Makers of Ranbir Kapoor's blockbuster film Animal on Sunday responded to ace lyricist and scriptwriter Javed Akhtar's criticism of the film. The makers of the film tagged the lyricist and songwriter and questioned his writing and understanding of films.
Javed Akhtar said while speaking at the Ajanta Ellora International Film Festival in Aurangabad that if there is a film wherein a man asks a woman to lick his shoe or says it is okay to slap a woman and the film becomes a hit, that is very dangerous. Akhtar, known for writing films like Amitabh Bachchan's Zanjeer and Manoj Kumar's Kranti, was apparently alluding to a scene from Ranbir Kapoor's latest film where his character asks Triptii Dimri's character Zoya to lick his shoe to prove her love.
"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. 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 @Javedakhtarjadu (sic)," the team's post on X formerly Twitter read.
Without naming the Ranbir Kapoor film, Akhtar said, "I believe it’s a testing time for the young filmmakers today as to what kind of characters they want to create that society will applaud. For instance, 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 if the film is a super-duper hit, then that’s very dangerous."
He also said that he believes the bigger responsibility lies with the audiences nowadays as compared to the filmmakers. Akhtar said, "Nowadays, I feel that a bigger responsibility is on the audiences than filmmakers. The audiences have to decide what kind of movies should be made, and what kind of films should not be made. Also, what kind of values and moralities should be shown in our films, what should we reject, that decision is in your hands. The ball is currently in the audience’s court."
The Sandeep Reddy Vanga-directorial has proven to be a juggernaut at the box office despite getting mixed reviews from audiences and critics alike for problematic content and gore. Animal has raked in Rs 549.42 crore at the India box office and Rs 898.65 crore globally. The film went onto make Rs 244 crore at the overseas box office.
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