Javed Akhtar, Pankaj Kapur share success mantra after receiving Lifetime Achievement Awards at Whistling Woods International convocation ceremony 2025

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 24 : Veteran actor Pankaj Kapur and writer Javed Akhtar were conferred with the Lifetime Achievement award at the convocation ceremony of the Whistling Woods International, a renowned film institute, on Friday.
The Whistling Woods International was founded by director Subhash Ghai in 2006. After receiving the awards, Javed Akhtar and Pankaj Kapur imparted some words of wisdom to the students who attended the ceremony.
Javed Akhtar who is known for writing the screenplay of blockbuster films like 'Zanjeer' and 'Sholay' talked about the importance of self-esteem to achieve excellence in life in his gratitude speech.
He said, "The only reason that can make you excellent is your self-esteem. Maybe the world doesn't have to be and maybe your friends are saying that you are very rude, but I know that I can be better and it has to be better because I am doing it. If you have high self-esteem then you can reach excellence. Self-esteem demands only yourself and nothing else."
After a motivating speech by Javed, Pankaj Kapur recalled the lines of a famous poet which signified the importance of hard work in life in his thank you speech.
He said, "Thank you Subhash Gai, Whistling Woods faculty and fraternity and everybody who decided to confer this huge responsibility on my shoulders. There is something which I have carried on from the times of my father, which I say to my children and I extend it to you today that I also practice it myself. If you want to be in this field or any field for that matter then there are some famous lines by an author which read. The heights which are reached and kept by great men are not attained by a certain flight but while their companions slept, they were toiling upwards in the night."
The convocation was followed by a cake-cutting ceremony on the occasion of Subhash's birthday. The team also celebrated Javed Akhtar's belated birthday on this occasion.
During the media interaction, Subhash Ghai shared the difference between the learning process of acting and direction. He called the directors and screenwriters an architect of the film.
"Learning acting and other things is a craft while learning direction is about one's growth. Direction and writing are two things which are associated with one's life. We made films based on our lives, our roots, the society from where we came from and its struggles. We directed the film from the learnings of our experience. No director has got a break before 8-10 years. It is because as a director you need to first understand your vision and narrative."
Subhash continued, "So if you see, writers and directors are the architects while others are craftsmen. It's not a technical craft, it's a creative craft."
Veteran director Subhash Ghai has turned 80 years old today. He is known for films 'Karma', Ram-Lakhan', 'Taal' and 'Hero' among others.