SHUBHANGI SHIFA
Ranchi, Dec 10: During an interactive session at the two-day Tata Steel Jharkhand Literary Meet, eminent writer and poet Javed Akhtar said that languages belong to regions and not religions. “Thus claiming that Urdu is the language of Muslims is not true,” he added.
He further added that Hindi and Urdu are Siamese twins, one cannot be separated from another, or else they will ultimately die. Akhtar said this while answering a question from the audience during the Q&A session during the Meet.
When an attendee of the Meet asked him about the character of Samba in Sholay, the writer said that Samba was created to say the three words, “Poore Pachas Hazar”, as making Gabbar communicate this to the audience did not seem great. This is why Samba was made to make someone else other than Gabbar say ‘Pachas Hazaar’.
Furthermore, when young writers asked him how to bind the audience to their writings, he said that before trying to catch the attention of the audience, one needs to read a lot. Writing should not be done with the purpose of attracting followers or appreciation. He said that reading eminent writers and remembering their words is what makes a good writer. A good writer should be sincere in their writing and what they like. If they are able to laugh on something or believe in what they have written, their writings will be appreciated.
Another fan of the writer asked if the Salim Javed duo will be seen again, he said that they worked for almost 11 years and it has been over 40 years since the duo split. He said that it is not possible to say that they will not work again; however, people change as time passes. “So you never know, time is very unpredictable,” he added.
The session later ended with the poet narrating his poems ‘Waqt’ and ‘Yeh Khel Kya Hai’.
The Meet further saw orations from poets including Chandramohan Kisku, Anuj Lugun, Jyoti Lakra and Mungeshwar Sahoo; conversations between Saurabh Kirpal and Indrajit Sinha on the judgements that shaped India in present times.
Later, Mihir Vatsa talked about his award-winning book, ‘Tales of Hazaribagh’ with Malvika Banerjee; Sudha Arora, Poonam Saxena and Rachana Yadav discussed the legacy of Mannu Bhandari with Sujata; Poonam Saxena, Yatish Kumar and RJ Arvind discussed how Hindi literature can spread its wings with Pratiti Ganatra; and Prathiv Dhar narrated and gave a musical presentation, while Anirudha Bhattacharjee, the author of ‘Kishore Kumar: The Ultimate Biography had a conversation with Balaji Vittal.
