Translating Tagore not easy: Javed Akhtar

Having penned more than 1500 songs, lyricist Javed Akhtar has said that it was not easy for him to translate Tagore songs in Hindi. The celebrated poet-writer has translated eight songs of Tagore. “I have a lot of experience in writing to the tune. I have written over 1500 songs and they are to the tune. So I can tell you that writing to the tune is not that difficult...translating Tagore is not as easy,” he said. Stating that he has tried to keep the language as simple as possible, Akhtar said, “I have tried to be at the backseat but at the same time have kept the original tune. I have not added anything and tried to keep the simplicity of the language.”