Quote of the Day by Javed Akhtar: “Life offers packages; It doesn’t offer you good and bad…” | Today’s news
“I believe that life offers you packages. It doesn’t offer you good and bad, otherwise you choose the good and leave the bad.” — Javed Akhtar
The LiveMint Quote of the Day by veteran Bollywood screenwriter and lyricist Javed Akhtar is based on the “package” analogy. It’s a great piece of modern philosophy. At its core, it challenges a fundamental human illusion: the belief that we can optimize life to reap only the benefits of our choices without paying the hidden costs.
How relevant it is today
While Akhtar originally spoke about the film industry and language shifts, his philosophy applies perfectly to the unique anxieties of 2026.
When did he say that?
Javed Akhtar made this observation during an interview with India Knowledge at Wharton, published in May 2013.
The quote came during a deeper discussion about the changing landscape of the Indian film industry, particularly how the rise of multiplexes has changed target audiences and commercial demands.
Akhtar used the “package” analogy to explain how social and industrial shifts are rarely entirely positive or entirely negative; instead, each new era or change comes as a bound reality. To give you the exact context of how he came to this idea, here is his full statement from the interview:
“Then with the multiplexes, the game changed because now the film has become viable even if it is appreciated or sponsored by one segment of society. So the lowest common denominator is a segment of society, not the whole society. I believe that life offers you packages. It doesn’t offer you good and bad, otherwise you choose the good and leave some of the bad. And each package offers you which package is better and which one you keep.”
