Son of well-known Urdu poet and film lyricist Jan Nisar Akhtar and SafiaAkhtar, teacher and writer, Javed Akhtar belongs to a family lineage that can be traced back to seven generations of writers. The highly respected Urdu poet, Majaz was his mother’s brother and the work of Muzter Khairabadi, his grandfather, is looked upon as a milestone in Urdu Poetry.
Javed Akhtar did his schooling at the Cambridge School in Bhopal, Colvin Taluqdars’ College in Lucknow, Minto Circle at Aligarh, and graduated from Vikram University, Bhopal in 1964.
His first collection of poetry ‘Tarkash‘ is in its twenty-seven editions. It has received rave reviews both as a book and as India’s first audio book. According to a recent survey done by a publisher’s organization, ‘Tarkash’ is the most sold book of verses in the last 75 years in India.
It has been translated in English, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi and recently in French ‘D’Autres Mondes’ to rave reviews and he was invited to recite at the historic Maison De La Poesie in Paris. It has now been translated in Italian ‘In altre parole, altri mondi’. He was invited to recite at Universities of Rome and Bologna, Italy. His 2nd publication of verses titled Lava was released in 2012 and is still on the list of 10 best sellers in Hindi.
His books ‘Talking Films’ & ‘Talking Songs’ published by Oxford University Press have been hailed by film critics as the most definitive works on Indian Cinema and are in the libraries of major Ivy League Universities in USA. Now his third book of the same series ‘Talking Life’ has been published recently by Westland Publications. ‘Jadunama’ a book on Javed Akhtar’s journey has also been published by Manjul Publications.
Javed Akhtar has been nominated to Rajya Sabha (Upper House) as Member of Parliament by President of India 2010. He is the architect of the Copyright Amendment Bill passed by both Houses of Indian Parliament which after a long struggle has finally given Copyright royalties to Writers and Music composers. He was the Vice – President of International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) the first Asian to be on the Governing Board of CISAC. Javed Akhtar is the Chairman of IPRS which is the Government recognized Copyright Society of India.
A multi-faceted personality Javed Akhtar is also a celebrated T.V anchor who has had talk shows on Zee TV, Epic Channel and Tata Sky has dedicated solely to him on which he explains the intricacies of poetry in a language that is simple to understand and relates dohas (two-line poems in Hindi) and Urdu poetry to everyday living.
Highly regarded as a social commentator and respected for his liberal progressive values Javed Akhtar is considered one of India’s 50 most powerful people in a survey conducted by India today.
He is married to film actress Shabana Azmi and has two children Zoya who is a writer – director and Farhan Akhtar who is and actor, singer, writer, director and producer.
His body of work can be categorized under four distinct categories :
AWARDS: Films
5 National Awards by Government of India as Best Lyricist three of them in a row an unprecedented achievement.
15 Film Fare Awards which are considered to be India’s Oscars as Best Script Writer and Best Lyricist.
Awards :
Hon. Doctorate (Doctor of Literature) by SOAS University of London 2023 l Shailendra Trust Memorial Award 2023 l Poet Laureate Award by Tata Literature Live 2020 l Richard Dawkins Award by Center for Inquiry and Richard Dawkins Foundation 2020 l Hon. Doctorate (Doctor of Letters) by Symbiosis International University 2019 l Lifetime Achievement Award – Times Litfest 2019 l Hon. Doctorate (Doctor of Letters) by Jamia Hamdard University 2019
l Ghalib Award for Poetry 2018 l Sankat Mochan Shanti Doot Award 2018 l Hindi Akademi Shalaka Award 2018 l Sahitya Akademi Award 2014 (The Central Academy of Literature) l Hon. Doctorate (Doctor of Letters) by Pondicherry University 2010 l Padma Bhushan Award 2007 (2nd highest civilian honour for excellence in writing) by Government of India l Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration 2006 l Padmashri in 1999 by the Government of India.
Universities Addressed :
Harvard University l Columbia University l University of Mary Land l Berkeley California
l University of Cambridge l University of Oxford l London School of Economics