AMU Alumni Association N. California’s International Mushaera 2019 2/6
Javed Akhtar
Internationally acclaimed Javed Akhtar, thrilled the audience with his inspiring and provocative poetry.
Javed Akhtar (born 17 January 1945) is an Indian political activist, poet, lyricist and screenwriter, originally from Gwalior area. In early part of his career he was a screenplay writer, creating movies like Deewar, Zanjeer and Sholay. Later he left screenplay writing and became a lyricist and social-political activist. He also remained member of Rajya Sabha.
As a screenwriter, he has teamed up with Salim Khan to write blockbuster films such as Haathi Mere Saathi, Zanjeer and Sholay in the '70s. In recent years, he has written Lakshya and Don: The Chase Begins Again. Javed is a regular contributor in his kids Farhan and Zoya Akhtar's films.
His poems have added depth to films like Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Gully Boy. Javed's filmography as a lyricist is even longer, as he continues to be one of the principal songwriters in Hindi cinema.
The first collection of Javed Akhtar’s poetry, Tarkash, meaning ‘quiver’ was published in 1995. It established him as a writer of nazm. With his second volume, Lava, we see him dabbling in both the ghazal and the nazm and many critics rate his ghazals as being superior to his nazms.
Akhtar 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.
He is married to popular actress Shabana Azmi.
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