Shabana Azmi hits back at trolls questioning husband Javed Akhtar's Richard Dawkins Award

Updated: Jun 10, 2020, 11:13 IST | mid-day online correspondent | Mumbai

The post claimed that a London-based group of rationalists had proposed Akhtar's name. Now, they were pushing the authorities concerned to bestow the honour on him to avoid embarrassment.

Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar

Shabana Azmi slammed trolls questioning husband Javed Akhtar's Richard Dawkins Award after a post did the rounds that the writer-lyricist had mistaken an email recommending his name for the actual honour. Azmi wrote, "This is patently untrue. We have an email from Richard Dawkins offering the award and also from Robyn Blumner who heads the Centre for Inquiry USA. I feel sad for these pathetic trolls who do not care that they will stand exposed for such a preposterous claim."

The post claimed that a London-based group of rationalists had proposed Akhtar's name. Now, they were pushing the authorities concerned to bestow the honour on him to avoid embarrassment. The post also wondered why no official announcement of Akhtar's honour had been made.

Meanwhile, Richard Dawkins confirmed on social media that Javed Akhtar had bagged the award. The world-renowned English evolutionary biologist tweeted, "Javed Akhtar is the 2020 Richard Dawkins Award winner and I could not be more pleased."

"The Center for Inquiry, on whose board I sit, has designated him this year's recipient for his courageous public stands on behalf of atheism, rationality, and freethought," the tweet further read.

Richard Dawkins Tweet

The legendary poet who has become the first Indian to win the award is being conferred with it for his "critical thinking, holding religious dogma upto scrutiny, advancing human progress and humanist values."

Akhtar who has written the screenplay for iconic movies like 'Deewar, Zanjeer', and 'Sholay' along with Salim Khan, has earlier been awarded Padma Shri (1999), Padma Bhushan (2007). The veteran lyricist and screenwriter also have five National Awards for Best Lyricist to his name and even the Sahitya Akademi Award.

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Javed Akhtar's birthday bash: Aamir Khan, Urmila Matondkar, Boney Kapoor, Farhan-Shibani attend

1/19

Javed Akhtar's 75th birthday was a grand affair with who's who of Bollywood in attendance at his residence in Juhu, Mumbai. By the looks of it, the party had a retro-themed. Everyone was dressed in retro outfits. The birthday boy was dressed in the 70s styled red and white polka dots shirt and white pants. All pictures/Yogen Shah
2/19

Veteran actress Shabana Azmi, who hosted the party, was dressed in matching outfit with husband Javed Akhtar for the birthday party.
3/19

Aamir Khan, who shaved of his facial fuzz, attended Javed Akhtar's 75th birthday party at his Juhu residence.
4/19

Urmila Matondkar a blue embellished designed body-hugging dress as she arrived for Javed Akhtar's 75th birthday celebrations at his residence in Juhu.
5/19

Filmmaker Boney Kapoor also dressed up for Javed Akhtar's birthday party at his Juhu residence. Looks like Boney won an award, he was more than happy to show it off to the paparazzi.
6/19

Farhan Akhtar and Shibani Dandekar were dressed up as Amitabh Bachchan and Zeenat Aman from Don (1978) for Javed Akhtar's birthday party.
7/19

Tabu sported a black and white attire as she arrived for Javed Akhtar's birthday party at his residence in Juhu.
8/19

Anil Kapoor also went retro in a designer shirt and matching pants as he arrived for Javed Akhtar's 75th birthday celebrations.
9/19

Anil Kapoor came in with wife Sunita Kapoor for Javed Akhtar's birthday party.
10/19

Swara Bhasker also dressed up in retro style for Javed Akhtar's birthday party at his Juhu residence.
11/19

Filmmaker Vipul Shah and wife Shefali Shah also attended the party. Shefali's took to her Instagram to share a series of Insta stories and wrote, "A very happy birthday Javed Sahab. One of the most intelligent, intellectual, deep, poetic, profound people with the most wicked sense of humour I know. You are truly JADU. Feel honoured and privileged that you are a part of our life. Just FYI the birthday party theme was Bollywood King and Queen. No prizes for guessing who won hands down. [sic]"
12/19

Ali Fazal and girlfriend Richa Chadha were partying hoping as they attended Javed Akhtar's birthday, post the Amazon blue carpet event.
13/19

Divya Dutta was all smile as she arrived in a red sharara suit for Javed Akhtar's birthday party at his Juhu home.
14/19

Baba Azmi with wife Tanvi Azmi and kids arrive for Javed Akhtar's birthday party at his Juhu residence.
15/19

Farah Khan arrives for Javed Akhtar's 75th birthday party at his residence in Juhu.
16/19

Panipat director Ashutosh Gowariker and wife Sunita also dressed up as per the theme as they arrived for the birthday bash.
17/19

Ritesh Sidhwani and wife Dolly pose for the photographers as they arrived for Javed Akhtar's 75th birthday party at his residence in Juhu.
18/19

Satish Kaushik and wife too dressed up for Javed Akhtar's 75th themed birthday party.
19/19

Designer Manish Malhotra also attended Javed Akhtar's birthday party in Juhu.

About the gallery

Shabana Azmi hosted a themed party for husband Javed Akhtar's 75th birthday at their residence in Juhu, which was attended Aamir Khan with Kiran Rao, Urmila Matondkar, Boney Kapoor, Farhan Akhtar with Shibani Dandekar, Tabu, Anil Kapoor with wife Sunita Kapoor, Swara Bhasker, Vipul Shah with wife Shefali Shah and host of other Bollywood celebrities. We have pictures

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Shabana Azmi hits back at trolls questioning husband Javed Akhtar\'s Richard Dawkins Award

Shabana Azmi hits back at trolls questioning husband Javed Akhtar's Richard Dawkins Award

The post claimed that a London-based group of rationalists had proposed Akhtar's name. Now, they were pushing the authorities concerned to bestow the honour on him to avoid embarrassment.