Javed Akhtar at the NDTV studio
Javed Akhtar appeared as a guest on NDTV's special show India Through the Eyes of Its Icons. The legendary poet-screenplay writer mused over the concepts of destiny and circumstances in a conversation with Nikunj Garg and Marya Shakil. Is success a combination of hard work and destiny? Are legends made of circumstances or hard work? Javed Akhtar believes, hard work and destiny are not adversary to each other. However, they play very different and significant roles in achieving success. To establish his point, Javed Akhtar described life as a game of Rummy.
"Life, sometimes I feel, is like a game of Rummy. You may be a good player, but if you don't get a good card, what will you do? There's something like skill of playing. Cards are like circumstances. Circumstances are not your choice, cards are not your choice. Then how you arrange your circumstances or your cards, that depends on your skills. And how you guess what are the possibilities... here you can make a sequence, here you can make a turn... Because others are throwing cards which will come to you... The guesses can be more intelligent, less intelligent. Yes, there's something like skill of playing. But cards are important, so are the circumstances."
Taking cue from his words, the film veteran was asked if he believes in destiny. While his frequent collaborator Salim Khan believes in destiny, Javed Akhtar said emphatically, "I don't believe in destiny at all." Speaking to NDTV, he said, "Circumstances are not destiny, they are random. Destiny means something is pre-written. No, nothing is pre-written. There are 7 billion people on this planet - everyone is making some effort. Every person, who is alive, is making some effort. Seven billion patterns make a strange pattern in society. These patterns are called circumstances. They are not planned, they are random. It's like entering a big fair. Every person wants to move in a slightly different direction than the other person. Then you enter the crowd. Some times you will get favourable moments, sometimes you will be pushed back. But nobody wants to push you back, nobody wants to give you a way. It's happening because of the efforts of the seven billion people."
Does Javed Akhtar think hard work, merit and integrity contribute to success more than destiny? Javed Akhtar's wise take on the question was, "Cards keep changing, the players remain same. Only one thing is constant in the game - not the cards, not the windfalls. How well you play, how consistent you play... If you lose, you don't get demoralized, if you're winning, don't become arrogant. If you are a good player, sooner or later you will win."
Javed Akhtar concluded his philosophical thoughts on destiny on this note, "I don't believe in destiny. But I don't have the delusion that I control everything."
Angry Young Men is a docu-series, released on Amazon Prime, charting the glorious journey of the legendary screenplay writers Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar. Angry Young Men has been produced by Salman Khan Films, Excel Media and Entertainment and Tiger Baby, along with Salman Khan along with Salma Khan, Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar, Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti and it has been directed by Namrata Rao. The series received stellar reviews from critics and audience alike.