Javed Akhtar's 'Hindus should not become like Muslims' remark slammed by singer Lucky Ali as he calls veteran writer 'ugly'

Javed Akhtar was at an event where the veteran writer and lyricist spoke about a scene from his 1975 blockbuster Sholay that was written by Salim-Javed. Akhtar spoke about one of the scenes from the film.

The veteran was quoted saying, “In Sholay, there was a scene where Dharmendra hides behind Shiv ji’s murti and speaks, and Hema Malini (thinks) Shiv ji is talking to her. Is it possible to have a scene like that today? No, I will not write a scene (like this today). Were there no Hindus in 1975 (when Sholay released)? Were there no dharmic people? There were.”

Javed Akhtar added, “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.”

Lucky Ali slams Javed Akhtar

Ali slammed Akhtar for his remarks and tweeted- “Don’t become like Javed Akhtar, never original and ugly as f***.”

Javed Akhtar on online trolling

The writer once told NDTV, “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.”

He added, “In the last 20-25 years, Mumbai Police has offered me protection at least four times on their own. I didn’t ask for it. But they raised a threat perception, so they offered protection to me. Three out of four times it was because of some Muslim organisations or people and one time from the other side. This kind of reaction is nothing new for me.”