New Delhi: Javed Akhtar doubts how much religious belief is actually a matter of choice. Ninety-nine per cent of people die in the religion they are born into, he said.
In an interview with Indian Express Hindi, Akhtar said religious people usually trust what their parents have told them, or a saint they come to believe in.
His own approach is different. “I don’t trust a person. I trust an idea. I trust the idea, logic and reason,” he said.
Akhtar turned it into a joke about odds.
“If you follow any one religion, there is a 10 per cent chance that you are right and a 90 per cent chance that you are wrong. If you become an atheist, there is a 50 per cent chance that you are right and a 50 per cent chance that you are wrong. You gain 40 per cent by becoming an atheist… I’m giving you an offer,” he said.
Religion came up in the interview again. Akhtar said his problem was not only with religion but with faith itself, including faith in an ideology.
“Faith makes you close your eyes and suspend your rationality. That is dangerous.”
People should always be able to question whether something is right or wrong, he said.
Asked about the debate around Vande Mataram, Akhtar said he had no problem singing it and had translated its opening stanzas into Hindi himself. He objected to being asked to sing verses with religious content.
“I am an atheist. As an Indian, legally I have the right to be an atheist,” he said.
Royalties from AI ‘art’
When he faced a question about Bollywood stars not speaking more often on political and social issues, Akhtar turned the criticism back around.
“The media should first put its own house in order. An actor or director’s job is not to make political and social remarks. They can do it as citizens,” he said.
Akhtar also spoke about artificial intelligence and creative work. He said the technology won’t go away, but people whose work is used to train AI models must be compensated.
“If you are using their data, what do they get? You made this from data that belonged to human beings. They should get a share,” he said.
Would Akhtar like to receive royalties if ChatGPT were trained on his songs, he was asked.
“Ideally, that is how it should happen, and we will definitely work in that direction,” Akhtar said.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)
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