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Javed Akhtar RESPONDS to Animal director Sandeep Reddy Vanga's statement about Farhan Akhtar's Mirzapur
Javed Akhtar opens up about Animal director Sandeep Reddy Vanga's comment on Farhan Akhtar's production Mirzapur. Read what the veteran lyricist and writer has to say.
Animal, starring Ranbir Kapoor in the lead along with Rashmika Mandanna, Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol, and Triptii Dimri, was released in December last year and became one of the most talked about films that year. While the movie received immense love from the masses, a section of the audience and industry didn't approve of it. Veteran lyricist and writer Javed Akhtar's statement regarding the film a couple of months back triggered a new debate, which made director Sandeep Reddy Vanga react to it.
Now, Akhtar has again discussed his original statement, saying that he wasn't criticizing the filmmaker but questioning the audience for giving so much love to the film.
Javed Akhtar says he didn't criticize Sandeep Reddy Vanga for Animal
During a recent interview with Mojo Story, Javed Akhtar opened up about his original statement regarding Sandeep Reddy Vanga's directorial and the filmmaker's reaction to it.
"I was not criticizing 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," he said, adding that he hadn't seen the film and only heard about it.
Javed Akhtar on Sandeep Reddy Vanga involving Farhan Akhtar's production Mirzapur in the debate
Sandeep Reddy Vanga, in an interview with Siddharth Kannan, while reacting to Javed Akhtar's first statement, asked why he didn't tell the same thing to Farhan Akhtar when he was producing Mirzapur because that show was full of cuss words.
Reacting to that argument, Akhtar said, "When he responded to me, I was honored. 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."
"53 years ke career mein tum kuch bhi nahi nikaal paye (You couldn't find anything sexist in 53 years of my career)? What a shame," Javed said, concluding his point.
Javed Akhtar's original statement
Earlier in January, while speaking at the Ajanta Ellora International Film Festival in Aurangabad, veteran lyricist and filmmaker said that the success of a film like Animal is dangerous for society.
"I believe it's a testing time for the young filmmakers today as to what kind of characters they want to create that the society will applaud. For instance, if there's a film in which a man asks a woman to lick his shoe or if a man says it's okay to slap a woman, and if the film is a super duper hit, then that's very dangerous."
This statement sparked a debate on social media, following which a controversial tweet from Animal movie's official Twitter account was posted. The tweet that Vanga allegedly wrote read, "Writer of your calibre cannot understand the betrayal of a lover (Between Zoya & Ranvijay) then all your art form is big FALSE & 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 love be free from the politics of gender. Let's just call them lovers. LOVER cheated and lied. LOVER said lick my shoe. Period."
However, during an interview with Siddharth Kannan, Vanga denied writing that tweet and said it was written by the Animal social media team. "Nahi, hamare bahut team mein enthusiasts hain woh chalaate hain Twitter" (No, we have a team of enthusiasts who run Twitter [Animal's official Twitter handle])
Animal was released in cinemas on December 1, 2023, and proved to be an All-Time Blockbuster at the domestic box office.
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