Javed Akhtar Turns 74; Here Are 5 Things You May Not Know About the Lyricist

Noted lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar has turned 74 today. He and his admirers are celebrating his birthday while birthday wishes are pouring in from all around and Bollywood is not behind with some celebrities congratulating him on Twitter. Born to Jan Nisar Akhtar (a major Bollywood film songwriter and Urdu poet) and Safia Akhtar, (a singer,  teacher and writer), Javed Akhtar is one of India's most famous screenwriters. He was on January 17, 1945 in Gwalior. The noted lyricist and writer has proved his mettle in the world of literature with many such wonders including Pancchi Nadiyaan (Refugee), Lagaan, 1942: A Love Story and one of our most favourites Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. #MeToo in Bollywood: Javed Akhtar Gets Slammed for Defending Rajkumar Hirani over the Sexual Harassment Row

Here’s wishing him a very happy birthday. On the 74th birthday of the dialogue and lyrical maestro, Javed Akhtar, we bring you 5 interesting facts about his life and illustrious career that you may not have known.

Take a look!

# Born to a family of poets and songwriters, Javed Akhtar was named Jadu, which was later changed to Javed as it was the closest to the word Jadu. The word Jadu was taken from a line in a poem penned by his father, 'Lamha lamha kisi jadu ka fasana hoga'.

# Javed was born a Muslim. The lyricist, who later turned atheist by choice, has raised his children Zoya and Farhan as atheists too. Interestingly, both Farhan and Zoya have chosen a career in films.

# Javed Akhtar's love story has seen two marriages. His first marriage was with Honey Irani with whom he had two children- Farhan and Zoya. However, the lyricist divorced Honey Irani in the 80s to marry Shabana Azmi, one of the finest actresses of Indian cinema.

# While we imagine Akhtar, who knows how to weave and bring alive love with his magical lyrics, to be the pioneer of romance in real life, surprisingly isn't the romantic type as his songs convey. In an interview, his wife Shabana Azmi had revealed that there is not a single romantic bone in his body.

# Javed Akhtar was awarded the civilian honour of Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1999, followed by the Padma Bhushan in 2007. Not only that, he has also won the Filmfare Award fourteen times - 7 times for Best Script and 7 times for Best Lyrics. Akhtar has also won the National Award five times. In 2013, he received the Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu, India's second highest literary honour, for his poetry collection 'Lava'.

Some of Akhtar's most successful works in the initial years of his career were carried out with Salim Khan as half of the script-writing duo credited as Salim-Javed. Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan met each other for the first time was while filming 'Sarhadi Lootera', where the latter was an actor and the former was a clapper boy. Later, the Salim-Javed pair was hired by GP Sippy's Sippy Films as resident screenwriters.

The pair produced the screenplays for numerous successful films like Andaaz, Seeta Aur Geeta, Sholay and Don. Speaking of their partnership, Salim ideated stories, while Javed helped him with dialogues. However, Salim-Javed split after 11 years of partnership and the reasons remain unknown. Of the 24 films they wrote, 20 were hits, including 2 Telugu films – 'Manushulu Chesina Dongalu' and 'Yugandhar' and one Kannada film – 'Premada Kaanike'. Watch this space for further updates.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 17, 2019 09:25 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).