Javed Akhtar
Veteran screenwriter and lyricist Javed Akhtar has responded to filmmaker Sandeep Reddy Vanga's reaction to his indirect critique of the movie 'Animal,' starring Ranbir Kapoor.
Javed Akhtar's scathing reply to Sandeep Reddy Vanga
In an interview with Mojo Story, Javed explained that while Sandeep is entitled to make multiple movies like 'Animal,' it remains a fact that the director couldn't find any flaws in Javed's extensive 53-year film career.
"I was not criticising the filmmaker at all. I think in a democratic society, he has the right to make one Animal, and many Animals. I was concerned about the audience, not about the filmmaker. He has the right to make any film," Javed explained that he hasn't watched the movie but has heard about it. He doesn't have an issue with Sandeep portraying a character like that because it's within his rights protected by the Constitution. However, Javed's concern is about the millions of people who praised the film.
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After Sandeep criticized Javed for pointing out misogyny in his film but not mentioning similar issues in the Prime Video India Original series Mirzapur, produced by Farhan Akhtar's Excel Entertainment.
"When he responded to me, I was honoured. In 53 years of my career, he could not find one film, one script, one scene, one dialogue, one song. So he had to go to my son's office and find a TV serial, which is neither acted, directed or written by Farhan. His company has produced it. Nowadays, these big companies like Excel are producing a lot of things. So one of them is this. He mentioned that. It flattered me to no end. 53 years ke career mein tum kuchh bhi nahi nikaal paye (You couldn't find anything sexist in 53 years of my career)? What a shame," Javed added.
About the ongoing words between Javed Akhtar and Animal makers
Javed Akhtar spoke about such films (Animal) achieving success, and it looks like his comment didn't sit well with the makers of Ranbir Kapoor's film. In response to his comment, the team of âAnimal' took to their official account and tagged the filmmaker and wrote, "Writer of your calibre cannot understand the betrayal of a lover (Between Zoya & Ranvijay) then all your art form is big FALSE... Let love be free from the politics of gender... (sic)."
The team further wrote that if it were a female who had asked a hero to lick her shoes, then the whole world would have celebrated it in the name of 'Feminism.' "If a woman (betrayed and fooled by a man in the name of love) would have said 'lick my shoe' then you guys would have celebrated it by calling it feminism... Let's just call them lovers. LOVER cheated and lied. LOVER said lick my shoe. Period @Javedakhtarjadu," the post read.