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Javed Akhtar (Javed Akhtar) is one of the biggest and influential names of Hindi cinema. He is known as a poet, lyricist, screenplay writer and social thinker. The life of Padma Bhushan awarded Javed Akhtar is an example of struggle, pain, hard work and self-reliance. His biography ‘Jadoonama: Javed Akhtar’s journey’ and many interviews (like Mojo Story, BBC etc.) have revealed many untold or less known things about him. Childhood name ‘Jadu’ and beginning of family.

Javed Akhtar was born on 17 January 1945 in Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh). His real name was ‘Jadu’. His father John Nisar Akhtar (a famous Urdu poet and lyricist of Hindi films) had taken this name from the line of his poem ‘Lamha, Lamha Kisi Jadoo Ka Fasana Hoga’. Later the name for the school was changed to Javed, which means ‘the one who will last’. His mother Safia Akhtar (Safia Siraj-ul Haq) was an Urdu writer, teacher and singer. Javed’s childhood was full of turmoil. When he was only 8 years old, his mother died. This was a big shock for him.

If mother had not died, Javed Akhtar would not have been there today.

In a Mojo Story interview, Javed had said, ‘Life is a package, you cannot selectively take it out. This is a very tight script. If I imagine that my mother had not died when I was 8 years old… my life would have been completely different. Many scenes would have been changed, many important moments would have gone missing. So I wouldn’t want to change it. Every experience, even if painful, made me the Javed Akhtar of today. ‘After his mother’s death, his father remarried after a few years. Javed says that this was natural, because the father was young and it was difficult to live alone.

But his relations with his stepmother were not good. Because of this he could not live with his father. Javed told, ‘My relationship with my stepmother was not good, so we could not live together. Even after coming to Mumbai, I used to go to my father’s house as a guest. He spent most of his childhood years with his maternal grandparents, then with his aunt or other relatives. Father was a great poet, but failed as a parent. Javed says, ‘He was a good poet, but failed in other roles of life. Sometimes elders are not able to fulfill the responsibility.

Pavement, hunger and broken dreams

Javed came to Mumbai at the age of 19 (in 1964), his dream was to become a film director. He wanted to become an assistant to Guru Dutt or Raj Kapoor. But when he came to Mumbai on 4 October 1964, Guru Dutt died on 10 October and his dream was shattered. Javed Sahab had recalled, ‘I thought that after graduation I would go into the film industry and work with Guru Dutt for a few years, and then become a director. When you are 18, things are simple and easy, so that’s what I decided to do.

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It is very unfortunate that I came to Mumbai on 4 October 1964 and he died on 10 October, so I could never see him. Javed’s real struggle started from here. With only 27 paise in his pocket, he remained homeless for many years, sleeping on the footpath, under trees, in the corridor of the studio. Ran out of clothes, remained hungry for several days. He says, ‘Hunger and lack of sleep leave a deep impact on a person, which is never forgotten. Sometimes, in order to become an assistant, one had to carry the shoes of big actors. But did not give up, he was a big fan of Guru Dutt.

Salim-Javed pair

Started from 1971 and got great success. Salim Khan and Javed met in 1966 on the sets of the film ‘Sarhadi Lootera’. Salim was an actor (called Prince Salim), Javed was a clapper boy and assistant dialogue writer. The director wanted a dialogue writer, so Javed took the job and became friends with him. In 1971, both of them wrote a script together for the first time. His first film was ‘Adhikar’ (1971), but his name was not credited. In the same year, ‘Andaz’ (Andaz, 1971), written by Rajesh Khanna, became a hit. Then ‘Haathi Mere Saathi’ (1971) was Rajesh Khanna’s superhit, the highest grossing film.

Rajesh Khanna gave him his first big opportunity. They stayed together from 1971 to 1982 (about 11-12 years) and wrote a total of 24 films, out of which 20-22 were superhits. His famous films: Zanjeer (1973) made Amitabh Bachchan an ‘angry young man’, ‘Sholay’ (1975) the biggest classic of Bollywood, ‘Deewar’ (1975), ‘Don’ (1978), ‘Trishul’, ‘Muqaddar Ka Sikandar’, ‘Yaadon Ki Baaraat’, ‘Kranti’ etc. The reasons for separation in 1982 were fatigue, distance in the relationship and making new friends. There was no big fight, just gradually the relationship weakened. Even after separation, some old scripts (like Mr. India, 1987) were released.

Honey Irani got married to Shabana after getting drunk

Javed Akhtar’s first wife was Honey Irani, who is a former child actress and now a successful screenwriter who has contributed to films like ‘Lamhe’, ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham’. Both of them met on the sets of ‘Sita Aur Geeta’ (1972). Javed had jokingly proposed to Honey while playing cards, ‘If the card is good then we will get married’ and the card was good. Both of them got married in 1972. Both have the same birthday, which was 17th January.

This marriage gave birth to two children, daughter Zoya Akhtar who is a filmmaker and son Farhan Akhtar who is a professional actor and director. The marriage lasted for about 5 years, but from the mid-1970s, Javed’s closeness to Shabana Azmi started increasing, which caused tension in the relationship. Javed himself has admitted that his alcohol addiction and irresponsible behavior were also major reasons for this. He said that if he had not been an alcoholic, perhaps the marriage would not have broken. The divorce occurred around 1984-1985. Javed said in several interviews that he deeply regrets the breakdown of his first marriage and feels guilty towards Honey.

Javed married Shabana Azmi in 1984. It was a love marriage, but it was quite controversial because Javed was still married to Honey. In an interview, singer actor Anu Kapoor had revealed that the marriage took place in an intoxicated state and friends like Anu herself had called a Maulvi. Shabana’s parents (Kaifi Azmi and Shaukat Azmi) were initially opposed, as Javed was already married and the father of two children. Many people called Shabana a ‘home breaker’, especially because she was considered a feminist icon. Shabana said that she stepped on Honey’s ‘rights’, but she never justified her silence. Honey did not poison the minds of the children, due to which the relationship between Shabana and the children (Zoya-Farhan) became good. Both of them do not have any children (due to medical reasons). Shabana made Zoya-Farhan her support system. The marriage is still intact after 40 years. Javed says that he is ‘hardly married’.