'Made In Heaven' director Zoya Akhtar replies to a user who asked her to show one 'normal' Muslim character in her films

The web show Made In Heaven is getting glowing reviews across, but it has also been scrutinized for its content. A user recently asked one of the directors of the show Zoya Akhtar to show one ’normal’ Muslim character in her shows or films. The user’s reference was to the character of Shehnaz, played by Dia Mirza

The filmmaker gave many examples of the films that she has made and that show Muslim characters, from Luck By Chance to Gully Boy.

Radhika Apte on playing a Dalit on the show

Speaking exclusively to Firstpost, the actress revealed this about her prep, “To be very honest with you, the preparation was basically time spent with  Neeraj Ghaywan on zoom calls because we were in the middle of COVID at that time.  We shot for eight days for the  _Made in Heaven_ Season 2 show.  Even though I have a lot of friends from the Dalit community and have grown up around them, you think you understand a lot of things but you actually don’t.”

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She added, “After listening to Neeraj, trying to portray a character that he has written, I felt very humbled. I still really can’t imagine what it is to be like a Dalit. The amount of messages and phone calls I got after playing the role of a Dalit woman in  _Made in Heaven_ Season 2 was really heart-warming. As a woman in the industry too I have often felt discriminated and humiliated.”

Makers deny claims of ‘appropriating’ Dalit author Yashica Dutt

The 5th episode of the show titled ‘The Heart Skips a Beat’ casts actress  Radhika Apte in the lead role. It presents viewers with the life of Pallavi Menke, a Maharashtrian Ambedkarite who studied law at Columbia University and reclaims her original surname as time passes. Directed by  Neeraj Ghaywan, the episode has been claimed to be ‘drawn from Yashica Dutt’s life or her book- ‘Coming Out As Dalit’. Since the release of the episode, Dutt has been demanding credit for using her work in the show.

Zoya Akhtar’s clarification

In the four-page post, director Zoya Akhtar described the ‘misleading comments and reports’ as ‘deeply disturbing’. While describing the context behind episode 5 and the resulting controversy protruding from the same, Akhtar went on to ‘categorically deny any claim that Ms. Dutt’s life or work was appropriated’ by them.