Prose not as capable of being truthful as poetry: Javed Akhtar

London, Sep 9 (PTI) Award-winning Indian poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar has reflected upon the importance of poetry at an event celebrating the India-UK arts and educational relationship here.

The 78-year-old poet was in London to receive an honorary doctorate from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.

Addressing a gathering at the House of Commons complex on Friday evening, Akhtar said he was “humbled” at being conferred Doctor of Literature degree, which came as a complete surprise.

Against the backdrop of this recognition for his creative endeavours as a distinguished writer, he was asked if poetry has a place at a time dominated by scientific and technological pursuits.

“Oh yes, poetry has a place; I think prose is not as capable of being truthful as poetry is,” said Akhtar.

“Right from the beginning, Urdu poets were seriously against fundamentalism, religiosity, narrow thinking, regressive thoughts and so on. I wonder if they could say all this in prose. So, poetry somewhere gives you a little more elbow room to be honest,” he said.

The celebrated scriptwriter and social activist addressed a range of topics at the diaspora interaction, including the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the field of art.

“The fact is that inventions like AI that are breathing down the neck require new decorum. I suppose people are at the moment either happy or worried, but let’s give ourselves a little time and we will develop certain discipline, codes and laws to see to it that AI is for us, we are not for AI,” he said.

At the event organised by the National Indian Students and Alumni Union (NISAU) UK and Indian-origin Opposition Labour Party MPs Virendra Sharma and Seema Malhotra, Akhtar was joined by actor wife Shabana Azmi who was asked about the role played by the arts as a bridge between India and the UK.

“There is a confidence coming into Indian art. As the world shrinks and becomes a global village, we have to accept that cultures have to be understood within their own paradigms. They cannot be imposed by the West on the East and measured by those yardsticks,” said Azmi.

“So, given this new confidence, I think we are able to make films that tell our stories in the way we tell stories and what we are receiving from Britain is that people are willing to listen to our voice because we are no longer ashamed of it. In a very big way, we are contributing to what are good relations between the UK and India,” she said.

Besides Indian students in the UK, academics, artists and filmmakers including Gurinder Chadha and Shekhar Kapur came together for the event as a celebration of India-UK cultural ties.