How does one explain your interest in Urdu? The credit must go to two people: Ahmed Nadeem Qazmi from Pakistan who encouraged me to write and Urdu critic Gopi Chand Narang.

Speaking at a session titled ‘Hindi and Urdu: Siamese Twins’ in Delhi, Javed Akhtar discussed the origins, forms and usage of languages. Pointing out that since most young actors can only read ...

For people related to the field of communication, including the film industry, there is no concept of pure Urdu or pure Hindi, explained Akhtar using an onion analogy.

In their works, the velvety charm of Urdu synergized with the concerns of naya Bharat (a new India) to create a memorable landscape of Hindi film songs in the 1950s and 1960s.