Happy Birthday Javed Akhtar!

Today, BollyCurry celebrates the birthday of a multi-talented artiste; a writer, poet and a lyricist. Yes, we talk of none other than the legendary Javed Akhtar!

Born as Jadoo in Uttar Pradesh, Akhtar is the son of Jan Nisar Akhtar - a Bollywood film song writer - and Safia Akhtar - a writer and singer. Javed was the closest word they found to Jadoo and hence became the official name given to him. Akhtar lost his mother at a young age and because of this, he spent much of his early years with his relatives, many of which were poets. He studied at Colvin Taluqdars' College in Lucknow and then went onto Aligarh Muslim University. After matriculation, he completed his BA in Bhopal from Saifiya College.

Akhtar debuted in Bollywood as a writer with Yakeen (1969), which did not do too well at the box office. After struggling for many years, he met and became friends with Salim Khan and thus started the most successful phase of his career. The duo collaborated together as scriptwriters for twenty-one Bollywood films, two Telegu films and one Kannada film and produced classic hits such as Haathi Mere Saathi (1971), Seeta Aur Geeta (1972), Zanjeer (1973), Sholay (1975), Don (1978), Dostana (1980) and Mr. India (1987). Unfortunately, due to ego issues, the famous scriptwriter jodi broke in 1982. Following the split, Akhtar wrote scripts for films alone including Meri Jung (1985) but mainly forayed into writing lyrics for films such as Tezaab (1988), Baadshah (1999), Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai (2002), Kal Ho Na Ho (2003), Main Hoon Na (2004), Veer-Zaara (2004), Om Shanti Om (2007), Jodha Akbar (2008) and the list goes on. Apart from his work as a lyricist in films, Akhtar is also a dedicated writer of Urdu poetry.

Akhtar married Honey Irani on March 21st, 1972, although their relation ended with a divorce due to his extramarital affair with Shabana Azmi whom he married in 1984. He has two children with Honey Irani: Zoya Akhtar and Farhan Akhtar - both film producers and actors.

Thus far, Akhtar has bagged five National Awards, eight Filmfare Awards for Best Lyrics, seven Filmfare Awards for Best Script, two Zee Cine Awards, two Screen Weekly Awards, five International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA), two Videcon Awards and a Sahitya Akademi Award for Lava - one of his poetry collection. He was also honoured in Bombay International Film Festival with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

To celebrate the his birthday, below is a mini-playlist of some of his most memorable songs: