Tamil Is The Oldest Language & Urdu Is Sanskrit's Sister: Javed Akhtar

At the Jaipur Literature Festival, celebrated poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar transformed a routine Q&A into a sweeping meditation on heritage, identity, and the evolution of Indian cinema.

The session took an unexpected turn when an audience member asked whether Urdu or Sanskrit was the older language. Akhtar, visibly amused, dismissed the premise as misguided. He explained that Tamil is widely regarded as the oldest living language, with Sanskrit following closely, while Urdu is comparatively young. "Urdu is like Sanskrit's younger sister," he remarked, underscoring the importance of understanding linguistic history rather than pitting languages against one another.

The conversation shifted from languages to Akhtar's personal life. Though he initially deflected a question about his mother by saying he should now be speaking of his granddaughter, he went on to share poignant memories. His mother passed away the day after his eighth birthday, leaving a profound mark on him. Akhtar recalled how she nurtured his love for words by turning language into play and by reading voraciously, even editing novels to shield him from their romantic passages. Those early experiences, he said, continue to echo in his writing decades later.

Reflecting on his upbringing, Akhtar described secularism not as a doctrine but as a lived experience. He recalled how his grandmother once stopped his grandfather from incentivizing religious memorization, a moment that ended his formal religious education. Despite being unable to write her own name, she embodied a sensibility that shaped Akhtar's worldview.

Bollywood Then and Now

Turning to cinema, Akhtar contrasted the hierarchical Bollywood of his youth with today's more egalitarian atmosphere, where assistants casually address stars by their first names. He welcomed these changes, seeing them as signs of a broader cultural shift. For him, the rise of "lower middle-class aesthetics" in film and politics since the 1980s reflects India's evolving values and aspirations.

This retelling frames Akhtar's session not as a series of answers but as a narrative arc-beginning with a provocative question, moving through personal memories, and ending with reflections on society and cinema.At the Jaipur Literature Festival, celebrated poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar transformed a routine Q&A into a sweeping meditation on heritage, identity, and the evolution of Indian cinema.