Poetic as he is, Javed Akhtar used his literary prowess to press upon an extremely pertinent fact — Nations that have used religion to establish their identities have often led the country to disaster. “Arre wo [Pakistan] nahi bana sake, duniya nahi bana saki, aap kya bana lenge? I do not know what a Hindu rashtra is, I do not know what a country based on religion is. Religion does not make a nation; it is not enough of a glue,” he said at a city event, reiterating one of the most pertinent issues of the hour with words that were as simple as they were powerful.

Among the most prominent figures of the Indian film industry, Akhtar has left no stone unturned to serve the needs of musicians. In many ways, he spent the fair part of the last few years contributing to the cause of digital India. Ever since he took charge as the chairman of the Indian Performing Right Society in 2017, Akhtar has provided a seamless path for musicians to avail the association’s services via its online portal. “We had noticed that the connection was low. Fake accounts were pruned, and a sense of mutual understanding [was developed]. Today, our collection has reached Rs 300 crores, because we have cleaned the distribution system and made it transparent,” he says of the association’s efforts to legitimise the use of copyrighted music and enable people to deal with collection royalty.