JAVED AKHTAR: A Poet in Paris

Javed Akhtar, award-winning writer and lyricist of popular Indian cinema, a staunch defender of the feminist cause and a supporter of secularism, is also one of the most captivating contemporary voices in Urdu poetry.

Javed Akhtar wrote his first poem in 1979 and published his first collection, Tarkash in 1995 ; his second collection, Lava, being published in 2012.

The poet released a bilingual collection of his poetry translated to French on November 12th in Paris. The book has been published by Janus Publishing House and is entitled D’autres Mondes (Of Other Worlds). Akhtar will be addressing students at the Sorbonne University English Language Institute later today, November 13th and will also be speaking at the Maison de la Poésie (House of Poetry) in the City of Light on 14 November at 7pm, together with Shumona Sinha, author of book Calcutta.

If you happen to be in Paris, don't miss this opportunity.

SORBONNE UNIVERSITY:

Nov 13, from 5:30pm.

Venue: Grand Amphi, Institute Anglophone, 5 , rue de l' Ecole de Medecine, 75006 Paris

MAISON DE LA POESIE Nov 14, from 7pm

157 Rue Saint-Martin, 75003 Paris

IIFA ROCKS! 2011: A Date with India's Creative Minds

One of the questions most often asked of music composers is "How do you compose a song?" Thanks to the IIFA 2011 Music Workshop, we have the answer.

In a live demonstration, for the first time in history, famed composers Shankar Ehsaan Loy, Salim Merchant, Vishal Bhardwaj and lyricist Javed Akhtar come together to create a musical delight before our eyes. Kalyan "Johnny Bongo" Pathak from Chicago joined them on percussion.

To begin, Javed Akhtar came up with two lines of lyrics which he pondered on and dictated to his partner, Shabana Azmi. When the lyrics were completed, Shankar called out the key and Ehsaan Noorani began banging out a melody on his guitar as Loy Mendonsa put his magic to the keyboard. Shankar Mahadevan used his amazing voice to fuse it all together, organically working on the tune with Vishal Bhardwaj and Salim Merchant joining in.

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