Siddharth-Garima pen a poem, "Thande Lekhak" inspired by Javed Akhtar's call for free writing and expression

Siddharth Singh and Garima wahal, known for writing screenplay for films like Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ramleela, Batti Gul Metre Chalu, Toilet ek Prem Katha, Raabta recently released a poem titled 'Thande Lekhak' on their blog. The poem deals with 'issues' which the country is facing in the current scenario.

"Thande Lekhak" is a poem inspired by Javed Akhtar's call for free writing. On March 16, at the 53rd edition of the Shankar-Shad Mushaira that took place at Modern School in Delhi, Javed Akhtar recited a new, unpublished poem for the first time in public that urged writers to speak up and express themselves in today's times.

In support of that, few days back lyricist Gulzar also wrote a short poem with three verses. And now famous writers and lyricist Siddharth-Garima have written a heartfelt poem highlighting some of the 'problems' of the country.

Commenting on the same, Siddharth-Garima collectively said, "The trigger was the poem written by Javed Saab. We feel a writer thrives on the socio-economic scenario of the society. In the last couple of years we have seen killings of the torch-bearer writers who advocated 'freedom of speech' Pansare and Gauri lankesh. Apathy of the common man is omni-present. People in our country die unceremoniously when a bridge collapses. This after we pay hefty taxes for the development of infrastructure. We feel we celebrate too much of the non-existent valor of the government. There's actually no freedom of speech left in the country. We write and create mass entertainers that have a social message at the heart. But the censor board strikes off any critical mention of the government policies. Be it literature or any mass media communication, it's the writer who shapes the face of a liberated society. It's this responsibility that we see missing in today's creators and that's the driving force of this outburst."

Click here to read the poem.