Javed Akhtar

Javed Akhtar  born 17 January 1945) is a poet, lyricist and scriptwriter from India. Akhtar is a mainstream writer and some of his most successful work was carried out with Salim Khan as half of the script-writing duo credited as Salim-Javed between 1971 to 1982. Hailing from a family of freedom fighters, Javed Akhtar is the great-great-grandson of Allama Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi, a notable name in the Indian Freedom Struggle and one of the main figures of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 who was hanged at the Kālā Pānī prison in 1861

Early life

He was born into a Muslim family in Khairabad, (Uttar Pradesh) to Jan Nisar Akhtar, a Bollywood film songwriter and Urdu poet, and singer Safia Akhtar, a teacher and writer.^{[citation needed]} His original name was Jadoo, taken from a line in a poem written by his father: "Lamba, lamba kisi jadoo ka fasana hoga". He was given the official name of Javed since it was the closest to the word jadoo.^[1] Amongst his family members who are poets are Majaz, Eitbar Hussain bartar and Yadgar Hussain Nashtar. His grandfather, Muztar Khairabadi, and Maulana Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi, a noted philosopher, poet and religious scholar of the nineteenth century.^{[citation needed]}Having lost his mother while very young, Akhtar's early years were spent in Lucknow, Aligarh, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh and Mumbai, mostly with relatives.^{[citation needed]} He studied in Colvin Taluqdars' College in Lucknow and the Minto Circle where he completed his matriculation from Aligarh Muslim University. After matriculation, Akhtar acquired a B.A. from Saifiya College in Bhopal. A debater in college, he won the Rotary Club Prize several times.^{[citation needed]}

Career

Akhtar arrived in Mumbai on 4 October 1964. In his early years there, he wrote the dialogue for a minor film for Rs. 100. Occasionally, he worked as an assistant. He got a job as a dialogue writer on Yakeen which flopped. Javed Akhtar was born on 17 January 1945. Akhtar arrived in Mumbai on 4 October 1964. In his early years there, he wrote the dialogue for a minor film for Rs. 100. He was unsuccessful in his individual ventures till 1971.

Salim Javed(1971-1982)  

Salim Khan used to assist writer/director Abrar Alvi at first and Javed Akhtar used to assist Kaifi Azmi. Abrar Alvi and Kaifi Azmi were neighbours, from there on Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar became friends. Since their individual work was flopping both of them ventured into script writing and they decided to team up in 1971. The duo hit it off well and formed a script-writing team that came to be known as Salim-Javed. Salim used to form stories and plots whereas Javed used to help Salim with the dialogues for those films. They used to brainstorm and come to conclusions regarding the final draft of the film. Akhtar first joined with his friend Salim Khan to develop the story for Adhikar and Andaz. They have worked together in 24 film including 2 hit Telugu films - Manushulu Chesina Dongalu, Yugandhar and one Kannada hit film - Premada Kaanike. 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. The duo split up in the early 1982 due to ego issues and ended their 12 year professional relationship after which Javed Akhtar shifted to writing lyrics. 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),Shaan (1980). Akhtar used to write his scripts in Urdu, which were then written out in Hindi by his assistant. Another assistant would type out a one-line summary in English. His association with Salim Khan lasted until 1982.

His work post split with Salim (1982-present)

Javed Akhthar started writing lyrics for films beginning with Silsila in 1981 and since 1982 has written lyrics for around 80 films and scripts for over 20 films.After this Akhtar wrote some scripts on his own but mostly moved into writing lyrics for films where he achieved success. Akhtar has attempted more serious Urdu poetry aside from writing lyrics for movies. A major set of his works were compiled in Tarkash, which was rendered into audio in his voice. Singers such as the late Jagjit Singh and the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan have sung some of his non-movie poetry. Javed Akhtar was a judge alongside Anu Malik, Kailash Kher and Sonali Bendre on India's singer hunt Indian Idol 4. He is on the advisory board of the Asian Academy of Film & Television. Akhtar was nominated to the Parliament upper house Rajya Sabha on 16 Nov 2009.^[2].^{[citation needed]}