He is one Bollywoods best-known dialogue writers and lyricists. Javed Akhtar,the writer of Sholays (1975) unforgettable lines Kitne aadmi thay,which cast an unrelenting hold over the sly humour of filmy villains,to the heartbreaking song Sandese aate hain,from the 1997 film Border that won a National Award,and the recent poems for his daughters last production Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara,was in Delhi to launch his second book. Fourteen years after Tarkash,the 67-year-old writer-poet-lyricist,Akhtar Jadu to wife Shabana Azmi and Javed saab to the industry launched Lava,his second collection of poetry (Rajkamal Prakashan,Rs 250) at the India Habitat Centre in Delhi on Sunday. The book was released by Hamid Ansari,the Vice President of India. I have been writing this book for a long time but didnt publish it,thinking that it lacked something. It has given me the liberty to express myself which doesnt happen when writing for Bollywood films and songs. There,I have to work according to the situation and the demands of the script but this book is my personal space, said Akhtar. The collection of poems dwells around subjects like love for the neighbour (Humsaya),and includes dedications to his son (Mela),daughter (Doraha ) and wife (Shabana). Several nazms and ghazals ,too dot the pages. Akhtar read Mela,Doraha and a poem Ped se lipti bel while a rivetted audience listened. Also present were his wife and actor Azmi,his children both Bollywood names in their own right Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar. His reading met a passionate applause,even the occasional irshaad by Ansari. The Vice President could have been talking on behalf of most in the audience when he remarked,Im not a poet,nor a writer,but I have come here for the love of the craft.
