Lucky Ali slams Javed Akhtar over remark on Muslims in old video on Sholay

Lyricist and script writer Javed Akhtar is known for his strong views on religious dogmatism and bigotry, which often makes him the subject of trolling and hate speech on social media. But the latest barbs have come from none other than the much-admired singer Lucky Ali, who has not taken kindly to his remarks on Muslims while commenting on a scene from Sholay, the 1975 mega hit for which he wrote the script jointly with Salim Khan.

The fiasco started on Monday (October 20), when Ali commented on an undated video in which Akhtar can be seen discussing freedom of speech and democracy. There is a scene in Sholay where Dharmendra as Veeru hides behind a Shiva statue and speaks to Hema Malini’s Basanti, who naively believes she’s hearing the deity speak. Akhtar comments in the video that he will never be able to write it today (when India is being led by the right-wing BJP).

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What Akhtar said

“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? Were there no dharmik [religious] people? There were. As a matter of fact, I’m on record… 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,’” Akhtar says in the video.

Responding to a post on Akhtar’s video on Monday, Ali wrote, “Don’t become like Javed Akhtar, never original and ugly as f***... (sic).”

As the comments gained traction, he put out another strongly worded post on Wednesday (October 22). “What I meant was that arrogance is ugly... It was a mistaken communique’ on my part... monsters may have feelings too and I apologise if I hurt anyones monstrosity (sic),” he wrote.

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Muslims incensed

Ali was not the only one incensed. The X user who shared Akhtar’s video to which Ali replied wrote, “Javed Akhtar tells Hindus, ‘Don’t become like Muslims. Make them like you. Don’t become like Muslims. It’s a tragedy.’ West Bengal Urdu Academy was right in withdrawing its invitation to this shameless bigot masquerading as a wise man.”

The reference was to the West Bengal Urdu Academy’s decision to postpone a mushaira featuring Akhtar following protests by some Muslim groups in August.

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Lyricist takes on trolls

Akhtar, who often takes on trolls and critics in his posts on X, is yet to respond to Ali’s comments but he has often candidly spoken about the hate that comes his way for his views and for asking people to become secular.

He responded to a post that asked him, “What is stopping you today to write the same scene behind a mosque? (sic)” and “After 50 yrs you’re advising Hindus not to be Muslims but have you ever advised Muslims to be like Hindus 50 yrs back (sic)?”

To this, Akhtar said, “My friend some day if we get to meet anywhere I will show you the hate mail that I get from Muslims who are right wingers like you. By the way, over the years. Mumbai police has given me protection four times, not that I asked for but their intelligence had warned them of some threat against me. Out of the four, three times it was from right wing M groups. So instead of teaching me, try to be secular yourself (sic).”

(With agency inputs)