The wordsmith - Javed Akhtar

After judging the third season of Indian Idol, Javed Akhtar is back with its fourth season. As the new season promises to be more thrilling, he is all geared to choose the best of the best as the next Indian Idol. As the lyricist settles down to his job as judge he takes time out to answer some very pertinent questions. In conversation with Javed Akhtar. You have been on other reality shows as well. How different is it judging Indian Idol 4? Those shows were different and this show is something else. There was a show called Mission Ustad where I was on the panel of judges. There, the contestants had to compose the songs themselves. So every show has a different format and they can't be compared. You have to agree that among all the musical shows on television, Indial Idol is a class apart. What advice would you give to the aspiring singers? I would like to give them an example of a river which starts its journey from the Himalayas without knowing the directions to reach the sea. It is not that a special road is made for the river. It has to reach its destination by going through different obstacles like rocks, bushes, etc. The intensity in the river's flow is what leads it to its destination. Similarly, if a person has determination and talent, he or she can overcome any hurdle. Dreams and aspirations are not sufficient to reach your goal; it takes a lot of hard work too. In your long association with Indian Idol, what has been the most special to you? Indian Idol has a different class. It is an up- market show. But one most special thing about Indian Idol is that it has a huge amount of dignity attached to it and this dignity cannot be compared. Such dignity goes for a toss in certain shows in the process of raising TRPs. As a judge, do you prefer to be upfront or do you prefer to be honey -coated? I feel that you should say what you want to say but the same thing can be said even without hurting other's sentiments. Is knowledge of language very essential to singing? I stress on language because people who are not well versed with the language tend to mispronounce certain words. It affects the song. One thing that bugged you while judging the auditions of Indian Idol 4? Foolishness of certain contestants is what bugs me. It is difficult for me to tolerate foolishness. The producers of Indian Idol 4 have mentioned that they are also looking for X-factor in contestants. Can you define this X-factor? If X-factor could be defined, then it wouldn't have been called X-factor. The magic that Kishore da had in his voice is called X-factor. How would you rate son Farhan as a singer as he has himself sung in Rock On? Even the Supreme Court and High Court are not allowed to judge their family members, so how can I judge or rate my son? Recently your wife Shabana Azmi voiced her thoughts about the discrimination in buying property. What do you have to say about the issue? It is true that discrimination is prevalent as far as properties are concerned but it is to be noted that this discrimination does not exists every where. Had this discrimination existed everywhere in India, all the people from certain communities would be staying on the streets. There are only a few places where such discrimination exists. Discrimination is not just of one kind but there are discriminations of various kinds in our society. We should make efforts to make our society free from any kind of discrimination. Why do you think certain sections of people were upset with her statement? (Laughs). Now what can I say about people who are upset with it? I would just like to say that don't kill the messenger. Rather work towards building a healthy society. Most of the people in our society are not in favour of discrimination which is a good thing. I feel that one should do his or her job without bothering about people's anger. It is something we can't help. I feel that a right minded person always talks fair and gives the right picture of things. What happened was that we were trying to buy a property in a certain housing society but we were denied it. The poor agent was feeling hesitant to tell us the reason. Isn't it ironic that on one hand, there are thousands of budding script writers and lyricists struggling to get a break and on the other hand, there are films made with absurd scripts and lyrics? Just because I am travelling in a big car, I can't be wiser than a struggling script writer who is walking on the road. There are many good writers. Some of them may be better writers than me but they don't have the courage to come to Mumbai and struggle. I had come to Mumbai without fearing any consequences because I would have died of hunger anyways, if I had stayed back home. At times, while eating food, I tell myself that I wish I would have got the same food at the time when I was starving for it. At times, when I lie down on my bed, I feel that it would have been so wonderful if I had got this bed when I used to sleep on the floor in studios. I feel very thankful for what I am today and I believe that there is no dearth of talent in India. We script writers and lyricists charge lakhs of rupees. When we are paid little less than our demand, we say that the producer is cheating us. We shouldn't forget our roots and be thankless. I believe that there must be people who write better than us but they haven't got the opportunities. How do you react when you come across struggling talent? Whenever I have spotted talent I have given an opportunity to that talent. If you notice, you will realise that I have worked with many new comers. Even I was a new comer at some point of time and someone had given me a break.