Javed Akhtar is a renowned Indian poet, famous as a Bollywood story writer and lyricist. Many of India’s blockbuster films and songs are his creations. He is also an intellectual and a staunch atheist. In today’s era, where intellectual tradition is waning, Javed Akhtar’s fame in film brings significant attention to his views on intellectual topics.
Recently, I came across an interview in which he confidently stated that if a child receives no religious training for the first eighteen years of life and is then introduced to all religions, the child will reject them all. He emphasized that since religion is taught from childhood, it becomes difficult to shed throughout life.
In the same interview, Mr. Javed was asked if he, like Muslim infants who hear the adhan at birth, was indoctrinated with Communist Party ideas. He admitted that he was, as his father was a Communist Party member and his mother a free thinker. He also had access to Communist literature at home, which he read early on.
This exemplifies the paradox that even the most intelligent people can fall into after denying God. He attributes the religiousness of others to childhood influence but overlooks his own family’s atheistic influence on his denial of God.
Translated by Ali Zafar