Javed Akhtar’s “Main Koi Aisa Geet Gaaon” – A Must Watch Master Class with a Master Story Teller

By Kavita A Chhibber

He is incredibly witty, has a phenomenal memory, endless energy and passion, and he is a very young 73, but not many people know that writer and poet extraordinaire, Javed Akhtar’s great great grandfather Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi was Mirza Ghalib’s contemporary and close friend. Ghalib trusted him enough to have him edit his famous collection of poems, his Deewan.

Many people also do not know that Javed Sahib’s birth name is Jadoo (which means magic) until it was changed later to Javed. While “Javed Akhtar” aptly means “immortal star”, it was the jadoo Javed Akhtar weaved on the evening of October 21st in Atlanta that left an avid audience spellbound for 3 hours at the Rialto Center for the Arts. And people are still talking about that magical evening.

It  is not often, that you get the opportunity to sit and not only listen to some unforgettable songs, the emotions, inspiration and melodies behind each song, but to also interact with a living legend through an unfiltered Q and A session.

This presentation was an idea that both Javed Akhtar and his superlative actor wife Shabana Azmi had been toying with for over 2 years. They then spoke with close friend and national promoter Ketki Parekh, whose organization Vachikam already has a reputation of bringing stellar events that are rich in cultural content and not run of the mill.

Ketki says, their idea was to share Javed Akhtar’s songs and stories through his own voice  and showcase an intrinsic part of his life’s journey, embellished with prose, poetry and musical compositions on stage with live singers and musicians.

Unknown to Ketki, Atlanta entrepreneur Navin Gurnaney had met Shabana Azmi in India and wanted to do a show with them, and was thinking the same thing. Navin who is a singer himself when he is not being busy being an entrepreneur says “I had this concept in my head to do an evening with Javed and Shabana, have them share their stories, with songs. I didn’t know they were thinking of something along the same lines. Shabana then asked me to meet with Ketki and we met in Jacksonville Florida. We realized we complement each other well and decided to be partners for this tour and it has been wonderful so far. I think both of us support things that we connect with. We don’t do this for money.”

The program in Atlanta, though well organized, from ticketing and ushering to great food provided by Kabobish restaurant, started with a technical glitch. Two video presentations – one to support the nonprofit organization Project Prakash.org to bring light to the eyes of half a million children who are blind due to cataracts and the other to give a glimpse of Javed Akhtar’s life – stalled.

Javed Akhtar with his usual quick wit saved the day when he came on stage and said “I feel bad and good both… bad because you cannot see these presentations, and good that now our show will seem stellar in comparisons. You can both see us and hear us!”

Javed  Akhtar is not only a magnificent story teller, he is also an amazing actor with a powerful command over Hindi, Urdu and English. True to his birth name, he brought to life, magical story after story about the songs he wrote for films, and gave us all a glimpse about the personalities and working styles of the legendary musicians , actors and directors involved in each song.

It was fascinating to learn how he stumbled into writing, co-wrote 18 scripts with Salim Khan and then started writing lyrics at an age most poets and lyricists are done with writing their most accomplished work. And it started with none other than Yash Chopra and his movie “Silsila.”

We learnt about that first song, which made Shiv-Hari change their tune to suit Javed sahib’s lyrics and Kishore Kumar add his own indelible touch. We heard about that one song which was composed by Javed Akhtar in a mere 9 minutes on a day that was full of several pegs of alcohol. We heard about the  making of the song that is one of his most popular “tapori” songs, and yet Javed Akhtar is asked to recite it in serious poetry events!

We heard about the voice Amitabh Bachchan introduced Javed Akhtar to, a voice he had never heard before, but which went on to mesmerize him and ruled the music world for over 3 decades. He took us into the world of R.D. Burman and his genius, and we heard the real story about the making of the iconic song “Ek ladki ko dekha toh aisa laga”.

Javed sahib had a lot to say about A.R. Rahman, whose working style is so unusual that he creates his own new world that is insular… and his own time zone. He lives in that world of music and melody. We learnt about  what happened, when Rahman went missing, leaving Javed Akhtar high and dry.

Javed Akhtar also shared the story of a mystery that followed Lakshmikant of Lakshmikant Pyarelal fame, from his one room chawl to his palatial house over the years and its consequences, how the absurd lyrics of the hit song Hawa Hawaii came into being, which song has major sound effects where even the words sounded like sounds and  the song that is very special to Javed sahib’s heart and written with honesty, great love and respect because the tune commanded it. We found out which film makers were totally shocked when they realized that Javed Akhtar knew more names of Krishna and about Krishna’s philosophy than they did even as they were hesitating to ask him to write an arati (hymn) probably because of his Muslim lineage. All this was just the tip of the iceberg.

The intermission was followed by a lively Q an A from a very engaged audience who applauded and cheered Javed Akhtar along the way, dancing enthusiastically to the beat of the songs, something Ketki Parekh said they did not see in the previous show in New Jersey.

“I like Q and A because it is not a lecture while people are sitting getting bored” said Javes sahib to the audience. And it really is a win win situation. The audience gets the answers straight from the star himself, but he says it also gives him an opportunity to learn about the thoughts, dreams and hopes of admirers, budding writers, poets, musicians and artists.

“People often ask how to write poetry – what do we do? The first thing is that to have an output you must have an intake. There is no school of poetry like we have of music, dance, painting etc. So you must read as much poetry as you can. There is such a huge treasure of folk songs, literature. From Kashmir to Kanya Kumari, Maharashtra to Manipur, they have their own folk music and style. India is a country of songs. There is a song for every occasion in our lives- from birth to death.

“You don’t have to be a great poet to write a film song but you have to have great versatility. You should be able to write any song in any genre, in the proper language and dialect.” In the end all film songs become folk songs. People forget which film, what situation they were sung in. Good film songs are continuing folk songs”.

Javed Akhtar was asked how he felt when AR Rahman keeps him waiting because Rahman was probably not even born by the time Javed Sahib was already a huge celebrity.

Javed Akhtar said, “Film Director Mani Ratnam who gave Rahman his break in his film so many years ago said most people who work with Rahman love him and treat him like a child who is a bit spoilt. You CAN easily smell conceit and he is really innocent. And he (Mani Ratnam) added that, you have to believe two things and if you do, then it is easy to work with Rahman – that Rahman loves you as a person and that he is really a good person. In truth he is not worldly wise- he has achieved so much because of his immense talent and also because he is genuinely a good person. You know he means no harm so you give him a lot of leeway.”

A couple of questions were about the future of Urdu, and would there be any more Javed Akhtars or was he the last of the poets who had such a superior command over the language.

Javed Akhtar said “It is unfortunate but true, that language has been changing in our society. Life has changed its tempo and is moving in a kind of frenzy.  Jaldi baat karo, jaldi bolo (hurry up and speak). There was a time when language was a fine art. Now it is not so. Everything is now discussed in a tweet and the finer points and the nuances of language are lost. You talk to a young boy and he will say “You know what I mean” and I will say “No I don’t know what you mean. Why don’t you tell me?”

Javed sahib pointed out that when great poets were active, it showed in the literature and the rich culture. During his time people became doctors, engineers, lawyers.” With increasing corporatization and industrialization, a new middle class of people who were not necessarily educated or intellectually developed emerged. The lack of aesthetics was there for a while but again cinema and language is changing slowly.”

“I think my generation is at fault. We thought of our parents as idealists and that we were more worldly wise, and that we will show them (our parents) how to earn and how to succeed. We did earn and become something – an average man earns 4 to 5 times more than his parents… but at what cost? Again as our society has become financially better, everyone wants to send their kids to English medium schools, which is good in itself… but we have given birth to two generations – the upper classes who spoke English and felt superior, but were cut off from their own language, and the lower classes who spoke only their native language and developed anger, and a sense of incompetence for not knowing English.”

“I go to colleges to speak and kids send me their poetry and written work on email. There is a tremendous desire in the younger generation to learn and know languages, the nuances, subtlety and turn of phrase. There is passion, fantasy and emotion in their language but there is no technique or craft and that is because they have not had the opportunity to learn, to read. In our values there was no place left for these kinds of things.”

“Language is not just a medium of communication, it is also a vehicle for culture. But while we slept on footpaths, today’s actors come mostly from affluent families or are kids of rich producers. They are not connected with the native languages so it is not the loss of Urdu alone, it is the loss of the indigenous languages of India. I am not against English. We should know English but not at the cost of our own languages and our own culture. Indian children should be able to speak their own language. But this too shall pass and better sense will prevail in values.”

“What we lost, our kids are now regretting and are trying to recreate.”

An interesting question was asked about improvisation. Actors improvise and writers improvise to suit a character or an actor. So in the line “UFF… tumhare usool, tumhare  aadarsh” spoken by Amitabh Bachchan in the movie Deewar – was the word “UFF” improvised by Amitabh or did Salim-Javed write it in?

“UFF Kya sawal hai”, was Javed sahib’s witty retort,  as he responded, “Amitabh Bachchan and we did 13-14 pictures together. He did outstanding work in Zanjeer and he was not famous then. He became famous after Zanjeer and never looked back after Deewar. Writers are finicky people. They are never happy. They will often say “I wrote something else and the actor did something else. The actor did not know to act, did not understand the meaning and the finer nuances of what I was trying to convey.’ This disappointment always stays with them.”

“I can tell you very truthfully and sincerely that in the 13-14 films we have done with Amitabh Bachchan, he never gave me the opportunity to complain in even ONE  dialogue. He is one actor who is totally loyal to the  script and  the written word. He has never added or subtracted a word.”

Javed Akhtar used to drink heavily and gave up drinking in the early 90s. A member of the audience asked him if he could write a song in 9 minutes when inebriated, did he think giving up drinking may have adversely impacted his output later?

Amongst laughter Javed Sahib replied, “You know these poets and song writers create this myth, this aura around them about how they came up with a poem or a song. The assumption that a poet first drinks and then writes. It’s a myth. It was a coincidence that I wrote that song in 9 minutes. I have met many legendary poets and writers and observed them very closely. Not ONE of them ever wrote a single line when drunk.”

“They work with the same focus and clarity as anyone else doing serious work, and then they will come out and say, ‘Kal raat mujhe achanak khayal aaya’  (last night a thought just occurred to me) and resulted in this incredible verse. It is all a myth.”

When asked who was his favorite actor or actress, Javed sahib said he hero worshipped Dilip Kumar as a youngster and would stand in line to buy a ticket to see his “God” on celluloid, but Amitabh Bachchan remained his favorite actor among colleagues. “But you have asked about favorite actress and that is a very dangerous question. Because it reveals your age.” Amongst laughter again, he added “See, if someone says Meena Kumari, you will think okay he is over 60, if it is Sadhana, then he is over 50. I was telling this story to a good friend of mine and we had a good laugh.But  then I asked him, ‘ But seriously who was your favorite actress when you were in college?’ And my friend replied with a straight face, “Alia Bhatt!”  For those who do not know who she is, since my reviews are read by a very large non Indian audience as well, she is 25 and one of the most brilliant actors among the current young actresses working in Bollywood. She is also Javed Sahib’s personal favorite – so we know his “real” age now!

The program continued  after the Q and A, with more stories and songs and for those of you who are fans of his son, actor, director and singer Farhan Akhtar, there is something special for you too. So all the more reason to catch the show and solve the mystery about the other songs and stories I have mentioned earlier. I cannot give away those mysteries and the Atlanta show was only the second show of the tour.

Javed Akhtar was ably supported by singers Raman Mahadevan, and Jahnvi Shrimankar. The accompanying musicians Hitesh Pradhan (tabla and drums) Rahul Kahar (octopad), Vishal Dhumal (keyboard), Gurinder (guitar) and Dharmesh Joshi (guitar and keyboard) were simply brilliant. They rocked the night and compelled people to get up and dance.

Each show seems have to have charitable intent as well.  Ketki mentioned that In New Jersey a dinner fundraiser with Javed Akhtar netted over 100k in fundraising. The top two donors were given the gift of an original song written especially for them by the Master himself.

Both Ketki and Navin talked about how even after the show, Javed Sahib’s energy, his anecdotes continue. “I took Javed sahib and his team to Stone Mountain,” says Navin, “And he was in his element, discussing Pir babas with a Pakistani couple, in India and Pakistan, the way they spoke. He is such a good actor and he sings so well!  And he has so much energy. They did a show in New Jersey, slept at 1.30 am, woke up at 4.30 am to fly into Atlanta and he did not sleep and went on stage and then did pictures with so many people. His wit, the  way he tells his stories are just incredible.”

Ketki added that when she asked  singer Parthiv Gohil and the team if they wanted to go anywhere else to visit friends and families during week day breaks when there were no shows happening, they said they did not want to leave Javed Sahib and go anywhere else. “There is so much unity and energy amongst the group and it is all because of the team leader Javed Sahib.” Ketki also added that Javed Sahib is like a nervous newcomer as if going on stage for the first time, before every show “but he says it’s good to be nervous, because it pushes you to give your best.” While this is the first time a show of this kind is being done, the kind of response  they have received, has been very encouraging says Ketki. “Javed Sahib  and I were discussing that a second tour is already on the cards.”

Navin who is coming out of early retirement to return to India as CEO of Tata Starbucks, says he will continue to work with Ketki and bring shows like these to wider audience.

And I can tell you one show was not enough to quench my thirst. Navin is headed to Dallas for an encore performance and I am headed to Houston for mine.

As the evening came to an end, I realized that Javed Akhtar had not only brought his words, their melodies and memories to life, he had made me relive mine, reminding  me of these lines he wrote

Main barson baad lauta hoon to jaana
Ye gaaon geet hai sadiyon purana

(I returned many years later and was struck by the fact that my village is a century old song).

We all returned home that night  remembering and reliving once again through Javed Akhtar’s words and verse,  the still lingering  fragrance of lives, songs and the stories we left behind, and  that stellar shows like these unite a diverse group of people  through shared experiences and memories that never go away like people do.