Javed Akhtar is a renowned poet, scriptwriter, and lyricist. He is an Urdu and Hindi poet, lyricist and scriptwriter from India. Some of his most successful work was done in the late 1970s and 1980s with Salim Khan as half of the script-writing duo credited as Salim-Javed. Akhtar continues to be prominent in Bollywood and is a sought-after lyricist. He has written scripts for blockbuster movies like Sholay, Haathi Mere Saathi, Deewar and Don along with Salim Khan. He is also known for penning the lyrics of Sandese Aate Hain, Ek Ladki Ko Dekha, Tere Liye, Kal Ho Na Ho and many other. Akhtar was born in Gwalior, India.  At the age of eight, he was admitted to the sixth class in a well-known school of Lucknow. He completed his matriculation from Aligarh Muslim University. Javed used to write his scripts in Urdu, which were then written out in Hindi by his assistant. Another assistant would type out a one line summary in English. His association with Salim lasted until 1980. After this Javed wrote some scripts on his own but mostly moved into writing lyrics for films, in which he achieved remarkable success. Javed Akhtar's songs are rhythmic, reflective on life and very melodic and catchy. Javed has also attempted more serious Urdu poetry aside from writing lyrics for movies. A major set of his works were compiled in Tarkash, which was also rendered into audio in his voice. Singers such as Jagjit Singh and the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan have sung some of his non-movie poetry. Javed Akhtar was also a judge alongside Anu Malik, Kailash Kher & Sonali Bendre on India's famous singer hunt Indian Idol 4. He is also on the advisory board of Asian Academy Of Film And Television. He has received seven National Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards for Best Lyricist.

Born : January 17, 1945