Javed Akhtar Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography

Bio
Nickname	Jadoo
Profession(s)	Lyricist, Screenwriter, Poet
Physical Stats & More
Height (Approx.)	5' 5" (165 cm)
Eye Colour	Dark Brown
Hair Colour	White
Personal Life
Date of Birth	17 January 1945 (Wednesday)
Age (as of 2024)	79 Years
Birthplace	Gwalior, Gwalior State, Central India Agency, British India
Zodiac sign	Capricorn
Signature
Nationality	Indian
Hometown	Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
School	Not Known
College/University	Saifiya College, Bhopal
Educational Qualification	Graduate in Arts
Debut	As a Screenwriter (with Salim Khan): Andaaz (1971) As a Screenwriter (Solo): Betaab (1983) As a lyricist: Silsila (1981)
Awards/Achievements	• Padma Shri (1999) • Padma Bhushan (2007) • 5-time National Award winner for Best Lyrics for the movies- Saaz (1996), Border (1997), Godmother (1998), Refugee (2000) and Lagaan (2001) • Sahitya Akademi Award (Urdu), India's second highest literary honor, for his poetry collection- ‘Lava’ (2013) • Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival Award for Best Lyricist for the song ‘Nikle The Kabhi Hum Ghar Se’ from the film ‘Dunki’ (20 February 2024)
Family	Father- Jan Nisar Akhtar (Songwriter & poet) Mother- Safia Akhtar (Singer) Brothers- Salman Akhtar, Shahid Akhtar Sisters- Uneza Akhtar, Albina
Religion	Atheist
Address	702/Sagar Samrat, Green Field Road, Near Juhu, Mumbai- 400049
Hobbies	Watching Cricket
Controversies	• In 2016, when former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag and wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt took a jibe at Gurmehar Kaur, a Delhi University student, who was protesting ABVP's attacks on students and teachers, Javed Akhtar took to Twitter to share his piece of mind. In one of his tweets, the lyricist referred to the aforesaid sportspersons as 'hardly literate.' • British filmmaker Leslee Udwin's 'India's Daughter (Nirbhaya)' documentary became a matter of heated debate at the time of its release. Since the film also contained an interview of one of the convicts, the parents of the victim urged the government to halt its release. As a result, the government wasted no time in banning the controversial documentary. However, Javed Akhtar and a number of other politicians were of a different view. In one of the parliamentary sessions, he said, "Accha hua ki documentary bani, ab pata chalega kitne log hain jo uss rapist jaise soch rakhtey hain" (It is good that this film was made, it will reveal how many men think like Nirbhaya's rapist). • On 1 February 2021, he filed a criminal complaint against Kangana Ranaut in which he alleged that the actress linked his name to Sushant Singh Rajput's alleged suicide case during an interview that she gave on 19 July 2020. Following his complaint, a metropolitan magistrate court in Mumbai issued summons to Ms. Ranaut to appear on 1 March 2021. [1]The Hindu • In July 2024, he requested the court to issue a non-bailable warrant against Kangana Ranaut for her continuous non appearance in court. The case was related to a meeting at Akhtar's Mumbai residence in March 2016, where Akhtar asked Kangana to apologise to Hrithik Roshan. Kangana and Roshan had war of words over some exchanged emails. [2]India Today
Favourites
Poem	Mera Safar by Ali Sardar Jafri
Poet	Kaifi Azmi, Sahir Ludhianvi
Actor	Dilip Kumar
Food	Kebabs, Vanilla Ice-Cream, Aloo Gosht Ka Shorba, Biryani
Sport	Cricket
Girls, Affairs and More
Marital Status	Married
Affairs/Girlfriends	Honey Irani Shabana Azmi
Wife/Spouse	Honey Irani, Ex-wife (Screenwriter & Director) Shabana Azmi, Actress (m. 1984-present)
Marriage Date	9 December 1984 (with Shabana Azmi)
Children	Son- Farhan Akhtar (son from first wife) Daughter- Zoya Akhtar, Elder (daughter from first wife)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Javed Akhtar

• Does Javed Akhtar drink alcohol: No (Used to be an alcohol addict)

• Not many people know that Javed Akhtar’ parents initially gave him the name-“Jadoo”. Interestingly, the word Jadoo was taken from a poem written by his father. The particular line containing the word reads- “lamha, lamha kisi jadoo ka fasana hoga.”
  

  Five Months Old Javed Akhtar

• Poetry and songwriting have been running in Akhtar’s family for generations. While his grandfather, Muztar Khairabadi and his elder brother Bismil Khairabadi, were poets, his father, Jan Nisar Khan, was a renowned songwriter in Bollywood.
  

  Javed Akhtar With His Father And Brother

• His great-grandfather, Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi, was a scholar of Islamic studies and theology and played an important role in the first independence movement of India in 1857.

• In hopes of making it big in Bollywood, Akhtar came to Mumbai in 1964. However, he had no place to take refuge under. He spent days without any food, sleeping beneath the trees or in corridors before finally finding shelter at Kamal Amrohi Studio in Jogeshwari.
  

  Thirteen Year Old Javed Akhtar

• The future writing duo Salim-Javed (Salim Khan & Javed Akhtar) first met on the sets of the film ‘Sarhadi Lootera’ (1966), wherein Salim was an actor and Javed was a ‘clapper boy’. However, the latter was later promoted to the ‘position’ of dialogue-writer as the director was unable to find one.

• The two soon started to work together. While Salim Khan thought and devised new ideas & stories, Akhtar contributed by framing dialogues. Interestingly, Akhtar wrote all the dialogues in Urdu which were later translated into Hindi by one of their assistants. They worked together on as many as 24 films before the inevitable parting of ways. Out of these 24 movies, 20 were hits, including the 1975 cult classic- Sholay.
  

  Salim Khan Javed Akhtar duo

• Although they split up in 1982, some of the scripts that they had written by that time were later adapted into films like Zamana (1985) and Mr. India (1987).

• Coincidentally, Akhtar and his first wife, Honey Irani, share the same date of birth- 17 January.

• Akhtar used to assist Urdu poet Kaifi Azmi in his works and thus visited his house frequently. It was during these meetings that Akhtar came close to the poet’s daughter, Shabana Azmi. When his then-wife, Honey Irani, came to know about this “extra-marital affair”, she asked Akhtar to leave. While the couple separated in 1978, they eventually got divorced in 1984.