Javed Akhtar recalls a fan mistaking him for Gulzar, the latter praises his memory : Bollywood News

Two legendary lyricists – Javed Akhtar and Gulzar – shared the stage together for the launch of the book Jadunama on January 9. It’s based on Akhtar and written by Arvind Mandloi. During the course of the interaction, Akhtar shared a funny incident of a man mistaking him for Gulzar and how he played along with him.

Javed Akhtar recalls a fan mistaking him for Gulzar, the latter praises his memory

Narrating the incident, he said, “Shabana and I were at the airport when the airline staff asked us to sit and said they will get our luggage. Shabana was sitting right next to me when a gentleman approached me and said, ‘Adaab Gulzar saab!’ I responded with an adaab too. He then wondered, ‘How come Gulzar saab is at the airport? I told him that Javed Akhtar saab is coming, so I am there to receive him!”

Sharing the funnier part of the conversation, Akhtar added, “He got confused that such a big man has come to receive Javed Akhtar! He asked me, with disappointment in his voice, ‘You are here to receive Javed Akhtar?’, I replied, ‘I always come. Wherever Javed Akhtar is coming from, I always receive him at the airport’. The disappointment in his face, that he is a fan of Gulzar, and Gulzar has come to receive Javed Akhtar! He said, with a confused, disappointed tone, ‘Achcha… Chalta hu Gulzar saab,’”

Akhtar said that he was bewildered by the confusion because he and Gulzar don’t look similar at all. He said people like the man he met at the airport have “average intelligence” and their brain is like a “kabaad khana” (storeroom). “Whatever they find, they put it in kabaad khana, they don’t associate with it. If they see a poet, they put their hands inside the storeroom and whatever name they get, they say it,” said Akhtar.

A day after the launch of Jadunama, Gulzar attended the musical night Mehfil-e-Khaas organized to promote the upcoming film Kuttey. While interacting at the event, Gulzar started narrating a past event but he couldn’t remember the details. On this he said on a funny note, “I wish I had even two percent of the memory that Javed Akhtar saab has.”

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