An Author’s Afternoon celebrated its first birthday with Javed Akhtar and filmmaker Sangeeta Datta on August 23, 2013 at the Taj Bengal, Kolkata, presented by Shree Cement along with Prabha Khaitan Foundation.

The famous lyricist was born as Jadoo Akhtar and belongs to a family that has been into writing for seven generations. His book –Quiver: Poems and Ghazals contain Javed Akhtar’s childhood memories. He was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1999 and received the Padma Bhushan in 2007. In 2007 he even received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award.

When he was asked why there was so much change in the present day cinema he replied that today if the film runs in big cities, in multiplex it is good enough for the producers. The films made nowadays are not for the poor people. Although there is a variety of films they are indifferent to social realities of today. Unlike In the ’50s, ’60s, or ‘70s, when the hero would be from the working class like a rickshawallah or a taxiwallah today’s hero would be a gangster as the present generation would accept him more readily rather than a rickshawallah.“That tells something about our development” Akhtar added.