His very name spells romance, intellect and aesthetics... Javed Akhtar has won honour and acclaim as a lyricist, screenplay writer and poet. Javed Akhtar was born in Gwalior and is the son of renowned Urdu Poet and film lyricist Jan Nisar Akhtar and Safia Akhtar, who was a writer and a teacher. The tradition of writing goes back to seven generations of writers in the family. The highly respected Urdu poet, Majaz was his mother`s brother and the work of Muzter Khairabadi, his grandfather, is looked upon as a milestone in Urdu Poetry. His parents were professors at the Hamidia College in Bhopal.

Javed Akhtar`s body of work can be placed under three distinct categories, that of a scriptwriter, a lyricist, and a poet. Along with his erstwhile partner, Salim Khan, he scripted some huge hits like Zanjeer, Deewar, Sholay, Haathi Mere Saathi, Seeta Aur Geeta, Don and Trishul. Salim-Javed, as a writer-duo, gave Amitabh Bachchan and Indian Cinema the memorable persona of the `Angry Young Man`.

Salim-Javed parted ways in 1981and since then, Javed has written the scripts of successful movies like Sagar, Betaab and Arjun. After scripting a few unsuccessful films like Prem and Khel, he took a break from scriptwriting and concentrated on his role as a lyricist. Some of his best works as a songwriter include Saaz, for which he won the 1996 National Award for Best Lyricist, an award he bagged for three consecutive years- 1996 for Saaz, 1997 for Border and 1998 for Godmother.

Javed Saheb`s first collection of Urdu poetry, Tarkash was released in 1995. It has editions in Hindi as well as Urdu. It has received rave reviews both as a book and as India`s first audio book brought out by Plus Music. The audio book has sold more than a hundred thousand copies. Tarkash has been translated in Bengali by the noted Bengali author Sunil Gangopadhyaya. Renowned painter, M.F. Hussain has painted sixteen canvases based on Javed Saheb`s poems in Tarkash.

In 1999, the President of India honoured Javed Akhtar with the title of "Padmashree" for his literary contribution. He has written a large number of poems against Communalism, Social Injustice and National Integration and for Women`s Rights. He composed a song, urging the misguided youth to come forward and build the country, which was declared the National Anthem for Youth by the Ministry of Human Resource Development in 1995. Javed Saheb has collaborated with Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan on Sangam, with Jagjit Singh on Silsilay and with Shankar Mahadevan on his album Breathless. His music album "Tum yaad aaye" was the highest selling non-film album of the year 1997.