Javed Akhtar: I still have to do a lot of work

Veteran writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar beams with energy at the age of 75 and says he still has to do a lot of work.

"A lot of people have achieved so much more than me. I feel I have earned love of friends. I feel that I still have to do a lot of work. I can do a lot of things. I can write much more poetry, lyrics and scripts. I can associate myself with causes in which I believe in. I can speak my mind at different panel discussions, so that I can bring in change in people's mindset," said Akhar, at a photo exhibition organised on the occasion of his 75th birthday on Wednesday in Mumbai.

Akhtar, who has been active in the film industry for nearly five decades now, said: "Every human being goes through good and bad, happy and sad times in his life. I feel people have to look at their grand total, and if you keep cribbing about your past then there is no use. If your grand total is correct and if you are happy with it, then you will feel happy."

Asked Akhtar what his kids had gifted him on his birthday, he said: "He (Farhan) has gifted me a really nice brown watch, so whenever I wear a brown kurta then I wear that watch. Zoya also gifts me things whenever she returns from her international trips but I feel she is the biggest gift of mine. What else I can ask for?"

Celebrities including Zoya Akhtar, Shabana Azmi, Farhan Akhtar, Shibani Dandekar, Sudhir Mishra, Divya Dutta, and Riteish Deshmukh attended the photo-exhibition.