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.
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.
Catch up on all the latest entertainment news and gossip here. Also, download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps.
Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@middayinfomedialtd) and stay updated with the latest news
from Latest news in Mumbai,National news,Mumbai news,Mid-Day epaper,Mid-Day online news paper | Mid-Day https://ift.tt/3dOLvtN
https://ift.tt/3cQALtg https://ift.tt/1L8zhvV
0 Comments