Javed Akhtar Responds to Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Inquiry Regarding Farhan’s “Mirzapur”
Screenwriter and lyricist Javed Akhtar has responded to Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s remarks following his criticism of the film Animal, starring Ranbir Kapoor. Speaking to Mojo Story, Javed clarified that while Sandeep has the freedom to create as many movies as he desires, it is a fact that the director has not found any flaws in Javed’s illustrious 53-year-long career in filmmaking.
Javed stated, “I was not criticizing the filmmaker at all. I believe that in a democratic society, he has the right to make one Animal or many Animals. My concern was about the audience, not the filmmaker. He has the right to make any film.” Javed also responded to Vanga’s comment on the web series Mirzapur and said, “When he responded to me, I felt honored. In my 53-year-long career, he could not find a single film, script, scene, dialogue, or song that was problematic. So he had to go to my son’s office and find a TV serial, which was neither acted, directed, nor written by Farhan. It was produced by his company. Nowadays, big companies like Excel produce a lot of content, and this was one of them. He mentioned that. It flattered me to no end. In my 53-year-long career, you couldn’t find anything sexist? What a shame.”
For those unaware, in December 2023, Akhtar, without naming anyone specifically, expressed his concern, saying, “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 the film becomes a super hit, that’s dangerous.” Many assumed that this was an indirect criticism of Animal, as Ranbir Kapoor’s character is seen asking Tripti Dimri’s character, Zoya, to lick his shoe in the film, which also stars Bobby Deol and Anil Kapoor.
Later, while speaking to Siddharth Kanan, Vanga responded by questioning why Javed Akhtar did not raise the same question about his son Farhan Akhtar’s production, the web series Mirzapur. Vanga said, “It’s clear that he (Akhtar) didn’t watch the film. That’s evident from his comment. When someone talks about a film without watching it, what can we say about them?
