A fresh controversy has erupted over Javed Akhtar’s old video where he is seen talking about Hindus and Muslims, urging the former to not become like the latter. Reacting to the video, singer-songwriter Lucky Ali has slammed Akhtar and called him ‘ugly’, saying that he is ‘never original’.

Ali commented on a post by a user which referred to the video where Akhtar was talking about freedom of speech and democracy in today’s India. Ali wrote, “Don't become like Javed Akhtar, never original and ugly as f***.”

Later, the singer seemed to indirectly refer to his reply as he wrote, “What I meant was that arrogance is ugly.... it was a mistaken communique' on my part.... monsters may have feelings too and I apologise if I hurt anyones monstrosity.”

In the viral video, Akhtar was talking about a scene from Sholay (1975) where the character of Dharmendra stands behind the idol of lord Shiva and talks to Hema, who thinks it’s the god speaking to her. The veteran screenwriter-lyricist said that he won’t write a scene like that today. “As a matter of fact, I'm on record, I'm not saying it right here. Raju Hirani and I were in Pune in front of a big audience and I said 'Don't become like Muslims. Make them like yourself. You are becoming like Muslims'. It's a tragedy,” he added.

Akhtar has often been subject to online trolls for his strong views on communalism and religious bigotry in India. Last month, a cultural event in Kolkata was postponed after Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind raised objections over Javed Akhtar serving as its chief guest.

Reacting to it in an interview with NDTV, Javed said, “Some of them call me a jihadi and that I should migrate to Pakistan. Some say I'm a kaafir and I will 100% go to hell and I should change my name, that I don't have the right to have a Muslim sounding name.”