Javed Akhtar

Javed Akhtar (born 17 January 1945) is an Indian political activist, poet, lyricist and screenwriter. He is originally from the Gwalior area. He is a recipient of the Padma Shri (1999), Padma Bhushan (2007), the Sahitya Akademi Award as well as five National Film Awards. In the early part of his career, he was a screenplay writer, creating films such as Deewar, Zanjeer and Sholay. Later, he left screenplay-writing and became a lyricist and social-political activist . He also remained a member of Rajya Sabha. In 2020, he received the Richard Dawkins Award for his contribution to secularism, free thinking, for critical thinking, holding religious dogma up to scrutiny, advancing human progress and humanist values. Javed Akhtar was chosen as a recipient for the Richard Dawkins Awardfor being “the bright light for reason, freethought, and atheism in a dark time”.

Early life

Javed Akhtar was born in 1945 in Gwalior. His father Jan Nisar Akhtar was a Bollywood film songwriter and Urdu poet. His grandfather Muztar Khairabadi was a poet as was his grandfather’s elder brother, Bismil Khairabadi, while his great great grandfather, Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi, was a scholar of Islamic studies and theology and played an important role in the First Independence Movement of India in 1857. Javed Akhtar’s original name was Jadoo, taken from a line in a poem written by his father: “Lamha, lamha kisi jadoo ka fasana hoga”. He was given the official name of Javed since it was the closest to the word jadoo. He spent most of his childhood and was schooled in Lucknow. He graduated from Saifiya College in Bhopal.

Akhtar was greatly inspired by Pakistani author Ibn-e-Safi’s Urdu novels, which he grew up reading as a child. Akhtar was particularly influenced by the Jasoosi Dunya and Imran series of detective novels, such as The House of Fear (1955). He was influenced by their fast action, tight plots, economies of expression, fascinating characters with catchy memorable names, and speaking styles. Two of the earliest films he remembered watching both starred Dilip Kumar: Shaheed Latif’s Arzoo (1950) and Mehboob Khan’s Aan (1952). Other films that influenced him as a child include Bimal Roy’s Do Bigha Zameen (1953), Satyen Bose’s Jagriti (1954), Shree 420 (1955) directed by Raj Kapoor and written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, Munimji (1955) directed by Subodh Mukherjee and written by Nasir Hussain, and Mehboob Khan’s Mother India (1957).

Career

1971–1982

Initially, in the 1970s, there was generally no concept of having the same writer for the screenplay, story and dialogue, nor were the writers given any credits in the titles. Rajesh Khanna is credited with giving Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar their first chance to become screenplay writers by offering them work in Haathi Mere Saathi. Javed Akhtar stated in an interview that one day, he 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. But the film was a remake and the script of the original was far from being satisfactory. “He told us that if we could set right the script, he would make sure we got both money and credit.”

Their first big success was the script for Andaz, followed by Adhikar (1971), Haathi Mere Saathi and Seeta Aur Geeta (1972). They also had hits with Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973), Zanjeer (1973), Haath Ki Safai (1974), Deewaar (1975), Sholay (1975), Chacha Bhatija (1977), Don (1978), Trishul (1978), Dostana (1980), Kranti (1981), Zamana (1985) and Mr. India (1987). They have worked together in 24 films including two Kannada films – Premada Kanike and Raja Nanna Raja. Of the 24 films they wrote, 20 were hits. 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 hit films later, such as Zamana and Mr. India. Salim-Javed, many a time described as “the most successful scriptwriters of all-time”, are also noted to be the first scriptwriters in Indian cinema to achieve star status.

1982–present

Akhtar was nominated to the Parliament upper house Rajya Sabha on 16 November 2009.

Personal life

Akhtar was raised an atheist. He has brought up his children Farhan and Zoya Akhtar as atheists.

Akhtar was married to Honey Irani, with whom he had two children, Farhan Akhtar, a film actor, producer, director and Zoya Akhtar, a film writer, director and producer. The father-and-son duo have worked together in films such as Dil Chahta Hai, Lakshya, Rock On!! and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara with Zoya. Farhan was married to Adhuna Akhtar, a hair stylist.

Javed married Shabana Azmi, the daughter of Urdu poet, Kaifi Azmi and later divorced Irani.

Awards and nominations

Javed was awarded the civilian honour of Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1999, followed by the Padma Bhushan in 2007. In 2013, he received the Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu, India’s second highest literary honour, for his poetry collection Lava. In 2019, he was conferred with an honorary doctorate (Doctor of Letters) by the Jamia Hamdard University. In 2020 he was awarded the Richard Dawkins Award for being a “powerful force for secularism, reason, and human rights, challenging superstition and intolerance through his work in poetry, screenwriting, and political activism”.

Works

Bibliography

• Tarkash (1995) 
• Lava (2012) 

Filmography

As screenwriter

Teamed as Salim-Javed

As Javed Akhtar

As lyricist