He couldn’t find anything objectionable in my work, so he went after my son’s production: Javed Akhtar on Sandeep Reddy Vanga

Writer, lyricist Javed Akhtar says he was "flattered" when Animal director Sandeep Reddy Vanga was unable to find anything objectionable about his body of work spanning 53 years after the industry veteran highlighted that the commercial success of films with problematic scenes was a dangerous trend.

At the Ajanta Ellora International Film Festival in January, Akhtar had cited the example of the controversial bootlicking scene from Animal featuring Kapoor and Triptii Dimri, who play Ranvijay and Zoya and had expressed concern about the current state of cinema. He didn’t take the film’s name but the swipe didn't go down well with the director who in turn called Akhtar's art "false".

In response to Akhtar's criticism, the Animal team tagged him on X and wrote: "Writer of your calibre cannot understand the betrayal of a lover (Between Zoya & Ranvijay) then all your art form is big FALSE' (sic).”

"When he or his team retaliated, I was extremely flattered. I was honoured. In 53 years of my career, he could not find one film, one script, one scene, one dialogue or one song, that he could say 'See, this is what you have written and you are talking about my film'," Akhtar, 79, said in an interview to digital outlet Mojo Story.

When the Animal director was unable to find any dirt on him, he decided to take an aim at his son Farhan Akhtar's production Mirzapur, said the lyricist-writer, known for films such as Zanjeer, Deewar and Mr India with former writing partner Salim Khan.

In an interview later, Vanga had said: "Why didn't he (Akhtar) tell the same thing to Farhan Akhtar when he was producing 'Mirzapur'? That show is full of expletives... Why is he not checking his son's work?"

"So he (Vanga) had to go to my son's office and find a TV serial, which is neither acted, directed nor written by Farhan. His company has produced it. Nowadays, these big companies like Excel are producing a lot of things. So, one of them was this (Mirzapur). He mentioned that. It flattered me to no end. You weren't able to find anything in 53 years of my career. What a shame," Akhtar added.

Akhtar also said Vanga "totally misunderstood" the point he was trying to make.

"I'll take the name Animal. Obviously, I was talking about that film. I haven't seen it, I have only heard about certain things (in the film). I was not criticising the filmmaker at all,” Akhtar said.

"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 kind of film. As a matter of fact, people should have the right to make porn and it should be released as 'strictly for adults'," he said.

A filmmaker can even venerate a problematic character, like Kapoor's Ranvijay in Animal, said Akhtar, adding that the "matter of concern" was crores of people appreciating this narrative.

"Ten-12 people can be chauvinistic, it's ok. What matters is that many people are appreciating it. It's frightening... a matter of concern... I had not said a word against the film or the filmmaker. I was only concerned about what kind of content the audiences are appreciating," he added.