Javed Akhtar (born 17 January 1945) is an Indian political activist,
poet, lyricist and screenwriter, originally from Gwalior area. He is a
recipient of the Padma Shri (1999), Padma Bhushan (2007),[1] the
Sahitya Akademi Award as well as five National Film Awards.[2] 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 .[3] He also remained
member of Rajya Sabha.[4] In 2020 he received the Richard Dawkins
Award for his contribution to secularism, free thinking, for critical
thinking, holding religious dogma up to scrutiny, advancing human
progress and humanist values.[5][6] Javed Akhtar was chosen as a
recipient for the Richard Dawkins Award for being "the bright light
for reason, freethought, and atheism in a dark time".[7][8]Javed
Akhtar was born in 1945 in Gwalior.[9] His father Jan Nisar Akhtar was
a Bollywood film songwriter and Urdu poet.[10] His grandfather Muztar
Khairabadi was a poet as was his grandfather's elder brother, Bismil
Khairabadi, while his great great grandfather, Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi,
was a scholar of Islamic studies and theology and played an important
role in the First Independence Movement of India in 1857.[citation
needed] Javed Akhtar's original name was Jadoo, taken from a line in a
poem written by his father: "Lamha, lamha kisi jadoo ka fasana hoga".
He was given the official name of Javed since it was the closest to
the word jadoo.[11] He spent most of his childhood and was schooled in
Lucknow. He graduated from Saifiya College in Bhopal.[12]Akhtar was
greatly inspired by Pakistani author Ibn-e-Safi's Urdu novels, which
he grew up reading as a child. Akhtar was particularly influenced by
the Jasoosi Dunya and Imran series of detective novels, such as The
House of Fear (1955). He was influenced by their fast action, tight
plots, economies of expression, fascinating characters with catchy
memorable names, and speaking styles. Two of the earliest films he
remembered watching both starred Dilip Kumar: Shaheed Latif's Arzoo
(1950) and Mehboob Khan's Aan (1952). Other films that influenced him
as a child include Bimal Roy's Do Bigha Zameen (1953), Satyen Bose's
Jagriti (1954), Shree 420 (1955) directed by Raj Kapoor and written by
Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, Munimji (1955) directed by Subodh Mukherjee and
written by Nasir Hussain, and Mehboob Khan's Mother India (1957).[13]
poet, lyricist and screenwriter, originally from Gwalior area. He is a
recipient of the Padma Shri (1999), Padma Bhushan (2007),[1] the
Sahitya Akademi Award as well as five National Film Awards.[2] 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 .[3] He also remained
member of Rajya Sabha.[4] In 2020 he received the Richard Dawkins
Award for his contribution to secularism, free thinking, for critical
thinking, holding religious dogma up to scrutiny, advancing human
progress and humanist values.[5][6] Javed Akhtar was chosen as a
recipient for the Richard Dawkins Award for being "the bright light
for reason, freethought, and atheism in a dark time".[7][8]Javed
Akhtar was born in 1945 in Gwalior.[9] His father Jan Nisar Akhtar was
a Bollywood film songwriter and Urdu poet.[10] His grandfather Muztar
Khairabadi was a poet as was his grandfather's elder brother, Bismil
Khairabadi, while his great great grandfather, Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi,
was a scholar of Islamic studies and theology and played an important
role in the First Independence Movement of India in 1857.[citation
needed] Javed Akhtar's original name was Jadoo, taken from a line in a
poem written by his father: "Lamha, lamha kisi jadoo ka fasana hoga".
He was given the official name of Javed since it was the closest to
the word jadoo.[11] He spent most of his childhood and was schooled in
Lucknow. He graduated from Saifiya College in Bhopal.[12]Akhtar was
greatly inspired by Pakistani author Ibn-e-Safi's Urdu novels, which
he grew up reading as a child. Akhtar was particularly influenced by
the Jasoosi Dunya and Imran series of detective novels, such as The
House of Fear (1955). He was influenced by their fast action, tight
plots, economies of expression, fascinating characters with catchy
memorable names, and speaking styles. Two of the earliest films he
remembered watching both starred Dilip Kumar: Shaheed Latif's Arzoo
(1950) and Mehboob Khan's Aan (1952). Other films that influenced him
as a child include Bimal Roy's Do Bigha Zameen (1953), Satyen Bose's
Jagriti (1954), Shree 420 (1955) directed by Raj Kapoor and written by
Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, Munimji (1955) directed by Subodh Mukherjee and
written by Nasir Hussain, and Mehboob Khan's Mother India (1957).[13]
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