Javed Akhtar: 'If the choice is between Pakistan and hell, I would prefer hell'

Noted lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar, who is often targeted for his views on patriotism and religion, says that if there comes a time he has to choose between Pakistan and hell, he would prefer to go to hell.

Akhtar, 80, was speaking at Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut’s book launch on Saturday night in Mumbai.

At the event, the lyricist — who identifies himself as an atheist — said extremists from both India and Pakistan shower abuses on him on a daily basis.

“Some day, I’ll show you my Twitter (now X) and WhatsApp. I am abused by both sides. I’m not thankless so I’ll say there are also people who appreciate what I say, encourage me. But it’s true that extremists from both here and there abuse me. This is right. If one of them stops abusing me, it’ll be a matter of concern for me.     “One side says ‘You are a kaafir (non-believer) and will go to hell. The other side says, ‘Jihadi, go to Pakistan’. If the choice is between Pakistan and hell, I would prefer to go to hell,” Akhtar said amid a round of applause from the audience.

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The award-winning writer further said it’s important to have citizens not subscribing to the ideology of any political party.

“That way they can say what they feel is right and what is wrong. There should be no party loyalty. All parties are ours and yet no party is ours. I’m also one of those citizens. If you speak from one side, you’ll make the other side unhappy. But if you speak out from different points of view, you make many more people unhappy,” he added.

Akhtar, who came to Mumbai at the age of 19, credited the city and Maharashtra for all his achievements.

In his last 30 years of living in Mumbai, the veteran poet said he was given police protection four times on threat perception, out of which three times because of “mullahs”.

Last month, Akhtar said in an interview with PTI there is hardly “any warmth today” in India-Pakistan cultural ties, the veteran screenwriter-poet noted while saying that this is not the time to even think about whether Pakistani artists should be allowed to work in India.

His comments came after “Abir Gulaal”, a film featuring Pakistani star Fawad Khan, was not allowed to release in theatres in India in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack.