Javed Akhtar, a well-known scriptwriter, perhaps doesn’t require any introduction. A magical poet, lyricist, eminent writer in the world of Indian cinema, and rationalist who is often found conveying some statements raising multiple conflicts, he always inspired me with his motivational poems and couplets. Ever since I got acquainted with his writing, coincidentally, it happened through his books, i.e., Tarkash, Lava, and some poems available on the internet. These are also available in some movies, like “Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara” as short poems recited by Farhan Akhtar. These were so fascinating, influential, and transformative that I started quoting his lines on my social media accounts, WhatsApp statuses, etc. Overall, I gained immense motivation from his literary works. It is because of the profound meaning and philosophy that resides in his lines, couplets, and poems as well. Once, delivering a speech at a literary function, he said that whatever he or any other poet writes must have an inherent meaning, and even a small couplet can be described in multiple pages. Really, it’s an art to synthesize a broad concept in a couplet of mere two lines. It’s not impossible, but you need a huge amount of writing experience to pour the emotions into morphemes and shape them with appropriate meaning so that you can elaborately and explicitly explain them while interpreting every single couplet. These lines and his thoughts impressed me and propelled me to forge my emotions in written form to preserve them for an everlasting presence, especially when I would like to recall them. I can remember the complete scenario with the help of some lines that connect with the past, and it can be interpreted without leaving any chances of ambiguity or the absence of subject matter.
Writing and its consequences gave me an insight into the preservation of moments with morphemes and lucid sentences. It also imparts a deliberative nature and analyzing capacity with the curiosity of accumulating words for creating better content, focusing on the original and self-written content, because there are nothing but emotions and reminiscences of life that are indeed individual. As per these ideas and thoughts, I started writing for myself and my personal experiences, and in the course of time, I got multiple followers, well-wishers, instructors in the literary field, etc.
Over time, it became my passion and an invariable part of my life. I wrote multiple things, like criticism, reviews, travel experiences, poems, etc. One day I decided to reveal only my thoughts and feelings about Javed Akhtar. While writing about him, I wrote about my experiences and the story of my first acquaintance with Tarkash and Lava (books written by Javed Akhtar only). Undoubtedly, all my emotions and experiences came out with my pen, especially the life during engineering, which was full of uncertainties and struggles. I briefly wrote about how I got this book and became a fan of Javed Akhtar, especially after knowing about his life and days of struggle, which are totally different from his current situation, i.e., after his success. All the poems in the book reveal the actual meaning of life and challenges he faced, like Banzara, Bhookh, Aawaragi, and all, because without reading the introduction of Tarkash, it was impossible to know the appropriate meaning and landscape of his life. The introduction of this book made me speechless, steady, and socked for a few moments.
I understood the reality of his poem, which reveals the endless effort, perseverance, struggle, and difficulties of life. The songs written by Javed Akhtar, especially for films, are different, or, in other words, these are two different sides of life, where the first belongs to personal and later to professional. There are differences in realities and creativity in his professional works because the professional works, i.e., songs and dialogues, must have been created as per the requirements of the script and the layout of the movie, whereas personally written poems have a glimpse of the toughest situations of his life, like losing his mother earlier, difficulties in getting a job, struggling for accommodation, food, and many other things necessary for life. So, his writing is indeed magical, as everyone knows, but the poems written for himself are ultimate, and they must not be read with eyes and voice only but also by the heart for a better understanding of his entire literature and its motivational impact.
The poem Banjara draws a complete scenario of transition in place and moments of life, separation from dear ones, and reminiscence of the past life, where one can imagine the pleasurable moments and think, “How beautiful life would have been if you had been there”. And in the concluding part, it declares that all these moments are part of life where everyone has to go and think that often we repeat the same line and successively move towards the goal, which is nothing but moving forward beyond the previous moments.
Bhookh, which is the most touching poem by Javed Akhtar, gets every reader or his fan who reads him seriously and closely upset, especially the line “Aaj Teeshra Din Hei”, which means a person, in spite of having prosperity and a royal family, was struggling with hunger due to his self-respect and dignity. The essence of this poem makes you compassionate and full of tears.
Similarly, the poem Awaragi explains self-existence and its consequences, including how to deal with life without having any additional or extended liability and leaving yourself with the flow of life, where your self-effort makes you perfect and comfortable for every upcoming situation. There is no fear of any uncertainty, and there are no worries about any unexpected or undesirable events that can spoil your tranquility. At the same time, it leaves the message that we must move forward in our quest for a better situation and explore a better life.
Each and every couplet is relatable and imparts positivity in our lives if we assimilate them with explicit meaning. Writing all these things and pouring my feelings with the pen, I uploaded them to a group on Facebook, got enormous comments, and the next day, I got surprised with the message in Messenger that my written content for Javed Akhtar got a place in a newspaper.
Ultimately, the wizard of the pen made my day and enlightened my writing career with passion and enthusiasm. Therefore, I would like to appeal to all lovers of couplets and poems to get a taste of couplets by Javed Akhtar and feel them as per their choice.
