Bollywood Home » Lyricists in Bollywood » Javed Akhtar One of the famous lyricists in Bollywood, Javed Akhtar was born on January 17th, in the year 1945. He is not only a famous Hindu poet but also a famous Urdu poet. A famous lyricist and scriptwriter, Javed Akhtar has written the lyrics for musical blockbusters. He has penned some of his best works in the late 1970s and 1980s with Salim Khan as the famous script-writing duo Salim-Javed.

Born in Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh to Jan Nisar Akhtar, a renowned Bollywood film songwriter and Urdu poet, and Safia Akhtar, a teacher and writer, Javed Akhtar belongs to a family of writers. Javed Akhtar lost his mother at a very young age. His father traveled between Lucknow and Bombay. He and his brother stayed with relatives. He was an excellent orator in college and had bagged the Rotary Club Prize several times. He came to Bombay on October 4 in the year 1964. In his formative years as a writer, he began writing dialogues for small-budget feature films. He also worked as an assistant at times.



Javed Akhtar's earlier scripts were written in Urdu, which were then translated in Hindi by his assistant. He and Salim worked together till the year 1980. After the fallout, Javed made scripts all by himself. From this time onwards, Javed Akhtar invested most of time into writing lyrics for Bollywood movies. His remarkable feat as a Bollywood lyricist earned him laurels and applauds.

Most of the songs which Akhtar has produced tend to be rhythmic, evocative of life's pains and happiness. The tunes are catchy and melodious. Javed has also been seriously involved in writing Urdu poetry apart from giving lyrics in Bollywood movies. A wide range of his works was brought out as a compilation known as Tarkash. He also did the playback singing for many of the songs in this album. World-famous singers Jagjit Singh and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan have sung several of his poems.

Javed Akhtar was also one of the members of the jury panel alongside Anu Malik, Udit Narayan and Alisha Chinai in the recently concluded Indian Idol Series 3. He is also a member of the prestigious advisory board of Asian Academy of Film and Television.

Javed Akhtar was first wedded to Honey Irani, who is also a script-writer for major Bollywood flicks. After his divorce with Honey Irani, he married Shabana Azmi, the most poised actress in meaningful Bollywood cinema. Javed Akhtar is the father of Farhan Akhtar, the famous director of big Bollywood hits like Dil Chahta Hai and Lakhshya.

Javed Akhtar is the proud recipient of many awards including 5 National Film Award as the best lyricist and 7 Filmfare best Bollywood Lyricists Awards.

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