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Javed Akhtar recalls living on streets of Mumbai; being hungry for 3 days: “Everything becomes vague and out of focus”
Veteran screenwriter and lyricist Javed Akhtar recalls his turbulent childhood and his relationship with his father. He also spoke about losing his mother at an early age.
Veteran screenwriter, lyricist, and poet Javed Akhtar today is regarded as a gem of the Indian film industry who has a rich professional career. He has received several accolades including multiple National Awards, a Padma Shri, and a Padma Bhushan. But little do we know that when he came to Mumbai as a teenager, he slept on the streets and went for days without food. In an interview, Akhtar went back in time and spoke about his early days and his turbulent childhood.
Javed Akhtar recalls being hungry for 3 days
During a recent conversation with Mojo Story, Javed Akhtar was taken down memory lane to the time when he slept on a plank on the streets of Mumbai as a 19-year-old because he had a problematic relationship with his father. Recalling those days, he said, “I remember that and I feel very thankful for life. Instead of getting sad about it or feeling victimized or persecuted, I feel very thankful for life.”
The Dunki lyricist further shared that today when he is brought breakfast in his ocean-view luxurious house in Mumbai, he feels that he is part of a drama. “I feel so thankful to life. I have so much food. I sit on my dining table many times and feel if I could get only one dish that night when I was so hungry, how much I would have enjoyed it. On one hand, I do remember those tough days but on the other hand, I feel extremely thankful because there must be crores of people who suffered the way I have but they were not rewarded,” he divulged.
Recalling the days when he didn’t eat anything, the 79-year-old award-winning lyricist said, “There are 2-3 incidents that have traumatized me very badly, and that trauma has stayed with me.” Sharing more about it, he said, “Like being hungry for 2-3 days. On the third day, there is no difference between a human being and a dog. Your all sense of dignity, and self-respect, everything becomes so vague and out of focus. The only thing you know is that you’re hungry.”
Javed Akhtar talks about his relationship with his parents
While he has gone through such tough times, he feels thankful to life for giving him all that he has today. “Instead of feeling victimized or deprived, I should feel happy. I have been given so much,” he stated. When asked if he regrets not having a cordial relationship with his father Jan Nisar Akhtar, a popular Bollywood film songwriter and Urdu poet, the veteran writer said, “Life is a package, you can’t pick and choose. It’s is a very tightly written script,” the writer said.
Talking about the demise of his mother at an early age, he shared, “If I fantasized that my mother wouldn’t have died when I was just eight years old, because it was traumatic, and I removed the scenes and re-edited them, my life would have been different and so many scenes would change and many highlights would go away. My life would be something else. If I am thankful to my life today, then I must accept my past gracefully. That past has brought me here. I can’t edit it.”
Early on, he was known for being part of the acclaimed writer duo Salim and Javed. The screenwriters rose to fame with the 1973 film Zanjeer.
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