The rhyme master

His name is synonymous with Urdu poetry and his pen led to the iconic creation of the “angry young man” image of Amitabh Bachchan. He is a five time National Award winner.  

Bollywood’s most sought-after lyricist has gifted the Indian masses with unparalleled lyrics in his career spanning 50 years.

A social commentator and activist, he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 2009.

Childhood

Javed Akhtar was born as Jadoo Akhtar on January 17, 1945 in Gwalior. He was born to a family of poets— his father, uncle and grandfather were all poets. He was 8 when his mother died.

He studied in Colvin Taluqdars’ College in Lucknow and the Minto Circle where he completed his matriculation from Aligarh Muslim University.

Career

He arrived in Mumbai in 1964 trying his luck in the Indian film industry. He didn’t taste any success for six years.

He got fame when he collaborated with the famous scriptwriter Salim Khan and they both penned down some unforgettable hits as the duo of Salim-Javed. Both of them delivered some beautiful hits like Zanjeer, Deewar, Haathi Mere Saathi, Don.

Akhtar used to write his scripts in Urdu, which were then written out in Hindi by his assistant. 

The duo parted ways in the year 1981. Since then Javed has worked independently scripting hit films like Sagar, Arjun and Betaab. 

Akhtar was a judge on India’s singer hunt ‘Indian Idol 4’. He is also on the advisory board of the Asian Academy of Film & Television. 

Awards

Padma Shri in 1997

Padma Bhushan in 2007

Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu, India’s second highest literary honour in 2013