Celebrated writer, lyricist, poet and more , Javed Akhtar was hosted by Pakistan at the Faiz Literature Festival 2023. He is trending on social media, for all the wrong reasons though and none of them have to do with Literature. This is what went down.
The artist was asked apparently: “What message of Peace will he take back with him from Pakistan?”
But he decided to give a ‘not very peaceful’ spin on things by accusing Pakistanis on a platform that had nothing to do with politics. Mr. Javed Akhtar retorted in no uncertain terms that Pakistanis are responsible for the Mumbai attacks and the killers/terrorists are still on the loose in Pakistan and also questioned why we never hosted Lata Mangeshkar or other Indian artists on our soil when India had hosted so many.
Unfortunately, the video clip that is going viral is not about Literature but his political dialogue on Mumbai attacks & Pakistanis never having hosted an Indian artist on their soil.
Apparently no one in the audience could set the record straight
So let us refresh your memory. Ignorance is a luxury afforded to only the young, we thought, but apparently, that’s a fallacy now, if we consider the very revered and seasoned lyricist Mr. Javed Akhtar’s ill informed remarks. Pakistanis have, in fact, hosted many Indian artists, ranging from Sonu Nigam – April 2004, Alka Yagnik and Kumar Sanu in 2012, and recently, Naseeruddin Shah was hosted at The Karachi Literature Festival 2022, Dilip Kumar, much earlier in Peshawer in 1998. In fact his home has been declared a national heritage site by the KPK government and saved from demolition plans.
Moreover, when some of these Indian artists wanted to work with Pakistani event managers on foreign soil, they were threatened with dire consequences and had to abstain from doing so.
Pakistani Audiences’ Mind Boggling Response
If Mr. Javed Akhtar’s statement served to ruffle feathers, the response from a live Pakistani audience (present at the event)on his distasteful political discourse was equally shocking. He was met with applause from a predominantly Pakistani crowd at the Faiz Literature Festival in Lahore – mind boggling that no one present (and there must have been quite a few intellectuals and journalists) could challenge him. Correct us if we’re wrong but this was not the forum to air your political concerns. Javed Akhtar Saahab, unfortunately, you dropped several notches on many Pakistanis’ list.
Needless to say, we were utterly disappointed too, to listen to a man whose pen writes so beautifully, descend to vitriolic rhetoric on a forum that was purely to celebrate Art, Poetry & Literature.
Barring all the artists we mentioned above who have visited Pakistan and praised Pakistani audiences, we think Mr. Akhtar forgot to note that we have invited him and his wife Shabana Azmi too. And last but not the least, all the Pakistani Artists who have visited India or met up with Indian artists on a public forum E.g. Sajal Aly recently, Fawad Khan always, Mahira Khan, Atif Aslam have rarely if ever, spoken of politics between the 2 nations.
That is the whole point of meeting without a political agenda. But we think Mr. Javed Akhtar with all his years of wisdom & grey hair has missed out on the bigger picture. The Festival was about Faiz Ahmed Faiz and the question asked him was, apparently, “What message of Peace will you take back with you?”.
It was just yesterday that Shabana Azmi, his wife, spoke of how Cinema can build bridges where Sports can’t go. We believe she was talking regarding the recent Rom-Com ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’ where she was part of a star cast including Pakistan’s Sajal Aly. But her husband seems to refute her golden words as he proceeded to blame Pakistan for the Mumbai attacks.
“For a long time now, my husband and I have been saying that we really need more co-productions between India and Pakistan. If you look at cricket, it divides you — it doesn’t put you together! It is art that unites [when] politics divides. Art is an instrument that can bring about social change, and we can do it through cinema.”
Shabana Azmi speaking to Dawn News
But after her husband’s recent remarks, it appears that the cricketers of today share more love on the field as opposed to Art. Which brings us to our next question, do Literature Festivals also need a highly curated guest list now, one that promotes harmony and cross border ties rather than engaging in political name calling?
We think he mistook the platform or the occasion or simply misread the assignment
Was this not a Faiz Festival celebrating Literature?
Why can’t we leave it at that? Let it be said in as sane a voice of reason as we can, that when two countries are involved in hostile relations, it is a challenge to host let alone celebrate Art and Literature from both sides of the border but if a guest has so many reservations about a supposedly terrorist nation, then why accept the invitation in the first place? It is like visiting a person’s house for dinner and then finding fault with the food or the hospitality – deeply insulting, to say the least.
How can a man of mature years, who has seen the world, experienced multiple wars, human relations, literature, learning, a man of words, be so politically naive as to discuss Mumbai terror attacks and point fingers at your hosts – that’s like talking about Kashmir, Kargil, Bangladesh, Afghanistan on a platform that is not meant for political debate. That’s like a Pakistani artist discussing politics on Filmfare Awards or IFFA – would the Indian audience be able to take that?
A citizen of a country should never question the citizen of another country (unless they are engaged in a political debate) on his or her government’s or military decisions. Neither was Mr Akhtar a politician or part of the military, and neither was he expected to talk politics at the Faiz Festival, which served to engage in literary conversations on Urdu, language, poetry and yes, Faiz Ahmed Faiz. And although the poet’s writing was fairly political, that narrative too, could have been addressed without adding cross border tensions on the agenda.
A word of advice
Literature festivals are supposed to be clear of Politics, unless the agenda specifies otherwise. But it seems Mr Javed Akhtar did not have Faiz on his mind. Although, he could have learnt a lot from him. Faiz Ahmed Faiz had a way with words. he too, could speak politics but could have helped address his protest in a more eloquent manner, more fitting for the occasion. And regardless of the question he was asked, he should have been the bigger person & left politics out of it.
Truly disappointed that so much venom can come from a pen that writes so beautifully. Just goes to show Literature festivals also need a curated guest list in future?
