Javed Akhtar
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Achievements
2017/ recipient of Hridaynath Mangeshkar Award
Veteran writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar has been honoured with the Hridaynath Mangeshkar Award.
Mr. Akhtar received the honour in Mumbai at an event marking the 28th anniversary of Hridayesh Arts and the 80th birthday of veteran music composer Hridaynath Mangeshkar.
Mr. Akhtar said that receiving the award was one of his highest honours as it came from the Mangeshkar family.
“I had taken my first award for Zanjeer in this very hall. But all those awards are on one side — and I’ve received many— but this one is the most special. To get an award from the Mangeshkar family is unbelievable, you can’t think of India’s music without them,” he said.
Akhtar, 72, recalled how Lata Mangeshkar played a pivotal role in his journey as a lyricist.
“Yash Chopra sahab came to my house and said he was making Silsila and I should write the songs... I refused, saying I write poetry only for myself and script writing is enough. But he insisted and made me write the lyrics.
Mr. Akhtar said he got to know that it was Lata Mangeshkar, who had suggested his name to Chopra as lyricist for Silsila as his frequent collaborator Sahir Ludhianvi had passed away.
“She [Lata] said ‘My friend has heard ghazals of Javed, so since you have good relations with him, make him write’. So the reason why I started writing songs, was Lata didi and my first song was sung by her and Kishore da,” he said.
Hridayesh Arts, in association with Jay Satya Charitable Trust, organised a music programme titled Amrut Hriday Swar Lata, presented by Annu Kapoor Films Pvt. Ltd. to salute and celebrate 75 years of Lata Mangeshkar.
Ms. Lata said she was fortunate to sing songs written by people like Akhtar and her favourite song of his is Ye Kaha Aagaye Hum from Silsila.
“Whenever I meet him, we laugh a lot. I felt very happy giving him the award... I’ve completed 75 years in the industry, but it’s not a big deal. I sang for the first time when I was nine with my father. Then I started singing in films and the journey has been wonderful,” she said.
Stance on social issues
Till 2023, Feb
February 23, 2023: The Times of India
The people of Lahore had come to hear his eloquence. Instead, lyricist and poet Javed Akhtar delivered a dose of bluntness. “The perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks did not come from Norway or Egypt but are still roaming freely in Pakistan,” he said at a literary event in the Pakistani city on February 19.
Responding to an audience member who told Akhtar to take with him a message of peace and tell Indians that Pakistan is “a positive, friendly and loving country”, he replied: “We are from Mumbai, we have seen the attack on our city. They [attackers] did not come from Norway or Egypt. They are still roaming freely in your country. So, if there is a grievance in the heart of a Hindustani, you should not feel offended.”
Lyricist Javed Akhtar schools Pakistan in Lahore, says 'Perpetrators of 26//11 are roaming free’
His comments in Pakistan were being equated on social media to the Balakot surgical strikes. But this is not the first time he has stirred a hornet’s nest with his outspoken comments. Here’s a list of the wordsmith at his blunt best.
‘Why are Islamic scholars in India silent?’
After the Taliban’s decision to ban women from Afghan universities, Akhtar slammed Indian Islamic boards for staying mum on the issue.
He took to Twitter and left a strong note questioning the reason for the silence. “Talibans have banned girls and women from schools colleges universities and all kinds of jobs in the name of Islam. Why have Muslim personal board and other Islamic scholars in India Have not condemned it so far . Why ???”
‘Not for us to decide if a song is right or wrong’
Amid reports that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) had asked the makers of Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Pathaan to make changes to the shots used in its song “Besharam Rang”, Akhtar said on January 9 that filmmakers need to have “trust” in the certification body.
“It is not for me or you to decide whether the song is right or wrong. We have an agency. We should have trust in that certification, the cuts that they suggest and what they pass,” he said.
‘Never been in favour of hijab or burqa’
Expressing his views on the Karnataka hijab row, Akhtar said on February 10, 2022 that he has never been in favour of burqa or hijab, but slammed the hooligans who attacked the girls. Condemning the act, he wrote on Twitter, “I have never been in favour of Hijab or Burqa. I still stand by that but at the same time I have nothing but deep contempt for these mobs of hooligans who are trying to intimidate a small group of girls and that too unsuccessfully. Is this their idea of “MANLINESS”. What a pity.”
‘Those who raped a woman were garlanded’
Akhtar was among those who expressed his displeasure against the release of 11 convicts who were accused of raping a pregnant Bilkis Bano in 2002. Criticising the move, he tweeted, “Those who raped a 5 month pregnant woman after killing 7 of her family including her 3-year-old daughter were set free from the jail offered sweets and were garlanded. Don’t hide behind whatabouts. Think!! Something is seriously going wrong with our society.”
‘If you ban burqa, outlaw ghoonghat too’
Akhtar said he was not averse to enacting a law banning the burqa if it was accompanied with a similar action against the ‘ghoonghat’ prevalent among women in Rajasthan. His comment on May 3, 2019 came in the wake of the Shiv Sena urging the government to emulate Sri Lanka in banning the burqa on national security grounds.
“If you want to bring a law banning the burqa, I have no objection. But before the last phase of election in Rajasthan, this government should announce a ban on the practice of ‘ghoonghat’ in that state. I feel that ‘ghoonghat’ should go and burqa should go. I will be happy,” he said.
‘Please forgive mastermind of Bulli Bai app’
After an 18-year-old woman was arrested by the Mumbai police in connection with the Bulli Bai app controversy, Akhtar urged people to forgive her as she had reportedly lost her parents to cancer and Covid recently. Akhtar took to his Twitter handle on January 5, 2022 to ask netizens to show compassion and forgive her.
‘Hindus are the world’s most tolerant majority’
Days after the Shiv Sena slammed Akhtar for his comments that compared the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad with the Taliban, he wrote a rebuttal in Saamna , the Sena mouthpiece on September 15, 2021. “In my recent interview, I had said Hindus are the most decent and tolerant majority in the world. I have also emphasised that India can never become like Afghanistan because Indians by nature are not extremists. It is in their DNA to be moderate, middle of the road,” he wrote.
‘Describing Faiz’s poem anti-Hindu absurd’
On January 3, 2020, Akhtar questioned the logic of labelling celebrated Urdu poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s work "Hum Dekhenge" as “anti-Hindu”.
“Describing Faiz’s poem as anti-Hindu is both absurd and funny. He was a leading star of the Progressive Writers’ Movement in undivided India. He spent half his years outside Pakistan because he was being labelled anti-Pakistan. He wrote this poem against the regressive, communal and fundamentalist Zia-ul-Haq government,” Akhtar told news agency ANI.
Cancelling Pakistan trip over Pulwama attack
In the wake of the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed on February 14, 2019, Akhtar and his wife Shabana Azmi decided not to attend an event in Pakistan. “Karachi Art Council had invited Shabana and me for a two-day literature conference about Kaifi Azmi and his poetry. We have cancelled that,” Akhtar shared on Twitter.
‘I don’t like Modi, but Vajpayee was different’
During the 2019 election season, Akhtar made it clear that he does not like either Prime Minister Narendra Modi or BJP chief Amit Shah. “I do not like Modi and his assistant Amit Shah,” he told reporters in Bhopal when asked what qualities he likes in the Prime Minister.
However, he praised former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and BJP veteran LK Advani. “Vajpayee was a different person,” he noted.
He criticised the BJP for branding those who don’t agree with its views as “anti-national”. “Our country’s atmosphere stands vitiated today. The BJP’s ideology is that if you are not with them, then you are an anti-national,” he said.
‘There are many people against communalism’
In the run-up to the polarised 2019 general election, Bollywood was a divided house. But Akhtar was frank about his desired outcome: “Is it very difficult for you to accept that there are people in the world who are against all kinds of communalism? All kinds of hatred and violence? All kinds of religious narrow mindedness? Believe me, there are many many such people in the world and I’m one of them.”
‘Cleric’s cow slaughter remark outrageous’
On June 20, 2018, Akhtar sought the immediate arrest of Karnataka cleric Tanveer Peera Hashim for his controversial remark that cows would be slaughtered during Bakrid, saying the comment was “irresponsible and outrageous”.
“Secularism doesn’t mean ignoring or tolerating minority communalism. This irresponsible and outrageous cleric Tanveer Hashim should immediately be arrested for trying to create communal tension in Bengaluru,” he tweeted.
‘Intolerance not expected from our country’
Speaking at a book launch in New Delhi on October 8, 2015, Akhtar lamented recent incidents of intolerance across the country.
“One does not expect this from our society at least. I don’t expect such things to happen in India. One used to hear such things happening in some other society, not ours. One does not feel proud of what is happening here,” he said.
He came out in support of fellow Sahitya Akademi award winner Nayantara Sahgal’s decision to return her award in protest against rising “intolerance”. “I can understand her agony,” he said. “She comes from a tradition of secularism and better values and when she feels this thing, she must be very pained. It is a protest but I think much more has to be done in the society because whatever is happening is not desirable at all.”
