At a literary meet, a ‘scholar’ once asked Javed Akhtar whether he could sing Ek do teen. from Tezaab. In a trice came the song to the rapturous applause from the audience. The ‘scholar’ later apologised to Akhtar. But this script-writer, poet and lyricist never loses an opportunity to prove his mettle. To him every question is worth answering. And no goal unattainable. And now, with Shyam Benegal’s Zubeidaa (for which Akhtar has penned the lyrics and A R Rahman has given the score) on the verge of release, another milestone has been crossed.Unlike most lyricists, who show signs of nervousness on the eve of a film’s release, Akhtar stays cool. But was it different writing songs for a period film? “Initially it seemed a difficult task. Once I read the script, it became easier. I had the characters of Karisma Kapoor, Rekha and Manoj Bajpai in my mind. The songs especially Dheeme Dheeme and Mehndi hai Rachnewali have turned out beautifully,†he says. “The transition is not difficult. A true artiste is one who caters to all categories of clients. There are no watertight compartments in creativity,†he reasons. An interesting fact about Akhtar, is that many films that he wrote lyrics for, flopped, though the songs became hits. It happened with Mahesh Bhatt’s Papa Kehte Hain, Aziz Mirza’s Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani and J P Dutta’s Refugee. Akhtar has his own reasoning: “An average Hindi film’s duration is around three hours. Roughly 30 minutes are taken up by the songs, the rest is filled with the story. Now if the story is weak, the songs cannot save a film. Since cassettes hit the market before films are released, people buy good music but refuse bad film.â€Why can’t we today have the melodious songs of the 50s and 60s? Many lyricists and composers say the audience’s taste has changed over the years. Akhtar disagrees: “Tell me who is making a Mughal-e-Azam or Ganga Jamuna today? Then, songs were written keeping in mind the likes of Dilip Kumar or Meena Kumari. Today, we don’t have actors like them. The songs suit the characters that we have,†he explains, adding “One should change with time. It will be intellectual arrogance on my part, if I say that I will stick to a definite format.â€It is to experiment with new genres, that Akhtar came out with Tarkash (Quiver), the first audio album of Urdu poetry. “I have no regrets that I have not written lots of poetry. I joined the film industry because I loved cinema. I am writing poetry because I love it too,†says Akhtar, who hails from a family of poets (he is son of the great Urdu poet Jan Nissar Akhtar and son-in-law of Kaifi Azmi). When the music-album industry saw a boom, Akhtar welcomed it, especially as he had been thinking of Breathless for many years. He contacted many singers, unsuccessfully. “I spoke to Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, too, but it didn’t work out. Then, I approached Shankar Mahadevan, who instantly agreed. The album came out very well,†he remembers. After Breathless, came Silsile with Alka Yagnik, which also fared well. Currently he is working on an album with Hariharan. “We have not named it yet. But I hope it will also be a hit,†he smiles, continuing: “My struggle is still on. Life has been kind to me, yet, there is a lot more to do.â€
