Mumbai, Mar 13 (UNI) Bollywood script writer, poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar was conferred the ''Lifetime Achievement'' award at the ongoing MAMI festival here.

In an informal chat with reporters after receiving the award, Akhtar lamented the declining standard of songs. ''Today there is speed in life, at the cost of depth,'' he rued. Vocabulary is sinking in society and there has been a moral and aesthetic decline all around and we should be concerned about it, he added.

''If you want to be a lyricist, there should be 'riyaz'. You have to learn writing by reading. You should have enough vocabulary of words at your disposal. Words have weightage and a phonetic effect,'' he says.

Akhtar rues the declining quality of poets today. He says, ''1950s and 1960s have been the golden decades of poetry. We had a galaxy of lyricists like Sahir, Kaifi, Janisar, Majrooh and Shailandra. These people were ready. Today 'riyaz' is going out of fashion.'' Asked what was his idea of a perfect screenplay, Akhtar says, ''It is very difficult to answer. It is like looking for the perfect person or house. But I think a story well told, a good narrative, good characterisations, an X factor which the screenplay captures, and between-the-line dialogues, make good screenplay.'' UNI