Javed Akhtar

He is widely regarded as one of the greatest screenwriters and lyricists in the history of Indian cinema. Akhtar first gained prominence as one half of the screenwriting duo Salim–Javed, alongside Salim Khan. The pair achieved their breakthrough with Zanjeer (1973) and went on to pen several landmark films, including Deewaar (1975) and Sholay (1975). These works achieved cult status and had a lasting influence on Indian popular culture, particularly through their portrayal of the "angry young man" archetype. Following the duo’s split in the early 1980s, Akhtar transitioned into lyric writing, earning acclaim for his poetic and socially conscious lyrics. In addition to his film career, Akhtar has been an outspoken public intellectual and activist, known for his advocacy of secularism, freedom of expression, and gender equality. He has written and spoken extensively on issues of religion, human rights, and rationalism. Akhtar served as a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha from 2010 to 2016, representing the arts. He also publicly supported the Communist Party of India (CPI) during the 2019 Indian general election. For his contributions to literature, film, and free thought, he became the first Indian to receive the Richard Dawkins Award in 2020. In 2024, Amazon Prime Video released a three-part documentary series titled Angry Young Men, focusing on the partnership between Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar. The documentary explores their creative process, personal relationship, and the enduring impact of their films on Indian cinema. In December 2025, Akhtar participated in a public philosophical debate titled Does God Exist? At the Constitution Club of India, New Delhi, where he discussed questions of faith, morality, and human suffering with Islamic scholar Shamail Nadwi. Approaching the issue from an atheist perspective, Akhtar questioned the idea of divine justice, particularly in the context of civilian suffering in conflict zones. The debate attracted wide media coverage and public discussion in India and abroad.

Javed Akhtar studied at Aligarh Muslim University and Minto Circle. The recorded working language is Urdu. Positions recorded include member of Rajya Sabha. Distinctions recorded are Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri in arts, Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu and National Film Award for Best Lyrics.

• Name — Javed Akhtar • Office — Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha • Term Start — 22 March 2010 • Term End — 21 March 2016 • Successor — Navjot Singh Sidhu • Nominator — Pratibha Patil • Constituency — Nominated (Arts) • Born — 17 January 1945 • Birthplace — Gwalior, Gwalior State, British India (present-day Madhya Pradesh, India) • Occupation — * Lyricist • Poet • Screenwriter • Political activist • Spouse — *; 2 children • Children — * Zoya Akhtar (daughter) • Farhan Akhtar (son) • Father — Jan Nisar Akhtar • Relatives — Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi (great-great- grandfather) Muztar Khairabadi (grandfather) Hamida Salim (aunt) Ansar Harvani (uncle) Majaz (uncle) Salman Akhtar (brother) • Education — Colvin Taluqdars' College, Lucknow, Saifiya College, Bhopal • Awards — * 5 National Film Awards • 16 Filmfare Awards • Padma Shri (1999) • Padma Bhushan (2007) • Richard Dawkins Award (2020)

• Illustration — Javed Akhtar in 2025 Javed Akhtar was born in 1945 in Gwalior. His father Jan Nisar Akhtar was a songwriter in Hindi films and an Urdu poet. His paternal grandfather Muztar Khairabadi was a poet as was his grandfather's elder brother, Bismil Khairabadi, while his great great grandfather, Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi, was a religious scholar of Islam. Javed Akhtar's original name was Jadoo, taken from a line in a poem written by his father: "Lamha, lamha kisi jadoo ka fasana hoga". He was given the official name of Javed since it was close to the word jadoo. He spent most of his childhood and was schooled in Lucknow. He graduated from Saifiya College in Bhopal.

Initially, in the 1970s, there was generally no concept of having the same writer for the screenplay, story and dialogue, nor were the writers given any credits in the titles. Rajesh Khanna is credited with giving Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar their first chance to become screenplay writers by offering them work in Haathi Mere Saathi. Javed Akhtar stated in an interview that one day, he went to Salimsaab and said that Mr. Devar had given him a huge signing amount with which he could complete the payment for his bungalow, Aashirwad. But the film was a remake and the script of the original was far from being satisfactory. "He told us that if we could set right the script, he would make sure we got both money and credit." Their first big success was the script for Andaz (1971), followed by Haathi Mere Saathi (1971) and Seeta Aur Geeta (1972). They also had hits with Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973), Zanjeer (1973), Haath Ki Safai (1974), Deewaar (1975), Sholay (1975), Chacha Bhatija (1977), Don (1978), Trishul (1978), Dostana (1980), Kranti (1981), Zamana (1985) and Mr. India (1987). They have worked together in 24 films including two Kannada films – Premada Kanike and Raja Nanna Raja. Of the 24 films they wrote, 20 were hits. The scripts they wrote, but which were not successful at box office include Adhikar (1971), Aakhri Dao (1975), Immaan Dharam (1977) and Shaan (1980). Though they split in 1982, due to ego issues, some of the scripts they wrote were made into hit films later, such as Zamana and Mr. India. Salim-Javed, many a time described as "the most successful scriptwriters of all-time", are also noted to be the first scriptwriters in Indian cinema to achieve star status.

Akhtar was nominated to the Parliament upper house Rajya Sabha on 16 November 2009. Akhtar was married to Honey Irani, with whom he had two children, Farhan Akhtar, a film actor, producer, director and Zoya Akhtar, a film writer, director and producer. The father-and-son duo have worked together in films such as Dil Chahta Hai, Lakshya, Rock On!! and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara with Zoya. Farhan was previously married to hair stylist Adhuna Akhtar, they divorced in 2017, and he is currently married to actress and singer Shibani Dandekar. Despite having an Islamic upbringing, Akhtar declared himself to be an "equal opportunity atheist" who is against all faiths, and also brought up his children Farhan and Zoya Akhtar as atheists. However, he continues to identify as a "cultural Muslim" because of his heritage associated with the Islamic civilization. Akhtar married Shabana Azmi, the daughter of Urdu poet, Kaifi Azmi and later divorced Irani. Akhtar's uncle, Asrar-ul-Haq "Majaz" was also an Urdu poet. His uncle, Ansar Harvani, was a member of the Indian independence movement and an elected Member of Parliament. Akhtar's aunt, Hamida Salim, was an Indian author, economist and educator as well.

• Year — Film — Language — Director — Cast — Notes • 1971 — Andaz — Hindi — Ramesh Sippy — Rajesh Khanna, Hema Malini, Shammi Kapoor, Simi Garewal — Written as "Salim-Javed" Although the Salim–Javed partnership ended in 1982, two of their screenplays that had been completed earlier - Zamana and Mr. India, were released after their split. • Adhikar — Hindi — S.M. Sagar — Ashok Kumar, Nanda, Deb Mukherjee • Haathi Mere Saathi — M. A. Thirumugham — Rajesh Khanna, Tanuja • 1972 — Seeta Aur Geeta — Ramesh Sippy — Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Sanjeev Kumar • 1973 — Yaadon Ki Baaraat — Nasir Hussain — Dharmendra, Zeenat Aman, Vijay Arora, Tariq Khan • Zanjeer — Prakash Mehra — Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bhaduri, Pran • 1974 — Majboor — Ravi Tandon — Amitabh Bachchan, Parveen Babi, Pran • Haath Ki Safai — Prakash Mehra — Randhir Kapoor, Vinod Khanna, Hema Malini, Simi Garewal, Ranjeet • 1975 — Deewaar — Yash Chopra — Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor, Parveen Babi, Neetu Singh • Sholay — Ramesh Sippy — Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjeev Kumar, Hema Malini, Jaya Bhaduri • Aakhri Dao — A. Salaam — Jeetendra, Saira Banu, Danny Denzongpa • 1976 — Premada Kanike — Kannada — V. Somashekhar — Rajkumar, Aarathi • Raja Nanna Raja — A. V. Seshagiri Rao • 1977 — Immaan Dharam — Hindi — Desh Mukherjee — Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor, Sanjeev Kumar, Rekha • Chacha Bhatija — Manmohan Desai — Dharmendra, Randhir Kapoor, Hema Malini • 1978 — Trishul — Yash Chopra — Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjeev Kumar, Shashi Kapoor, Hema Malini • Don — Chandra Barot — Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman, Pran • 1979 — Kaala Patthar — Yash Chopra — Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor, Rakhee Gulzar, Shatrughan Sinha, Parveen Babi, Neetu Singh • 1980 — Dostana — Raj Khosla — Amitabh Bachchan, Shatrughan Sinha, Zeenat Aman, Pran (actor), Amrish Puri • Shaan — Ramesh Sippy — Sunil Dutt, Shashi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Rakhee Gulzar, Kulbhushan Kharbanda • 1981 — Kranti — Manoj Kumar — Manoj Kumar, Dilip Kumar, Hema Malini, Shashi Kapoor, Shatrughan Sinha, Parveen Babi • 1982 — Shakti — Ramesh Sippy — Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Raakhee, Anil Kapoor • 1985 — Zamana — Ramesh Talwar — Rajesh Khanna, Rishi Kapoor, Poonam Dhillon, Ranjeeta Kaur • 1987 — Mr. India — Shekhar Kapur — Anil Kapoor, Sridevi, Amrish Puri

• Year — Film — Language — Director — Cast — Notes • 1969 — Yakeen — Hindi — Brij Sadanah — Dharmendra, Sharmila Tagore — Dialogues only • 1983 — Betaab — Rahul Rawail — Sunny Deol, Amrita Singh — Written as "Javed Akhtar" • 1984 — Duniya — Ramesh Talwar — Dilip Kumar, Rishi Kapoor, Amrita Singh • Mashaal — Yash Chopra — Dilip Kumar, Anil Kapoor, Waheeda Rehman • 1985 — Arjun — Rahul Rawail — Sunny Deol, Dimple Kapadia • Saagar — Ramesh Sippy — Rishi Kapoor, Kamal Haasan, Dimple Kapadia • Meri Jung — Subhash Ghai — Anil Kapoor, Meenakshi Sheshadri • 1987 — Dacait — Rahul Rawail — Sunny Deol, Meenakshi Sheshadri • 1989 — Joshilaay — Sibte Hassan Rizvi, Shekhar Kapur — Sunny Deol, Anil Kapoor, Sridevi, Meenakshi Sheshadri • Main Azaad Hoon — Tinnu Anand — Amitabh Bachchan, Shabana Azmi • 1992 — Khel — Rakesh Roshan — Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit • 1993 — Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja — Satish Kaushik — Anil Kapoor, Sridevi • 1995 — Prem — Sanjay Kapoor, Tabu • 1998 — Kabhi Na Kabhi — Priyadarshan — Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff • 2004 — Lakshya — Farhan Akhtar — Hrithik Roshan, Preity Zinta, Amitabh Bachchan • 2006 — Don: The Chase Begins Again — Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra — Remake of Don (1978)

• Silsila (1981) • Saath Saath (1982) • Duniya (1984) • Mashaal (1984) • Saagar (1985) • Arjun (1985) • Mr. India (1987) • Tezaab (1988) • Jaadugar (1989) • Joshilaay (1989) • Mil Gayee Manzil Mujhe (1989) • Sailaab (1990) • Jamai Raja (1990) • Hafta Bandh (1991) • Narsimha (1991) • Khel (1992) • Drohi (1992) • Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja (1993) • Yugandhar (1993) • Gardish (1993) • 1942: A Love Story (1994) • Papa Kehte Hai (1996) • Dastak (1996) • Sardari Begum (1996) • Diljale (1996) • Sapnay (Partially Shot at Same time) (1997) • Border (1997) • Virasat (1997) • Daud (1997) • Mrityudand (1997) • Saaz (1997) • Yes Boss (1997) • Darmiyaan: In Between (1997) • Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya (1997) • Jeans (1997) • Wajood (1998) • Kabhi Na Kabhi (1998) • Bada Din (1998) • Duplicate (1998) • 1947 Earth (1999) • Godmother (1999) • Baadshah (1999) • Arjun Pandit (1999) • Laawaris (1999) • Dillagi (1999) • Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani (2000) • Refugee (2000) • Karobaar (2000) • Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai (2000) • Raja Ko Rani Se Pyar Ho Gaya (2000) • Champion (2000) • Gang (2000) • Dil Chahta Hai (2001) • Zubeidaa (2001) • Lagaan (2001) • Abhay (2001) • Moksha (2001) • Pyar Ki Dhun (2002) • Agni Varsha (2002) • Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai (2002) • Badhaai Ho Badhaai (2002) • Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai? (2002) • Satta (2003) • Love at Times Square (2003) • The Hero: Love Story of a Spy (2003) • Armaan (2003) • Chalte Chalte (2003) • Kuch Naa Kaho (2003) • Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003) • L.O.C. Kargil (2003) • Tehzeeb (2003) • Main Hoon Na (2004) • Veer-Zaara (2004) • Lakshya (2004) • Charas (2004) • Kyun! Ho Gaya Na... (2004) • Dobara (2004) • Swades (2004) • Bose: The Forgotten Hero (2004) • Kisna: The Warrior Poet (2005) • Mangal Pandey: The Rising (2005) • Dil Jo Bhi Kahey... (2005) • Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006) • Don (2006) • Traffic Signal (2007) • Namastey London (2007) • Ta Ra Rum Pum (2007) • Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal (2007) • Om Shanti Om (2007) • Jodhaa Akbar (2008) • Rock On!! (2008) • Luck by Chance (2009) • Life Partner (2009) • What's Your Raashee? (2009) • Wake Up Sid (2009) • My Name is Khan (2010) • Karthik Calling Karthik (2010) • Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey (2010) • Aisha (2010) • Red Alert: The War Within (2010) • Prem Kaa Game (2010) • Don 2: The King is Back (2011) • Ekk Deewana Tha (2012) • Talaash (2012) • Vishwaroop (2013) • Dil Dhadakne Do (2015) • Rock On 2 (2016) • Mohenjo Daro (2016) • Raees (2017) • Poster Boys (2017) — Segment: Kudiyan Shehar Diyan • Gold (2018) • Paltan (2018) • Namastey England (2018) • Gully Boy (2019) • Panipat (2019) • Panga (2020) • Toofaan (2021) • The Archies (2023) • Dunki (2023) • Kho Gaye Hum Kahan (2023) • Yudhra (2024) • Border 2 (2026) — Lyrics reused from Border (1997) • Governor (2026) • Batwara 1947 (2026)

His recorded language was Urdu. He was the child of Jan Nisar Akhtar. He married Honey Irani and Shabana Azmi. 2 children are recorded: Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar.

• Illustration — Akhtar receiving Padma Bhushan by the then President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in 2007. Javed was awarded the civilian honour of Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1999, followed by the Padma Bhushan in 2007. In 2013, he received the Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu, India's second highest literary honour, for his poetry collection Lava. In 2019, he was conferred with an honorary doctorate (Doctor of Letters) by the Jamia Hamdard University. In 2020 he was awarded the Richard Dawkins Award for being a "powerful force for secularism, reason, and human rights, challenging superstition and intolerance through his work in poetry, screenwriting, and political activism". In 2023, he received Viswambhara Dr C Narayana Reddy National Literary Award for his contributions to Urdu literature

• Year — Category — Outcome — Work — Notes • 1974 — Best Screenplay — Zanjeer — As "Salim-Javed" • 1974 — Best Story — Zanjeer • 1976 — Deewar • 1976 — |Best Dialogue — Deewar • 1976 — Best Screenplay — Deewar • 1983 — Shakti • 1984 — Best Story — Betaab • 1985 — Mashaal • 1986 — Arjun • 1989 — Best Lyricist — "Ek Do Teen" from Tezaab • 1990 — Best Dialogue — Main Azaad Hoon • 1995 — Best Lyricist — "Ek Ladki Ko Dekha" from 1942: A Love Story • 1997 — "Ghar Se Nikalte" from Papa Kehte Hai • 1998 — "Sandese Aate Hai" from Border • 1998 — "Chand Taare" from Yes Boss • 1999 — "Mere Mehboob Mere Sanam" from Duplicate • 2001 — "Panchchi Nadiyaan" from Refugee • 2002 — "Mitwa" from Lagaan • 2002 — "Radha Kaise Na Jale" from Lagaan • 2004 — "Kal Ho Na Hoo" from Kal Ho Naa Ho • 2005 — "Tere Liye" from Veer-Zaara • 2007 — Lifetime Achievement Award — Honoured — rowspan="1" • 2009 — Best Lyricist — "Jashn-E-Bahaara" from Jodhaa Akbar

• Year — Category — Outcome — Work — Notes • 2011 — Album of The Year — Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara • Lyricist of The Year — "Khwabon Ke Parindey" from Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara • "Senorita" from Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara • 2012 — "Jee Le Zara" from Talaash • 2014 — Lifetime Achievement Award — - • 2015 — Album of The Year — Dil Dhadakne Do • Lyricist of The Year — "Phir Bhi Yeh Zindagi" from Dil Dhadakne Do