Lyricist Javed Akhtar has clarified his previous comments regarding the massive success of Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s 2023 crime drama Animal, which stars Ranbir Kapoor. In a recent interview with a magazine, Javed explained that his remarks were aimed at the audience, rather than the film itself.

Javed stated that he did not comment on ‘Animal’ as a film, he had commented on the audience. Honestly, if a small group of people make a film with wrong values, or produce vulgar, crude, or obscene content, that’s not the issue according to him. If 15 out of 140 crore people have wrong values, it’s okay. The problem arises when that content becomes a massive success.

Earlier in the year, Javed mentioned at an event that, although he hadn’t seen ‘Animal’, he had heard about a controversial scene where the male protagonist (Ranbir Kapoor) asks his love interest (Triptii Dimri) to lick his shoe as a sign of loyalty.

Javed argued that the fact ‘Animal’ made over ₹500 crore at the domestic box office reflected the disturbing nature of the audience consuming such content.

Director Sandeep Reddy Vanga had responded to Javed’s comments, expressing offense and suggesting that Javed should watch the next film to better understand the context. Sandeep also called out Javed for hypocrisy, pointing out that Javed’s son Farhan Akhtar is a co-producer of the crime thriller series Mirzapur on, known for its explicit language.

In his reply, Javed defended himself, stating that Sandeep could only find fault with a show produced by Farhan’s company, Excel Entertainment, not one that he had directed or written. He further added that Sandeep was unable to point out any instance of sexism or obscenity in his own work, which he found to be flattering.

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