Javed Akhtar Biography: Javed Akhtar is a well-known poet, writer, social activist and screenwriter from India. Javed Akhtar has been awarded Padma Shri in 1999, Padma Bhushan in 2007, Sahitya Akademi Award and five National Awards for his phenomenal work. In the early part of his career as a screenwriter, he produced films like Deewar, Zanjeer and Sholay but later left screenwriting and became only a lyricist and social activist. Let us tell you in detail about his biography.
Early Life of Javed Akhtar
Javed Akhtar was born on 17 January 1945 in Gwalior district of Madhya Pradesh. His father Jan Nisan Akhtar was also a lyricist and Urdu poet in Hindi films and mother Safia Akhtar was a singer, teacher and writer. Akhtar’s grandfather Muztar Khairabadi and his elder brother Bismail Khairabadi were both poets while his great-grandfather Fazal Khairabadi made significant contributions during the revolution of 1857. Javed Akhtar’s real name was Jadoo was a part of a poem written by his father “Lamha lamha kisi magic ka fasana hoga”. Later he adopted Javed, a word similar to magic. Javed Akhtar took his childhood and early education from Lucknow. After this he graduated from Saifia College, Bhopal.
Akhtar (Javed Akhtar) was greatly inspired by the Urdu novel of a Pakistani writer Ibnesifi, which he grew up reading. Apart from this, Akhtar’s detective novels had a great influence. Apart from this, as a child, he remembered Bimal Roy’s Do Bigha Zamin (1953), Jagriti (1954), Shree 420 (1955), Munimji. Films like (1955) and Mother India (1957) inspired a lot.
Film career of Javed Akhtar
In the early 70s, neither screenplay, story and dialogue was given to the same writer nor was he given any credit in the film. Rajesh Khanna first credited Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar as screenwriters in his film Haathi Mere Saathi. With this, the pair of Salim-Javed became a hit. After this, he did screenwriting work in more than one film, the major films of which are Sita Aur Geeta (1972), Yaado Ki Baaraat (1973), Haath Ki Safai (1974), Deewar (1975), Sholay (1975). , Chacha Bhatija (1977), Don (1978), Trishul (1978), Dostana (1980), Kranti (1981), Zamana (1985) and Mr. India (1987).
The Salim-Javed duo worked together in 24 films, out of which two were Kannada films. Out of those 24 films, 20 were superhit films. Among the films written by Salim-Javed, the films that failed at the box office were Aakhri Dao (1975), Iman Dharma (1977), Kala Patthar (1979) and Shaan (1980). In 1982, the battle of ego parted the path of this wonderful couple. After 82, Akhtar worked only as a lyricist and on 16 November 2009 he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha.
Javed Akhtar’s family life
Javed Akhtar was married to Honey Irani and had two children, Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar. Both are film directors and actors. The father-son duo has worked together in Dil Chahta Hai, Lakshya, Rock On and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. Farhan Akhtar married a hairstylist Adhuna Akhtar. Javed Akhtar second marriage to actress Shabana Azmi, daughter of Urdu writer Cafe Azmi and after that divorced Honey Hirani.
Awards to Javed Akhtar
Javed Akhtar was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1999 and then the Padma Bhushan in 2007. In 20113, he received India’s second largest literary award, the Sahitya Akademi Award, for his poetry collection Lava. In 2019, he was given an honorary doctorate from Jamia Hamdard University.
