The Hindu : New Delhi News : The making of Bollywood’s golden wordsmith

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Wednesday, Jul 16, 2008
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The making of Bollywood’s golden wordsmith

Javed Akhtar.

A special musical evening dedicated to the noted Bollywood lyricist-poet-scriptwriter Javed Akhtar was organised at Delhi’s Kamani Auditorium on Monday.

Television and film actor Sachin Khedkar presented the life-story of Javed Akhtar, including his early days of struggle, to the audience.

Sachin dwelt on the renowned lyricist’s works in major Bollywood projects as well as his flawless Urdu poetry. He also highlighted the fact that initially he lived a hard life but had the will and determination to emerge a winner in the film firmament. Now, of course, his name is among the pantheon of writers and poets.

Born on January 17, 1945, at Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh to Hindi film songwriter and Urdu poet Jan Nisar Akhtar and Safia Akhtar, a teacher and writer, Akhtar’s lineage can be traced back to seven generations of writers. After his birth, his parents moved to Lucknow and later to Aligarh. Young Akhtar lost his mother at a tender age and his father frequently moved back and forth between Lucknow and Mumbai, so he and his brother spent most of their time with relatives.

As a proficient scriptwriter, Javed along with Salim Khan created the fictitious character of the Angry Young Man – Amitabh Bachchan – on the silver screen. It is said that Javed had a flair for screenplay and dialogue while Salim had a knack for coming out with the plot. The two were responsible for the meteoric rise of Amitabh Bachchan in “Zanjeer”, “Deewaar”, “Sholay” and “Trishul”.

Mahila Mangal, a non-government organisation working for women’s empowerment, had organised the musical event on Monday to mark its 53rd anniversary.

Staff Reporter

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