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Renowned lyricist Javed Akhtar has recalled his days of struggle in the film industry. In the Prime Video documentary series Angry Young Man, Javed Akhtar has made many revelations about his life. He also told that he never had enough money to eat a meal.
Javed Akhtar got emotional and told that he left his home and came to Mumbai at a very young age. He said, after graduation I decided that I will go to Bombay and work as an assistant director there. I was sure that after a few years of starting like this, I will become a director.
After coming to Mumbai, I stayed with my friends for a few days, slept at the railway station, park, studio compound, corridor, benches. Many times I walked to Dadar, Bandra because I did not have money even for the bus fare. Many times I did not get food for two days. Then I used to think that if a biography is written on me in future, then all these things will have a lot of importance.
Wife Shabana Azmi also told an anecdote about Javed Akhtar's struggle in the same interview and said, 'One day he realized that he had not eaten anything for three days. He saw light in a house and thought, I will not die like this, these days will change.
After this Javed Akhtar said, 'There are two types of deprivation – sleep and hunger…they leave such a deep impact on you that they cannot be erased for a long time. Now when I stay in five star hotels, I think that when I came to Bombay sitting in the third class compartment, I did not even have a house to stay. I was so tired and troubled. I just wanted a little space.
Javed Akhtar further said, one day I realized that I did not even have clothes to wear. You will think how can this happen but it was like that. I had one last pair of trousers which were torn, I never thought of asking for help from my family because I had left everything behind, I never looked back and did not ask for any help from the family. My aunt had brought me up, I left everything at the age of 15, but my intentions behind doing this were good.