Senior screenwriter-lyricist recently took a dig at the much-talked-about film Animal, which released in 2023, and stated that the popularity of such films is extremely dangerous. And responding to the same, on Sunday, the official handle of the Animal slammed the veteran celeb, calling his art form a "big false".
It all began when during an event, Akhtar stated that the image of a hero in cinema should be created keeping in mind what is correct and what is not. Without taking names, he said, "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 is a super hit, that’s dangerous."
His comment was an apparent dig at Animal, in which Ranbir's character was seen asking Triptii Dimri's character to lick his shoe. The film emerged to be one of the highest grossers of 2023.
Animal makers respond to Javed Akhtar
Akhtar's comment, however, did not go down well with the makers of Animal, who decided to present their opinion on the same. The official handle of the film tweeted that if the same dialogue would have been uttered by a woman to a man, then people would have hailed it, calling it 'feminism'.
"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," the tweet read.
"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," it mentioned.
Animal controversies
This is not the first time that the makers have used the film's official X handle to address the controversy surrounding Animal. Earlier too, the makers had taken sly digs at critics for giving a negative review to the film, which has earned over Rs 500 crore at the box office.
Animal found itself at the centre of several controversies after its release, primarily due to Ranbir's character, Ranvijay, who was shown to be a self-proclaimed "alpha male".
The film was slammed by a number of critics and audience alike, and it was accused of promoting sexism and toxic masculinity.
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