‘Never original, ugly as f***’: Lucky Ali slams Javed Akhtar over 'Sholay' scene

New Delhi: The "Sholay" sequence showing Dharmendra hiding behind a Shiva statue has put Javed Akhtar bang in the centre of an escalating social media debate after his comment that he will never be able to write it today.

The undated video, in which the lyricist-writer is discussing freedom of speech and democracy, is back in circulation, prompting singer Lucky Ali among others to take him on for his views on Muslims -- and Hindus.

On Monday, he wrote on X in response to a post on Akhtar's video, "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.

"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 said.

In the now famous video, Akhtar references the "Sholay" scene where Dharmendra hides behind the Shivs statue and Hema Malini’s Basanti believes she’s hearing the deity speak.

"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 dharmic people? There were.

"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," Akhtar says.

Ali was not the only one exercised.

"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," a user wrote on X and shared Akhtar's video.

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 this year. Akhtar, who often takes on trolls and critics in his posts on X, is yet to respond to Ali's comments but did speak about the hate that comes his way for his views and asked 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?" 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?" 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." PTI reached out to Ali and Akhtar for a comment but there was no response.