,000. But he would say, 'It's fine, this is your first step. You will earn in the future.' And would always encourage us. With Sunday, we got Rs 6 lakhs and he was so happy that he told our mother, 'You used to say no that I have spoilt my sons, given one a restaurant and the other, a bike, to have fun in college, now kya bol rahi hai tu?' That's the confidence he had in us. He was very religious and we always believed that whatever he said, would happen. We used to feel that if we made a mistake, our father's prayers would correct it. He would go every morning from 4am to 5am for meditation. We have taken him to the jamatkhana on days when he had 104 temperature. He used to sleep in the day, as, to meditate, you have to be fresh. While he was sleeping during the day, we would be in the same house, but would talk softly, so that we don't disturb him, as he would tell us, 'See, I got to pray for you only, so let me sleep, otherwise tum logon ka hi lafda ho jayega.' Till he was alive, we felt secure that dad was there praying for us. He was in hospital as his pneumonia had converted into a complex tuberculosis, but the doctors had said that he would become okay. Six hours before he died, he called all the family members and met everybody. Today we realise that he was obviously prepared. I had gone home to rest and Farhad was sitting in the hospital.

Can you imagine that he died sharp at 4am? We used to not go before, but from the day he died, Farhad goes everyday at 4am to meditate at the same place our father used to go. He was more a friend to us. Till I was 18, we three used to bathe together. My mom used to shout at us, but we would tell her, 'Don't worry, we are all comfortable. There is water between us.' We got our sense of humour from our dad only. He was such a big Dilip Kumar fan that he missed Ram Aur Shyam when it came first time, but on its Silver Jubilee, he took us all to see back-to-back four shows. He used to chew peanut and would make it soft and then give it us to eat. We can never forget him. It's rare to find a relationship like the one you both share.

Sajid: It's because of dad only. All three of us shared a very close bond. We have no friends and we were each other's friends. We played a lot of sports, including WWF in our rooms, and shared common interests. Whenever we fight on a scene, our mom will come into the room and we say, 'Mom, you have a hangover from serials. We will never fight.' If I tell Farhad something that makes him hurt, automatically I feel hurt. He is very honest and straightforward and I can tell you that if something happens to me or my wife, he will be a great father to my daughter. I wish though he would praise others a little more generously.

Farhad: Losing my father was the biggest loss, but Sajid has fulfilled that in every way. He is always there for me and I share everything with him. His support is the most important thing in my life. I love the fact that he lightens up every environment and is very positive. But he is too bhola and just cannot be manipulative which, at times, is bad. God has been so kind to us and we know that our father must be close to him telling him so many good jokes that he is showering blessings on us.