When Javed Akhtar claimed culture and religion are separate entities

Mumbai, July 5 (IANS) Veteran screenwriter Javed Akhtar once said how cultures are often taken over by religions across the world.

An old video of the veteran screenwriter has resurfaced on the Internet, and it shows him talking about how culture is independent from religion. Javed Akhtar is an atheist but he celebrated all festivals. In fact, the biggest Holi bash of the Hindi film industry is hosted by him every year.

Talking about the same, he said, “A man is not just what he understands about himself, but also how he is understood by the world. I have no religious belief whatsoever. But on Eid, I receive the wishes. I don’t celebrate Bakri Eid, but I still receive the wishes. We celebrate Eid, we celebrate Christmas, we celebrate Holi, we celebrate Diwali. The biggest Holi of our film industry is hosted at our home. But we consider it as our culture”.

He further mentioned, “This is the culture of India. We will not leave our culture because of religion. Leave religion, leave culture. Culture is a beautiful thing. Holi, Diwali are beautiful festivals. Why should we leave them? In fact, I will tell you the opposite. If you ask any anthropologist, these festivals are not made by religions. These festivals were made by culture. And religions took them inside”.

Earlier, his wife and veteran actress Shabana Azmi had shared a glimpse of her writer husband Javed Akhtar hard at work in his study. The celebrated lyricist and screenwriter was seen writing in Urdu. Not just that, in the era of AI, he was seen writing his latest draft using a pen and paper, just the old school way.

She wrote in the caption, “The writer in his study ..(sic)”. Reacting to the post, actress Urmila Matondkar commented, saying, “The Legend..in his study”.

Javed Akhtar was born in 1945 in Gwalior. He comes from a family of writers, with his father Jan Nisar Akhtar being a songwriter in Hindi films and an Urdu poet.

–IANS

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