Mumbai: The Animal team has reacted to comments made by writer and lyricist Javed Akhtar regarding the movie’s box office performance. The film’s official account on X tagged Akhtar, questioning his writing and comprehension of films.
“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 (sic),” tweeted the official handle of Animal on X.
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…
— Animal The Film (@AnimalTheFilm) January 7, 2024
Earlier, Javed Akhtar criticized the success of films like Animal, labeling it a ‘dangerous trend.’
Speaking at the Ajanta Ellora International Film Festival in Aurangabad, the acclaimed writer stated in Hindi, “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.”
Akhtar was evidently referring to a scene in Animal where Ranbir’s character asks Triptii Dimri’s Zoya to lick his shoe to prove her love.
Without explicitly naming the Ranbir Kapoor film, Akhtar continued, “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.”
Team Animal remains undeterred by the criticism and hosted a grand success celebration in Mumbai on Saturday night, attended by prominent figures from Bollywood.