Javed Akhtar (born 17 January 1945) is an Indian poet, lyricist and screenwriter. Akhtar is a mainstream writer and some of his most successful work was carried out with Salim Khan as half of the script-writing duo credited as Salim-Javed between 1971 and 1982. He is a recipient of the Padma Shri (1999), Padma Bhushan (2007),the Sahitya Akademi Award as well as thirteen Filmfare Awards.
Javed Akhtar was born in 1945 in Gwalior.His father Jan Nisar Akhtar was a Bollywood film songwriter and Urdu poet, and his mother Safia Akhtar was a singer, teacher and writer.His grandfather Muztar Khairabadi was a poet as was his grandfather’s elder brother, Bismil Khairabadi, while his great great grandfather, Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi, was a scholar of Islamic studies and theology and played an important role in the First Independence Movement of India in 1857.Javed Akhtar’s original name was Jadoo, taken from a line in a poem written by his father: “Lamha, lamha kisi jadoo ka fasana hoga”. He was given the official name of Javed since it was the closest to the word jadoo.He spent most of his childhood and was schooled in Lucknow. He graduated from Saifiya College in Bhopal.
Akhtar was a Muslim but later became Atheist.He has brought up his children Farhan and Zoya Akhtar also as atheists.
Akhtar was married to Honey Irani, with whom he had two children, Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar, both film directors and actors. The father-and-son duo have worked together in films such as Dil Chahta Hai, Lakshya, Rock On!! and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara with Zoya. Farhan was married to Adhuna Akhtar, a hair stylist.
Javed divorced Irani and later married Shabana Azmi, the daughter of another Urdu poet, Kaifi Azmi.
Akhthar was awarded the civilian honour of Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1999, followed by the Padma Bhushan in 2007.In 2013, he received the Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu, India’s second highest literary honour, for his poetry collection Lava.
(Ref : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javed_Akhtar & Desimartini.com)